Printer Total Cost of Ownership: A Simple Office Template

Printer total cost of ownership (TCO) is the number that tells you what a printer will really cost your business, not just what it costs to take home. It is simple to calculate once you know which items to include, and it is the fairest way to compare buying, leasing and managed print services.

The items to include

Cost item	How to estimate it
Hardware	Purchase price, or lease payments x months
Setup	Delivery, installation, network configuration, extra trays or stands
Consumables	Mono pages x mono cost per page + colour pages x colour cost per page
Parts and maintenance kits	Drums, fusers, rollers: price / rated life x pages
Paper	Sheets used x price per sheet (duplex reduces sheets)
Service	Warranty extensions, service plans or click charges
Energy	Typical annual electricity use x your electricity rate
Staff time	Hours per month managing the printer x an hourly cost
End of life	Data wiping, collection, recycling, minus resale value

Our printer cost per page comparison explains the consumables line, and office printer toner costs covers drums and other parts.

Step-by-step

1. Pick the period. Three, four or five years, or the lease term.
2. Measure volume. Monthly mono, colour and duplex pages from the page counter. See printer duty cycle and monthly volume.
3. Calculate cost per page for mono and colour, using replacement consumable prices.
4. Multiply by volume and months.
5. Add hardware, setup and service.
6. Add energy. ENERGY STAR lists typical electricity consumption for certified imaging equipment; multiply by your tariff.
7. Add staff time if it is significant.
8. Add end-of-life costs and subtract any resale value.

Worked template

The numbers below are illustrative, not quotes. Over 48 months, an office printing 2,000 mono and 200 colour pages a month:

Item	Printer A	Printer B
Hardware	400	900
Mono cost per page	0.030	0.020
Colour cost per page	0.120	0.090
Monthly consumables and paper	2,000 x 0.030 + 200 x 0.120 = 84	2,000 x 0.020 + 200 x 0.090 = 58
Consumables over 48 months	4,032	2,784
Service and parts	300	200
Total over 48 months	4,732	3,884

Printer B costs more than twice as much to buy, but it is cheaper over four years because each page costs less. At lower volume, the result could flip, which is why you must use your own numbers.

Where to find each number

• Volume: the page counter on the printer’s configuration or usage page, read a month apart.
• Consumable prices: current prices for replacement cartridges from two or three suppliers in your country.
• Yields and part lives: the manufacturer’s supplies list and specification sheet; look for ISO-rated yields.
• Energy: the typical electricity consumption figure on the ENERGY STAR product finder or the specification sheet, multiplied by your tariff.
• Service: a written quote for any extended warranty or service plan, or the click rates in a contract.
• Staff time: a quick estimate from whoever looks after the printers now.

Keep the sources with your comparison so you can update it when prices change.

Common TCO traps

• Using the starter cartridge as the basis for consumable costs.
• Ignoring parts such as drums and fusers.
• Guessing volume instead of measuring it.
• Forgetting minimum volumes in lease or click contracts.
• Leaving out downtime: an unreliable printer costs staff time and missed deadlines.

Our article on cost per page mistakes covers more of these.

End-of-life costs

When the printer leaves your office, its internal storage may hold copies of scanned and printed documents. Plan for secure wiping or drive removal, following an approach like NIST SP 800-88, and for collection and recycling. Our network printer security guide covers the details.

Lowering your TCO

• Choose a device sized for your real volume.
• Use high-yield consumables when your volume justifies them.
• Set duplex and mono as defaults through a print policy.
• Use secure print release to remove abandoned print jobs.
• Consolidate rarely used desktop printers into a shared MFP.

Easy-to-miss items

Two items are often left out of TCO comparisons. Energy: use ENERGY STAR typical electricity consumption figures or your own meter readings, as described in office printer energy use. End-of-life data handling: wiping or removing internal storage may carry a dealer charge, and skipping it carries risk; see copier hard drive data security. If the options differ in paper size or colour, compare like with like using A3 vs A4 office printer and color vs black and white office printer.

TCO beyond the main office printer

The same method works for every printing device and service, and it is worth applying to the ones that are usually left out:

• Outsourced print. If you send brochures, booklets or posters to a print shop, that spend belongs in the comparison. A smaller office device plus outsourced long runs can cost less over its life than a larger device that does everything; our guide to outsourcing printing vs in-house shows how to compare the cost of a finished piece.
• ID card printers. The printer is a small part of the cost; ribbons, cards, cleaning kits, encoder options and software editions are the rest. See the ID card printer for business guide.
• Fax. A dedicated fax line, the fax module or machine, paper and toner on one side; an online fax subscription on the other. Our online fax vs fax machine guide covers what to compare.
• Moves and changes. Relocation charges for leased copiers, technician time and reconfiguration all add to the lifetime cost; our moving office printers checklist lists what is involved.

Putting all of these into one spreadsheet, with the same years and volumes, gives a far more honest picture than comparing purchase prices.

Summary

TCO turns a confusing set of prices into one comparable number per option. Measure volume, use real consumable prices, include parts, service, energy and end-of-life, and compare over the same period. Then return to the office printer buying guide to make your choice.