It used to be that the cost of color equipment was double or even triple that of black and white.  Not anymore. There is certainly a higher price tag as the machine has more capabilities, but nothing like it used to be.  The uptick for the hardware should be around 30%. The real cost comes in the cost of operation.

The average cost of a black and white printed document from a MFP is about one cent.  The average cost of color is about 9 cents. 9x cost of operation vs .3x on the cost of the equipment.  

Tiered Color Technology

This is where tiered color technology comes into play.  This technology allows the end-user to control color cost by controlling what's color and what's not. Companies that choose to leverage this technology are able to get their color costs down to 3 cents or below. This then makes color an affordable option. 

How does it work?  If you like the technical side, read on.  If not, just know that this tech can cut costs by 66%.

Kyocera has a technology that measures the amount of toner laid on a page.  In this application, they are specifically measuring color toner.  The standard method for creating black on a color device is to mix all the colors together creating what is called process black.  Process black hits your meter as full color and on many devices if you print page one in color on a 5-page document guess what the other print as?  

In addition to measuring the color toner going on the page, the driver has a setting that directs the device to print text as black (using only the black toner [K]) and print greys as black (also using only the black toner).  For this reason, Kyocera is able to charge less for the color pint because less toner is used, and quality is actually enhanced.  Process black always has a color hue to it.  Using just black toner to create black in a color document gives you nice crisp blacks and greys.

The impact of this is that you can have a page that is full of print, but if the color toner is less than 5% per color or 15% coverage not including black, you still have a 3 cent print.  

If you are a real estate agent printing flyers with colorful houses and yards, this isn’t a good program for you but if you want the color to make a document “pop” or you are doing spreadsheets with little color or documents with letterhead or spot color; otherwise most color that is printed, this IS for you.

At one time recipes.com created the most printed pages in an office.  Ever print a recipe?  The last page is always blank with a URL at the bottom in blue.  9 cents.  At least pay the least amount possible for color.

If you have a black and white device, would like a color device but think it costs too much, look.  You might be surprised.

Our team is ready to help you find the right products to provide the highest quality product while keeping costs manageable. Contact us today to get the conversation started.