Understanding Blended Cost Per Page: The Key to Smart Printing Decisions
Updated: Aug 24
The Importance of Blended Cost in Printing
When evaluating copier and printer proposals, many buyers focus on individual components of the offer rather than the overall cost of printing. They compare the machine price, monthly lease payment, cost per page or toner costs separately. While each of these numbers is important, evaluating them in isolation can be misleading.
The problem? Those numbers alone don't tell the full story.
A Common Scenario
Consider this common scenario: One vendor offers a printer for $50/month, while another charges $70/month. At first glance, the option with the lower monthly payment may seem like the obvious choice. But the lease payment is only one piece of the puzzle.
One of the most useful financial metrics when comparing print proposals is the blended cost per page.
What is Blended Cost Per Page?
Blended cost is one of the most effective ways to evaluate the financial side of a print agreement. It brings the entire cost structure, including hardware, service, and supplies, into a single, comparable number. This approach gives you a clearer picture of your printing expenses.
It is important to distinguish blended cost per page from a quoted cost-per-page service rate. A quoted cost-per-page rate may cover service and supplies but exclude the cost of the equipment itself. Blended cost brings those costs together so the entire printing arrangement can be evaluated.
Here’s how to calculate it (assuming service is included):
Lease model: (Monthly Lease Cost + Total Monthly Cost-per-Page Charges) ÷ Total Monthly Pages
Purchase model: ((Purchase Price ÷ Expected Ownership Period in Months) + Total Monthly Supply Costs) ÷ Total Monthly Pages
When comparing proposals, use the same realistic monthly print volume for each option. Contract minimums or included page allowances should not automatically be treated as actual usage. The objective is to determine what each proposal is expected to cost based on the number and type of pages your organization is realistically likely to produce.
Example: Calculating the Blended Cost
Let’s apply this to a simple example. Imagine an office prints 5,000 pages a month, with 80% black and 20% color.
Lease Cost: $68/month
Black Cost: 2.5¢/page
Color Cost: 10¢/page
Calculating the costs:
Black Printing: 4,000 pages x $0.025 = $100
Color Printing: 1,000 pages x $0.100 = $100
Lease: $68
Total monthly cost: $268
Now, let’s find the blended cost:
$268 in total monthly costs ÷ 5,000 total monthly pages printed is a Blended Cost per page of 5.4¢. $268/5000=5.4¢ or actually 5.36¢ if you don't round it up.
Now you have a single, meaningful number that can be used to compare this proposal with other options, regardless of how their pricing is structured.
What to Expect in SMB Environments
Based on our experience evaluating print solutions for small and medium-sized businesses, a reasonably competitive offer will typically produce a blended cost per page somewhere within the following ranges:
A good Monochrome Deal: ~3 to 5¢ blended cost per page, depending on volume.
A good Mixed Color Deal: ~5 to 10¢ blended cost per page, depending on volume.
These ranges are not absolute rules, but they can provide a useful benchmark.
If your blended cost is significantly higher, it is worth asking why. A higher cost may be completely justified by your requirements, but it can also indicate inefficiencies such as oversized equipment, inflated supply costs, low print volumes being spread across expensive hardware, or an unnecessarily costly service model.
The objective is not simply to achieve the lowest possible cost per page. It is to understand what is driving the cost and determine whether you are paying for capabilities or services your organization actually needs.
The Advantage of Blended Cost Evaluation
The advantage of using blended cost per page to evaluate a print proposal is simple: it cuts through the noise. Vendors can structure pricing in various ways, but this metric provides a much clearer picture of the total cost of producing each page.
At the end of the day, the cost of the printer itself is only part of the investment. What ultimately matters is the total cost of producing the pages your organization needs. The blended cost gives you a much clearer picture of what those pages are actually costing your organization.
Understanding your blended cost per page makes it much easier to compare competing print proposals on equal terms. By looking at the total cost of the equipment, service and supplies in relation to the number of pages you actually expect to produce, you can see beyond how the proposal is packaged and determine whether you are receiving reasonable value for your printing requirements.
If you are evaluating a printer or copier proposal and would like help understanding the numbers, feel free to reach out. We can help you look beyond how the offer is structured and determine what the proposed solution is really expected to cost your organization.
Comments