Calculating your printing costs per page is a vital component of your office budgeting process, yet few organizations know how to do it. Even fewer know what it means to do so.
Whether you’re fuzzy on the details or completely in the dark, don’t worry. In this blog, we’ll go over everything you need to know about printing costs per page, including what it is and how you calculate it.
Why Understanding Your Printing Costs Per Page is Important
Though many organizations emphasize a desire to spend money wisely, on average, 14% of business revenue is wasted on documents and print. This is because 90% of businesses don’t understand the cost of their printing operations. Detrimental to the overall performance of your business, this causes skewed data and incorrectly informs your office budget plan. However, having knowledge of your printing operations such as your printing costs per page will help you create an office budget plan that will more accurately forecast profits and expenses for years to come. Not only will this give you a clear picture of the true health of your business, but it also helps you identify and correct areas of waste to prevent future overspending.
What are Printing Costs Per Page?
Printing costs per page—otherwise known as cost per page or CPP—is the cost of printing a single piece of paper on a specified machine. Knowing your CPP allows you to better grasp how much you're spending to print on each of your devices and will help you determine your overall printing expenses within a given amount of time.
Calculating Printing Costs Per Page
The equation for discovering your printing costs per page is:
CPP = printer cartridge cost / page yield
This may seem straightforward, but this calculation can become quite complex. The cost per page is not necessarily the same from one printer to the next. If you use various brands or even different models from the same supplier, your CPP for each machine will be different because every printer uses a specific cartridge series with its own cost. Page yield, the approximate number of pages that can be printed from one ink and toner cartridge, is also unique to every product. Luckily, the International Organization of Standardization (ISO) requires each manufacturer to provide the page yield for their ink and toner cartridges; this can be found on the manufacturer’s website.
It’s also important to calculate for black and white as well as color printing. If you’re calculating printing costs per page for black and white printing, the equation is the same, but it will change when you print in color. Color printing uses multiple cartridges—cyan, magenta, yellow, and black—during production. Therefore, you’ll have to divide the cost of the printer cartridge for each cartridge by its page yield and then add those results together for your final CPP for your machine.
Final color printing CPP = Magenta CPP + Cyan CPP + Yellow CPP + Black CPP
CPP Made Easy with QualityDOS
Calculating your printing costs per page is integral to helping you reduce wasted expenses and increase your business’ effectiveness. However, it can also be a lot of work, especially if you have multiple devices. Managed print services from Quality Digital Office Solutions takes the hassle out of figuring out your CPP. We evaluate the cost of your printing operations for you. Additionally, our professional service goes a step further by creating an actionable plan to eliminate waste so you can stretch your budget further. Learn more about how our managed print—and other services—can help you save on printing equipment and supplies.
