How Much Does Printing Cost Per Page?

What Is Cost Per Page and Why It Is Important?

As a business owner or office manager, you will need to understand how to best order office supplies to get the most out of your money. When managing printing costs, you will need to know how much it costs to print each page whether it be visual graphics or text. 

One of the more confusing aspects of supplying your office with printing services is the cost of the printer and the ink cartridges. These prices vary wildly between brands and the cost will really depend on the scale you’ll be using your printer. Printing prices can be misleading and oftentimes you might notice that cheaper printers and equipment cost you more in the long run with upkeep and maintenance. Printing cost per page is a helpful way to go when supplying the office with printers because it will control your costs.

If you don’t closely monitor your printing budget in the office, it can very quickly become unmanageable and costly. This is especially the case when people can come and go and print whatever they want throughout the day. By limiting printing to important documents as well as ensuring you stick to an average cost to print a page, you can better control the money you spend each day.

What is page yield? 

Page yield is a term given to the number of pages a printer can produce before it needs a new ink cartridge. Think of it like a gallon per mile for your printer. Every ink cartridge you buy will come with an expected yield, and of course, it stands to reason that if you print a lot of images and graphics, you’ll go through your ink more rapidly than with text documents. When projecting your actual spend on ink cartridges it is important to understand what your team uses the printer for. In turn, you will be able to better budget for your actual ink spend and this will make life much easier for you in the long term. 

Is paper expensive? 

You might think of paper as one of the most basic commodities in the world, and this is true, however, it is also a limited resource and costs a lot of energy to produce. Before diving in gungho with your paper orders make sure you know what you need and consider using the right paper for you. Recycled paper, although good for the environment, is generally weaker than regular printing paper, and if you’ll be printing some heavy-duty stuff you might need to invest in a sturdier paper that can withstand processing in the printer. 

How do I calculate the cost per page? 

To calculate your cost per page, you will need this simple equation:

 Cartridge price / Page yield + Paper cost = Cost Per Page

You can easily plug in the different values you have for ink, paper, and projected yield to end up with your budget for printing. Don’t forget to include your time /operator cost per hour too. 

Use this handy equation to control your printing budget in the office this year.