Starting summer 2014, ChemIT arranged for saving of over 1/3 of the cost of printer services offered for free to Chem majors, in Lar's undergraduate lab. This included providing a second, full-color printer for almost nothing.
Summary, July 2014
Challenge: Find a way to reduce printing costs for high-volume color printers.
- This was critical to do following the decision by the Chemistry department to continue to not account for use by student, much less meter their use.
- Costs for just non-paper consumables was over $3,700 per year.
Action by ChemIT:
- Enrolled in a service contract with Eastern.
- This got us cheaper Xerox-branded consumables, and included maintenance services for the printers, even if off-warranty.
- Bought a new printer for a ninth of it's expected cost.
Result: Effected savings of almost 1/2.
- Reduced costs by over $1,000 per year for just consumables through use of new service contract with Eastern.
- Saved $333 per year on warranty-type services, covering both printers. ($500/3 yrs * 2 printers)
- Accomplished this by not having to pay $500 for 3-year warranty service on new printer, or similar services for old printer, since service included with new service contract with Eastern.
- Saved ~$550 per year for new printer.
- A new printer was bought at 1/9th the expected price, giving the lab two, full color printers.
- Assume printer survives 4.5 years.
- Note: Paper costs remain as they were.
Cost saving summary
| Item | Annual Cost | Annual Cost NOW | Savings |
|---|---|---|---|
Consumables | $3,736 | $2,718 | $1,018 |
| Warranty-type services | $666 | $333 | $333 |
| Printer purchase, amortized over 4.5 years | $556 | $57 | $499 |
| Paper | Unknown | Unchanged | No change |
| Costs and SAVINGS, per year: | $4,958 | $3,108 | $1,850 |
(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 cost less. And our service costs are largely fixed, and also 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 for repair services and parts out-of-pocket.
- For the same volume, now we would have paid $3,850 over ~17 months (see below chart). 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, | 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 3-year 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 for 3 years), 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.