[sf-lug] printer consumables & printing costs (inkjet, laser, ...)

[Michael Paoli]

> From: "Bobbie Sellers" <bliss-sf4ever at dslextreme.com>
> Date: Thu, 24 Jan 2019 07:56:53 -0800

>     I started pricing the smaller laser printers last night but
> the consumable seem to be high priced but then you get
> more pages out of the refills.

I find, at least most certainly in the long-run,
laser printer is *much* more economical.
Sure, it's more up-front cost, but much less expensive over
years (e.g. 3+, and especially 5+) of use.

Let's look at my pre-laser cost scenario:

Back in - I'm pretty sure it was 1989 - I purchased a
HP DeskJet Plus (I believe that was only the 2nd inkjet HP made).
Initial investment, for that resolution (I think it was 300DPI, if I
recall correctly), and, oh, I don't remember precisely what it cost
then, but almost certainly somewhere between $45.00 USD and $99.00 USD
(I may have it in old system logs & receipts if I really wanted to
go on an archeological expedition to determine much more precisely ...
but that's likely all on paper, and, well, I don't feel motivated
enough to reach 6+ ft. and look through old hardcopy systems log
book, ... which probably has the equipment acquisition details,
but may not have included the price ... though that would be on
ye olde paper receipts, but that would be even more of an
archeological expedition ... even if I think I know where I probably
have that and/or photocopy thereof).
So, I'll guestimate, and say I paid (way back then),
$85.00 USD for the printer - and that it included one ink cartridge.
And ... operating costs - at least for me (a bit atypicaly, but not
necessarily highly so) ... I print dang little, ... well under
100 pages per year, probably mostly less than 25 pages per
year (sure, could take USB flash to some place and print out,
but the inconvenience to me and the value of my time to me makes
that an unpleasant and costly (if i put a reasonable value on my
time) alternative ... especially also since most of the printing is
small amounts on a relatively ad hoc basis (e.g. 1 to 4 pages at a
time typically).

So, ... ink cartridges, ... use 'em or not they need to be replaced
moderately frequently, ... sometimes refilling can be done, but that's
less reliable and takes more time/hassle (also a "cost" to one's time),
so ... at my modest printing levels, I'd typically need to buy a replacement
ink cartridge typically about once a year or so (it generally dried up /
clogged, long before printing near the number of pages if I'd merely
just started printing and continued to do so 'till the thing ran out of
ink ... that would probably be like 500 to 600 pages for typical
printing).
So, ... replacement cartridge prices vary somewhat, but they also tend to
go up somewhat over time (notably as the printer becomes a fair bit older),
so ... HP InkJet Plus, we're talking approximately:
$85.00 initial investment approximately, plus about
$45.00/yr. thereafter in replacement ink cartridges.
(I could do cost/page or such, but for my slight bit of printing,
cost/yr. is a more practical measure ... notably also 'cause being able
to print at home is helluva lot more convenient than having to drag
data to somewhere else (or myself to somewhere else to pick up) to
print somewhere else (like some copy/print store/service).

Eventually I got fed up with that comparatively high ongoing cost
(with a slight diversion of using another InkJet printer for a
slight while ... mostly 'cause the cost was right (I picked it up
free, used, good condition, working, full color, including all working
inks in it still ... and some while later (a few years) I made one
attempt at trying to get it printing again with one new replacement
ink cartridge ... that totally failed (clogged elsewhere apparently)
and "gave up", saying I'm done with buying ink cartridges.

So ... ink based: ~= $85.00 + $45.00/yr. thereafter - forever.

So, ... I shopped around, ... laser much more economical for the
long-run, ... color, not *needed* ... but - at least for me, a
very "nice to have" - at least if my per yr. cost isn't much
higher on that.  And ... "all-in-one' ... sure, nice to have at least
some of those features, and done well in a combined unit, ... so
that's basically what I got ... does most all I could wish for at a
(to me) reasonable price.  The only bit it doesn't do is any automatic
duplexing ... but that additional cost wasn't worth it to me - my
print volumes are so low it's not much hassle for me to do manual
duplexing.  It also had some features I wasn't so interested in,
but were "nice to have", e.g. sheet feeder (for scanning or copying)
FAX receive (don't really care, but if I ever want it), FAX send (which
is unimportant to me - as I could always do that easily enough with
other hardware), USB --> print/FAX, scan --> USB ... not at all
important to me, but does at least occasionally turn out to be
fairly handy.  And quite importantly,
works darn solidly with CUPS!  - I did my research/homework, and with
bit of coordination and cooperation with the retailer, I brought in
my Linux laptop, with my favorite distro, with the relevant CUPS bits
installed and configured ... connected the all-in-one printer to
my laptop, and tested I could print fine with CUPS ... that was
my last check before sealing the deal and purchasing the
(all-in-one) printer, and taking it home.
So, how much? ... (yes, have it in the softcopy hardware logs),
excerpted bits thereof:
2013-02-08
Hewlett-Packard (hp) LaserJet Pro 200 color MFP M276nw
Product No. CF145A
$299.99 (before tax) (egad, price/cost not in my softcopy hardware log,
but I have, and had also captured and saved image of the receipt,
the latter of which was easy to find by my description index of
images, and also by date).
So, some (minor) pluses and minuses to note,
yes, sure, the laser toner replacement ain't cheap, but each is good for
I think roughly 2,400 pages or so.  Also, that printer comes with
lower capacity "starter" cartridges ... only good for about 600 pages
pages each (they do reasonably clearly tell you that, so it's not like some
unexpected rip-off ... more like kind'a somewhere between printer comes
with no cartridges, jump to buying those 2,400 page each full ones for
a big bump in initial expense, vs. full 2,400 page ones, which
if supplied with the new printer would of course increase its initial cost
at least some fair bit.  And, so, ... 2019-01 ... almost 6 years - let's
round and call it 6 years, ... in those initial 600 page capacity of
the "starter" cartridges ... I don't think I'm even up to 300 total printed
pages yet.
So ... and replacement toner cartridges, ... let's say they're
$80.00 each (I'm guestimating) x 4 for BCMY ... okay, peek on-line to  
refine cost ... $72.99 Black, $169.99 CMY 3-pack - and those are what  
appear
to be HP MSRP prices (probably lower prices and/or lesser quality to be had,
if one wishes / shops around).  So, ... cost per year?
Well, at <~-300/6 ... ~50 pages/yr.  Let's round up a bit and say
60 pages per year.  At 2,400 pages per toner cartridge ... 40 years, ...
but let's be reasonable, let's presume toner cartridges aren't good after
10 years (as far as I can tell the still work perfectly fine after ~6 yrs.).
So that then leaves:
$299.99 printer,
~first 10 yrs. covered (600 pages @ 60/yr.)
thereafter ~$72.99+$169.99=~$242.98/10 yr ~= $24.30/yr.,
(and I could still go as high as 240p./yr. without exceeding that cost).
So, compared to ink, that's a savings of about $25.00/yr.
Looking at initial cost differences between the printers
($299.99-~$85.00=~$215.00) and difference per year (~25.00/yr)
ROI of about 8.6 years ...
but that fails to take into account the ~600 page "starter"
toner cartridges, ... that drops the first 10 years down to initial +
$0.00/yr, so, within the first decade ...
initial difference of ~$215.00,
yearly first decade difference of ~$45.00/yr.,
so that's ROI of <~= 4.7 years ... but I was using pretty conservative
rounded numbers, ... so my printer more likely already paid for
itself in savings within about 2.5 to 3 years,
and thereafter continues to save me about ~$45.00/yr. for the
remainder of its first decade,
and ~$25.00/yr. thereafter.
So, in net, printer break even point in about 2.5 to 3 years,
and saving ~$45.00 (within fist decade) to ~$25.00/yr. indefinitely
beyond ROI break-even point.

Additional comparative bonuses on making that switch:
I can tell quite accurately remaining toner capacity (I get estimated
remaining pages on each cartridge) - as opposed to ink failing
relatively unpredictably - mostly when I (semi-)rarely needed it,
and I couldn't print 'till I got yet another cartridge (and since for
my low printing use, buying ink well ahead of time would be pointless,
as those cartridges would be dead/failed, or nearly so, before the
prior died and I installed the newer).
Toner has *long* shelf life (I'm estimating >>10 yrs.), so I can reasonably
well stock up as I approach rather low, and lose little (if any?) remaining
life on purchasing toner cartridges moderately before I run out.
higher resolution printing
color
scanner (color or B/W) + sheet feeder
copier (optionally full color - just press different button)
FAX send/receive
scan --> USB flash
USB flash --> print
teensy downsides:
more up-front cost
larger
heavier(!)
higher power consumption (but only when on, and especially
printing - my printer spends the vast majority of its time
powered down - so the power cost/page in either case is
compared to other costs, highly negligible).

Now, my (low!) printing rates are probably rather to quite
atypical, so ROI, etc. for others may be quite different.
But, just for an example comparison, let's say one prints enough
that the printer consumables are consumed before they fail due
to age.
So ... ink, that would be >= 600 pages/yr.
laser, conservatively, >= 240 pages/yr.

And, cost per page - ongoing costs, with and comparing either of
those?
ink ~$45.00/600p --> ~$0.08/p
toner ~$72.99+$169.99=~$242.98/2,400p --> ~$0.10/p
So ... bit to my surprise, but that back-of-the-envelope rough
calculation shows slightly higher per-page cost for (4-color) laser,
but also that's with >=600 pages/yr. (which I'm nowhere close to),
But probably fair bit cheaper with printing black only (and maybe
some more shopping around on supplies),
And that also quickly flips as the pages/yr. drops.
As the ink cartridges fail within about a year, use 'em or not ...
I find that at or below ~444 pages/yr. my per-page cost of laser
goes below that of ink ... and that I typically print well below
that (at or well under 60 pages per year), my laser costs continue
indefinitely to be lower.

I'm sure your "mileage" will vary ... different printers, supplies,
lifetime (or end-of-life) (non-)availability of supplies,
cost of supplies over time, printing (and non-printing) patterns,
equipment durability/lifetime - how long/usable and supported as
needed (CUPS?) ... those will all factor in, and different scenarios
will come up with different higher/lower costs and comparative
costs, and also ROI points for break-even / savings.

Folks may also want/"need" - and/or care about various features,
which may have intangible costs/benefits, and may or may not be
easily translatable into an effective cost/savings comparative
basis or portion thereof.

And yes, I've been quite happy with my
Hewlett-Packard (hp) LaserJet Pro 200 color MFP M276nw
... certainly at least for *my* usage scenario.

Your mileage may, and likely will vary.
(I also did quite like the price I got it at - don't think I ever
found it dropped to/below that price for new - at least so long
as HP was still making that model ... though I think I
sometimes saw it drop/come moderately close, e.g. ~$350.00, perhaps
sometimes $3x9.99 where 2 <= x <=4).

Also, I didn't calculate paper costs.  I figure mine are quite low :->
at least for some fair while to come.  A Black Friday special, some
modest number of years back (and after getting that printer), I got
4 or 5 reams of paper, at $0.01 each (with rebate), ... at <~=
60 pages/yr. that should hold me quite a while ... maybe even a lifetime
supply (or nearly so?).  The rebate might've also cost me one postage stamp
(or maybe not, if it was all electronic / on-line) ... in any case that
paper cost/page (at least so long as it lasts me) is also pretty dang low.