Your office might be like many others—the printer is going so often that the sound becomes background noise. Or perhaps your office has multiple printers of various sizes, all sounding off in a printing symphony.

But have you ever thought about the cost of each page that slides out of the printer? Many offices track the amount they spend on paper, toner cartridges, or even repairs. But that tracking isn’t the same as calculating your print cost per page. Is it valuable to know it?

The answer is yes! Knowing your print cost per page is crucial for understanding the true operational costs. Tracking the cost of printer components gives you an incomplete picture.

What Is Print Cost Per Page?

Your print cost per page gives you a much fuller picture of the actual costs of printing. It can feel like purchasing inexpensive printers or off-brand components saves you money. But if you are paying more often to repair your printer, or it’s printing much less efficiently, you’ll see your print cost per page rise to reflect that change.

How to Calculate Your Print Cost Per Page

Now the tricky part is to account for all the things that impact your printing to get a more accurate number. And in fact, the items you include in your calculation may depend on your industry. For example, you may need to consider bindery or embellishments in your office, while others do not have to account for these steps.

A basic calculation might look like this:

Print cartridge cost / Page yield = Print Cost Per Page

Many companies will give you an approximate number of pages you can expect from each print cartridge. But there are a lot of expenses associated with printing that are missing from this calculation. You can determine how efficient a particular printer cartridge is from this calculation, but you won’t be getting the true cost.

Here’s a slightly more detailed print cost per page calculation:

Print and toner cartridge cost / Page yield + Paper cost = Print Cost Per Page

But this calculation doesn’t consider your equipment cost or the opportunity cost of having employees running or watching the printer. If you’re hoping to capture a more nuanced picture, your calculation might look like this:

(Equipment + Maintenance + Labor + Opportunity cost + Paper cost) / Page yield = Print cost per page

Other Factors that Influence Print Cost Per Page

Depending on your industry, you may also want to factor in bindery or embellishment costs. It can also be helpful if you’re printing many different types of products to calculate the average print cost per page for each type of item. And even the cost of electricity can affect print costs. More energy-efficient printers could churn out a much cheaper page, especially as energy prices rise.

Using the right cartridges can help your printing equipment work better for longer. Toner Cartridge Depot offers high-quality ink and toner cartridges to help you hit your print cost per page targets.