Xerox Phaser 6125 "What's the Total Cost of Operation"

In 31 years of selling laser printers to commercial accounts, well...I've pretty much seen it all. Over those years I've had many clients who did not purchase a laser printer from me, because they thought my printer was too expensive!

What peeves me the most is when I'm trying to communicate (help) the cost per page of a device or the total cost of ownership of the device. Many accounts will opt for the small inexpensive printers where the manufacturer states "with a maximum duty cycle of 40,000 pages per month" (Duty cycle: the maximum possible number of pages that can be printed per month) I ask you, what the heck does Duty Cycle really mean? Does it mean, I can print 40,000 pages each and every month on this device that only cost me $349 for the printer?

Let me show you what happens if you would print 40,000 pages per month on that device. The first printer device we'll look at is the Xerox Phaser 6125 (whoa, a Phaser, I'll need one of these to fight off the Romulans when Kirk and Spock pick me up later tonight).

I have this neat software package that can actually give the cost per page of most printers and multifunctional products and why shouldn't I. I'm the darn expert. Some software programs may vary in the price per page.

So, this really hot (phaser) Xerox Phaser 6125 sells for $349. While it has a neat print speed of 12 pages per minute for color and 18 pages per minute for black. The black toner cartridge cost for this device is $63.36 with a yield of 2,000 pages. Mind you that the 1,600 pages is based on probably 5% coverage of the page. There are three color cartridges, Cyan, and Yellow are $54.63 each and Magenta is $55.31 each. The estimated yield for the color cartridges is 1,000 pages based on 20% coverage.

Now, you may ask what is 20% color coverage of the page, pretty much if you condensed all of the color print area to one area, it means it can't cover more than 20% of the page. Take a trip here to see color page coverage examples

Back to the color cost per page (we're just gonna focus on the color cost per page), divide the cost of all four cartridges by the yield, and then add em up and you have a color cost per page of .1926. Ok, I gonna print me my  maximum volume of 40,000 pages, so, how much is that gonna cost me? It's gonna cost you $7,704 each and every month, and if you maintain that volume for 36 months, you'll be out a whopping $282,529! WHOA, NOW THAT'S A REALLY BIG NUMBER!

How about if you print all your docs with 40% coverage (go back to the page coverage link for an example). Get a load of this number, simple math it's twice the cost. $565,345 for the total cost of operation and that's about .39 cents per page. YIKES, THAT WILL ALMOST GET ME A RIDE INTO SPACE VIA THE RUSSIANS!

Wanna see more? At 100% coverage the Total Cost of Operation runs up to $1,413,217 and a cost per page for just under ONE DOLLAR. DAM, 1.4 MILLION DOLLARS THAT'S ENOUGH TO GET ME ON THE SPACE SHUTTLE FOR A WEEK!

Hey, I understand that most users don't print all their pages at 40%, and I understand (because I'm in the business) that this printer will might choke a few times before it prints 40,000 pages in one month, however how does the end user know this? There's no disclaimers, well maybe it can do 40,000 pages per month, but at 12 pages per minute that would take almost 55 hours to complete. Point is there should be some type of real measuring stick for these types of devices. Like there's no way on Earth or Romulus that this system will print 40,000 color pages per month every month and I don't like this "Print volume uniformly distributed over 30 days" it's in the fine print of the brochure!

In closing, if you're thinking about doing on 40,000 color pages per month, with 20% coverage on the page, opt for the SAVING MONEY, and call a Print4Pay Hotel member to save you some real cash. Here's a neat link (P4P Cafe) to get a quote on a Really Nice MFP so you can get that Really Expensive Ride to Romulus!!

-=Good Selling=-

New Ricoh 430DN Color Cost Per Page @ .038?

Take a look at this new Color Printer from Ricoh.  Printer Showcase is stating a cost per page of .038 per page!  Strange the numbers I have from Ricoh is .0513 per page for 20% coverage.  All in all .0513 is very inexpensive also, just would like to know how they figured their cost per page?



-=Greetings from the Highlands=-

Samsung Deals another Blow to MFP Giants (Ricoh, Canon, KonicaMinolta)

You here it from me over and over, A4 devices are the way to go!

Samsung has launched their 6555N Multifunctional System, a 55 page per minute device that incorporates a 7" LCD display, 1200x1200 dpi, max paper capacity of 3,240 sheets. The system will color scan out of the box along with an FCOT of 5 seconds, a FPOT of 8 seconds and a max monthly volume rating of 250,000 pages per month. Optional sorter/stapler, fax module and three additional paper trays are available. Get this, the MSRP is $3,995!!



First glimpse tells me that this system is based on the 6354n (45ppm) device, Samsung has changed from older the mono 7" screen to a color 7" screen and beefed the speed from 45 pages per minute to 55 pages per minute. From the picture it seems like the document feeder may have been changed also, not sure, I'll have to wait until I see one of these bad boys.


No 11x17 capability, but who the heck needs 11x17 anymore! Personally, I think the MSRP is two low. It should be more like $6,995, thus allowing dealers and salespeople the opportunity to upgrade older A3 devices to SCX-6555N. I have a few 6345N's in the field generating an average of 8,000 pages per month and no reported problems.


What's next for Sammy a 75ppm device, maybe 85ppm, are all of the A3 devices made by the likes of Ricoh, Canon, Fuji Xerox, KonicaMinolta overpriced? It all depends on if you need 11x17 to print copy or scan. Fact is, Sammy has plans on 75, 90 & 110 ppm systems!


Realizing, that the cost per page of the SCX-6555N is twice that of a 55ppm A3 device. The SCX-6555N still has a home in the SMB market place especially if the user is average 10,000 pages per month. At a cost per page of .016 the SCX-6555N will have a total cost of ownership of $13,995 with out any options. Take a similar A3 device that has an MSRP of $20,000 and a consumable cost (based on 600,000 pages) of $5,100, thsu we have a TCO of $25,100. That's a HUGE difference. Some will argue that the 55ppm A3 devices will last longer and have a larger paper supply, and I might agree, however I could buy three of the SCX-6555N's and still be under the $25,100.


What I'd really like to see is the likes of Ricoh, Canon, KonicaMinolta, Fuji Xerox to wake up and smell the coffee! We don't have to bring to market A4 devices with a very low MSRP, we can bring them in higher and we can sell the reliability, quality and a lower cost per page. Currently we are producing 55ppm A3 devices with cost per pages under a penny, why o why can't we do this with an A4 device!! Come on people Wake UP!!