How to Avoid Paying for Unused Prints

In order to keep the price of your copier contact as low as you can, it is crucial to understand that copier vendors make their money off how many prints are purchased. The trick that many vendors use to add dollars to your contact is to make you buy more prints than you need, leaving you paying for lots of unused prints.

For example, if you are a business in the Fresno area that needs to print 60,000 prints per month, then some vendors could offer to sell you 80,000 prints for $600. They will try to convince you that getting the extra prints will allow you to meet all your printing needs you could ever need in the month, and still offer it in an inexpensive package.

At 80,000 prints for $600, you are buying prints for $.0075 per print, which may seem insignificant. It may seem like pennies on the dollar but that would cost your business and extra $450 per month, or $27,000 over the course of a 5-year contract, for the unused 20,000 prints every month.

While you may encounter a month or two where you might exceed the 60,000 prints and have to pay an overage, it will save substantial money over the course of the contract. Copier vendors want to sell you more than you need, so they can make more profit, but savvy business owners can save themselves a lot of money by doing some simple math.

Simply divide the amount of dollars on the contact from the amount of prints you are buying each month to find out your cost per print. This is a good way to determine what you are actually paying. The numbers may seem small at first but when looking on a monthly or yearly scale; the unused prints can leave a large dent in your bottom line. If you go in knowing what you are looking for then you can potentially save thousands on what you would otherwise be throwing away.