Do Your Cost Per Page Correctly

Due to the growing concern over printer cartridge costs, the cost per page calculation has become one of the major considerations in planning and creating budget plans and cost analyses. Just key in cost per page calculation in the search engine and chances are there are tons of results. Online sources currently list down several possible methods to calculate the cost per page of a printer or printer cartridge but according to the DocuSense website, you can determine or estimate the approximate cost per page more accurately by determining the cost of each supply and its expected or estimated yield. The estimated yield is better known as the anticipated yield.

The anticipated yield of supplies is usually based on 5% print coverage. What is this 5% print coverage? The 5% print coverage is equivalent to one page with 20 sentences using a 12-point font type. So if you print more than the 5% coverage, then your yield for each printer cartridge (whether ink or toner) will be less than the anticipated yield and consequently, the cost per page will also get higher. If you want to check out the % coverage of your documents, you have to install or use specialized software like Free Coverage Calculator to help you calculate the % coverage for your documents. Some printer manufacturers give you the approximate % print coverage for their products based on the tests that the printer manufacturers have conducted on their products so you may also check on your printer specifications or user manuals if these details are available.

Page yields or % coverage is not the only consideration in determining the cost per page. Other costs or expenditures like those for maintenance kits, fusers and others are also taken into consideration. These are usually divided by their yields. The general trend is the lower the acquisition cost for the device, the higher will be the cost per page. In terms of services, the cost of the service contract is also divided by the number of anticipated prints or copies for the period of coverage being considered. All supplies and service costs per page are then added together to get the total estimated service or supply cost per page.

The acquisition cost per page is determined by dividing the purchase or market price of the device by the number of months of estimated service. The quotient is divided further by the estimated pages printed or copied per month. The acquisition cost is then added to the service or supply cost per page to arrive at the total cost per page for the device.