The longevity of a business printer

January 28, 2019

A new blog by Cartridge World asks how long businesses should keep their printers before exchanging them for a new one.

As the blog explains, the average life of a small business’s laser printer is approximately 2 to 3 years. However, in order to save funds, some office managers endeavour to stretch this lifespan longer; however, doing so “will actually likely end up costing you much more money than buying a new printer altogether.”

Printers that function poorly can result in “hours of downtime”, which also means cash down the drain for businesses, not to mention the added expenditure of “high maintenance, energy and repair costs” which they can also cause.

On average, the cost to repair a faulty old printer is “three times as expensive” as the cost of buying a new device.

Cartridge World offers five warning signs to look out for that tell you your office printer is on its last legs:

1.Out-of-date security

With almost 50 percent of cyber-attacks targeting small businesses – and with the same amount of businesses failing to put the appropriate security measures in place – printers can be a weak point that can be easily breached by hackers. If your office printers do not have such security features as password protected scanning, authentication and print encryption, they are best jettisoned for a new, more secure model.

2.Too much out-going expenditure

Spending too much money on maintaining your printers “is a tell-tale sign” that it is time to replace them. Ageing printers “burn through ink and toner faster than many newer models”, meaning it would be more cost-effective to purchase new ones.

3.Your printer no longer matches your requirements

If your business needs are outgrowing the services your printer can provide, it’s definitely time for an upgrade, perhaps to an MFP – or, indeed, any model produced from 2013 onwards.

4. Poor-quality prints

If the quality of your print-outs is diminishing, this is “often the first indication your printer should be replaced.” While dirty print heads or low ink can cause problems with printing, if there is nothing wrong with your print head, it means the device as a whole is to blame.

5.Age is slowing your printer down

Slow printing is cited as another sign your printer is on the way out. With printer speeds generally varying from 1-50 pages per minute (ppm), printers “with noticeably slower printing usually need to be upgraded or replaced.”

As Cartridge World explains, businesses that replace their ineffective old printers in good time will avoided the dreaded “office breakdown” that can result from a breakdown in your printer.

Categories : Around the Industry

Tags : Businesses Cartridge World Printing