Should you buy printers or use managed print services? Compare the total cost of ownership and efficiency for your Melbourne office.
Printers are deceptively expensive. The sticker price of the hardware is the smallest part of the total cost — ink, toner, paper, maintenance, IT support time, and downtime during failures all add up. Most businesses significantly underestimate what their printing actually costs.
Managed Print Services (MPS) offers an alternative: a fixed cost per page that covers hardware, consumables, and maintenance under a single contract. Whether that is better than buying outright depends on your volume, requirements, and how well you currently manage your print environment.
The True Cost of Owning Printers
Before evaluating MPS, calculate what printing actually costs your business.
Hardware Purchase
A business-grade multifunction printer (print, scan, copy, fax) costs:
- Entry-level A4 laser MFP: $400-800
- Mid-range colour laser MFP: $1,500-4,000
- A3 capable colour MFP: $3,000-8,000
- Production-grade floor-standing MFP: $8,000-25,000+
Hardware typically has a useful life of 4-6 years in a business environment before reliability declines.
Consumables
Toner and ink are where printer manufacturers recover their margin. Example costs for a mid-range colour laser MFP:
- Black toner cartridge: $80-200 (yields 5,000-15,000 pages depending on coverage)
- Colour toner set (CMY): $150-400 (typically lower yield than black)
- Drum unit: $100-300 (replaced every 20,000-50,000 pages)
- Waste toner box: $30-80
At 5% page coverage (typical for text documents), a black-and-white page costs approximately 1-3 cents per page in toner. Colour pages at 20% coverage cost 5-15 cents per page.
Paper
A4 office paper: $6-12 per 500-sheet ream. At 2,000 pages per month, paper costs approximately $30-60 per month.
Maintenance and Repairs
Printer repairs are expensive when they occur. A service call for a paper jam mechanism failure or fuser replacement: $200-500. Annual maintenance kits for high-volume printers: $150-400.
Many businesses do not budget for printer repairs — they are treated as an unplanned expense.
IT Support Time
When a printer fails, someone spends time on it — troubleshooting driver issues, calling support, waiting for repairs. In a 20-person business, printer support might consume 2-5 hours of IT or admin time per month. At $80-150/hour cost of a person’s time, that is $160-750 per month in hidden cost.
Total Cost Example: 20-Person Office
For a 20-person Melbourne office printing approximately 3,000 pages per month:
| Cost Item | Monthly | Annual |
|---|---|---|
| Hardware depreciation (amortised over 5 years) | $50-100 | $600-1,200 |
| Toner/consumables | $80-150 | $960-1,800 |
| Paper | $40-60 | $480-720 |
| Maintenance/repairs (amortised) | $30-60 | $360-720 |
| IT support time | $100-200 | $1,200-2,400 |
| Total | $300-570 | $3,600-6,840 |
Cost per page: approximately $0.10-$0.19 per page (all-inclusive).
What Managed Print Services Offers
Under an MPS contract, a provider supplies hardware (typically leased), consumables, and maintenance for a fixed cost per page printed. You pay for what you print; the provider manages everything else.
Typical MPS Structure
Hardware: Leased or supplied by the MPS provider. Business-grade MFP appropriate for your volume. Replaced mid-contract if performance deteriorates significantly.
Consumables: Toner and ink delivered automatically based on usage monitoring. No manual ordering.
Maintenance: All repairs and maintenance included. Provider commits to a response time SLA (typically next business day for repair, same day for critical equipment).
Management: Remote monitoring of print queues, usage reporting, consumable levels. Some MPS providers include print management software (PaperCut, PrinterLogic) for cost allocation and pull-printing.
Typical pricing:
- Black-and-white A4 pages: $0.01-$0.04 per page
- Colour A4 pages: $0.05-$0.15 per page
- Minimum monthly volume commitments typically apply
- Hardware lease component: often included in per-page rate or charged as a low monthly equipment fee ($30-100/month)
MPS Cost Example: Same 20-Person Office
At 3,000 pages per month (2,500 mono, 500 colour):
- Mono pages: 2,500 × $0.02 = $50
- Colour pages: 500 × $0.10 = $50
- Equipment fee: $50/month
- Total: $150/month ($1,800/year)
Compared to the owned-printer estimate of $300-570/month, MPS can be significantly cheaper — particularly when IT support time and repair risk are included.
When MPS Makes Sense
You print more than 2,000 pages per month. MPS economics improve with volume. Below 1,000 pages per month, the minimum commitments and contract overhead may not be worth it.
Printer reliability is important to your business. Professional services firms, legal practices, accounting firms, and medical practices where printing is client-facing benefit significantly from guaranteed response times and automatic consumable replenishment.
You want predictable costs. MPS converts a variable, unpredictable cost into a fixed monthly charge. Useful for budget forecasting.
You have multiple printers or locations. Managing consumables, maintenance contracts, and hardware across multiple devices and sites is disproportionately time-consuming. MPS consolidates this under one contract.
When Buying Outright Makes Sense
Low print volumes. If you print fewer than 500 pages per month, a low-cost laser printer purchased outright and maintained with standard toner cartridges from a reputable supplier is almost certainly cheaper than an MPS contract.
Irregular usage patterns. MPS contracts typically include minimum monthly page volumes. If your printing is highly seasonal, you may pay for volume you do not use.
Short-term requirement. MPS contracts are typically 3-5 years. For a short-term office setup or a business with uncertain longevity, a contract commitment is not appropriate.
You want to avoid contracts. MPS involves a contractual relationship with a supplier. Some businesses prefer the simplicity of owning hardware outright with no ongoing contractual obligation.
Key Questions Before Signing an MPS Contract
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What is the minimum monthly commitment? If you print less than the minimum, you pay for pages you did not print.
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What is the contract term and early exit cost? Three to five years is typical. Early termination can be expensive.
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What is the repair response time SLA? Same business day, next business day? What happens if the response time is missed?
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Are consumables automatic or do you need to order? Automatic replenishment (triggered by toner level monitoring) is the standard MPS value proposition.
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What happens to the hardware at contract end? Returned to the provider, option to purchase, or replaced with a new contract.
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Is print management software included? Features like pull-printing (jobs released at the device with a PIN), cost allocation by department, and mobile printing add value but may be priced separately.
The Environmental Angle
MPS providers typically recycle toner cartridges and maintain equipment properly, reducing waste from premature disposal of failing hardware. For Melbourne businesses with sustainability reporting requirements or ESG commitments, this is a legitimate consideration.
CX IT Services advises Melbourne businesses on print infrastructure decisions, including MPS vendor selection, print environment audits, and print management software deployment. Contact us to review your current print costs and whether MPS is the right fit.
