Printing is expensive. Who would have guessed that it would cost so much money to put black and colored marks on a piece of paper? The cost of printing has grown so much over the years that it has spawned an entire refilling industry across the globe. Whether you are using remanufactured, compatible, refilled, or name brand (OEM to you technical types) there are a few things you can do to ensure that you are getting the most for your printing dollar. 1. Look at your price per page. This is probably the most important thing you can do when determining how much you will spend on printing. It is simply the price of your print cartridge (inkjet or toner) divided by the page yield of that cartridge. (Every cartridge has a number of pages that a customer can reasonably expect to get out of it. This is what is known as the "page yield" Most manufactures and reputable refillers define a page as 5% coverage of a sheet of standard 8 1/2 inch by 11 1/2 inch paper. So, if an inkjet has a page yield of 200, you may expect it to print 200 pages at 5% coverage.) If that cartridge cost $15.00 and has a page yield of 200, your cost per page is $15.00/200 pages= $.075 or seven and a half cents per page. Is this a good deal? It depends. How much printing do you do? If you only print a few pages a month, a low price-low yield cartridge is plenty. If you are a small office or do a lot of home printing, you probably want to look for a cartridge with a higher page yield but lower cost per page. As a general rule ink is more expensive per page than toner. Most monochrome black toners cost less than two cents per page while black ink can run five cents per page or higher. Some of the newer inkjet models claim to lower that cost dramatically. 2. Make sure you got all you paid for out of your cartridge. Computers are notorious for the "warning..Ink low "message. More often than not, there is still plenty of ink or toner left in the cartridge. Always judge if your cartridge is empty by the print quality of the page, not your computer's warning. 3. "Tap" your toner. When the print quality of your toner starts to fade, be sure that you "tap" your toner. Toner is a dry powdery substance that likes to stick to the wall and crevasses of the toner cartridge. Firmly tapping on the front of the cartridge (where most brands have their label/logo) will dislodge much of the stuck toner. I have opened many "empty" toner cartridges only to find that they had lots of printing left in them. 4. Make sure your ink cartridge isn't just clogged. Ink has a shelf life. It will clog up (just like an ink pen) if it isn't used. There are simple ways to unclog these. Most reputable refillers will take care of these free of charge. If you don't have a refiller in your area, just try to blot it with distilled water. Following these tips will help you keep your printing costs low and more money in your pocket.
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