Express the costs of consumables (over $12,100) to operate printer services offered for free to Chem majors, over a period of 1.5 years. Does not include the cost of the $2.5K printer itself.
Current status, July 2014
Decision to continue not to account for use by student, much less meter use.
ChemIT has helped reduce costs, given this arrangement. Usage costs are over $1,000 less per year. And a new printer was bought at 1/4 to 1/5 the expected price.
(1) ChemIT has arranged for saving ~$1,000 per year by moving to Eastern service contract
We are now on Eastern service contract, so our consumables and service are fixed, and less.
- We were paying about 1.89 cents per page for ink and maintenance kit replacement, on average. So for 280,000 pages (Dec 2012 - July 2014 (~17 months) from the oldest printer (Buckbeak); 40,000 from 2/14 to 7/14), that would be $5,292 ($3,736/yr). Service only if under warranty (new printer). Otherwise, for old printer, pay directly.
- For the same volume, nowwe would have paid $3,850 (see below chart). For 17 months, that's $2,718/yr.
- That's a savings of $1,442 over 17 months, which is a savings $1,018/yr.
| Type of printing | Eastern's charges, per page | Page counts As of 7/24/14 | Costs $ |
|---|---|---|---|
| B&W, or little color | 0.7 cents | 200,000 | 1,400 |
| More color | 2.5 cents | 65,000 | 1,625 |
| Full color | 5.5 cents | 15,000 | 825 |
(2) New Xerox printer bought by ChemIT for less than 1/9th the expected price.
New printer, with warranty, was expected to cost $2,500. During the summer 2014, Michael Hint bought the printer for $256.56!
- Did this through loyalty rebate ($1,443.91) and trade-in ($224.75) of (old, broken Abruna) printer to Xerox.
- Did not buy the extra warranty (~$500 more?), since under Eastern service contract. So price of printer was $1,925.22, not the expected $2,500.
- This gives Lars's undergraduate lab two Xerox color printers. This new printer displaced a B&W HP printer, which went to Dan Lorey.
Previous info, from Feb 2014
Summary
Consumables = (Ink + maintenance kits) + paper = $10,200 + $1,930 = $12,130 over 33 months.
This comes to about $4,411/year.
Data and analysis
Page counts | Dates | Count of | Avg pages per months | At 1.53 cents/ page, | At 0.36 cents/ page, | Cost for both |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
300,000 | May 2011 - Nov 2012 | 19 months | 15,000 pages /month | $4,585 | $1,080 | $5,670 |
240,000 | Dec 2012 - Feb 2014 | 14 months | 16,000 pages/ month | $3,665 | $865 | $4,530 |
Total: 540,000 | May 2011 - Feb 2014 | 33 months | 15,430 pages/ month | $8,250 | $1,945 | $10,200 |
Hardware costs, including "consumable" maintenance kits
Printer's initial cost, including 3 year warranty: $2,500
- Amortizing cost of printer over 540K pages printed comes to 0.46 cents per page.
Cost for maintenance kits, up to now: $1,945
- 10 have been installed for the most recent 240,000 pages, at $86.40 each: $864 + $1 = $865
- Thus estimate we 1.25 additional kits (~12.5 kits) for the first 300K pages printed: $1,080
Thus, $4,445 spent so far on hardware, including maintenance kits.
Ink cost calculations
Total ink costs: $8,250
Usage Dec 2012 - Feb 2014
Ink Stick color | Use | 6 Sticks per package | Cost per package | Total costs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Cyan | 28 | 4.67 | $69.65 | $325.26 |
Magenta | 24 | 4.00 | $69.65 | $278.60 |
Yellow | 22 | 3.67 | $69.65 | $255.62 |
Black | 76 | 12.67 | $221.40 | $2,805.14 |
|
|
| Total ink costs for 240K pages: | $3,665 |
- $3,665 for 240,000 pages comes to 1.53 cents per page, on average.
- Thus, estimate that an additional 300,000 pages used previously (1.25 as much again) would cost about $4,585.
Paper costs
Cost for paper, up to now: $1,930
- 0.575 cents per page, if buying cheap and you don't care about the environment.
- Total of 335,000 sheets of pater used.
- 149,000 paper sheets used for 240,000 pages printed.
- Thus estimate that an additional 186,000 paper sheets used for previous 300,000 pages printed.
Paper purchase cost options
0.575 cents/ page for Staples® Copy Paper, LETTER-Size, 92/104 US/Euro Brightness, 20 lb., 8 1/2" x 11", 5,000 Sheets/Ct (if $28.77 for 5000 sheets).
1.03 cents / page for Staples® 30% Recycled Copy Paper, LETTER-size, 92/104 US/Euro Brightness, 20 lb., 8 1/2"H x 11"W, 5,000 Sheets/Ct ($51.59 for 5000 sheets)
- Contains at least 10% post-consumer recycled content
0.67 cents/ Staples® 100% Recycled Copy Paper, LETTER-size, 92/104 US/Euro Brightness, 20 lb., 8 1/2"H x 11"W, 5,000 Sheets/Ct ($33.43 for 5000 sheets)