5% coverage not even close!

[mrmunroe]

I want to buy a color copier for my shop. I intend to use it to print multi-up forms with heavy coverage on 100 lb gloss text on the maximum size sheet of any given copier, on a regular, continuing basis.

Toner coverage on the average sheet will far exceed 5% which seems to be some kind of a standard measure.

My question is what happens, price-wise, when you regularly use 5, 10 or 20 times more toner than the standard 5% that's always a line item in a copier lease contract?

Does anyone have any real life experience with this type of situation?

 

[msaeger]

I have never seen a different charge depending on coverage it's always just whatever per page. They rate the number of pages you get from a toner with 5% per page. Are you getting a service contract that includes toner?

 

[mrmunroe]

The one contract I looked over carefully said 5% coverage was average, but the company reserved the right to charge for excessive use of toner.
It appears to me that I would use a lot more toner than 5% coverage. The question is still what happens when the copier company starts counting pixels and finds that I average 80% coverage?
Since you are a tech, I wonder if you are aware of what happens in a case like this?
I was hoping I'd hear from some printers with the same situation.
I can't imagine a company that would have me sign a contract stating 5% coverage and then sending me ten times that amount of toner for free.

 

[PricelineNegotiator]

How many sheets per month would you be averaging at 80%+ coverage?

 

[mrmunroe]

That sounds like a salesman question and it takes my original query off track.
I want to know what costs are involved when my toner usage far exceeds 5% coverage?

 

[PricelineNegotiator]

Haha. No idea, our coverage is probably around 50%. Most print, especially color, these days is shifting to a higher coverage area, so I don't think they are really enforcing that anymore. What would you say your coverage area is anyways?

 

[mrmunroe]

The plan is to put as many full coverage labels as possible on a max size sheet. The last machine we looked at had a sheet size of 13x19". So basically the plan is to cover the whole sheet with toner. Quite a bit more than 5% on a continuing basis.

Whether or not they enforce the 5% coverage rule, the fact still remains that I have to sign a contract with that inclusion. As far as I can see, that leaves me on the hook if the company decides to charge extra for toner.

You indicate that it's not an issue in your operation, so that's good to know. If some company would write a contract with 50% coverage as a norm I probably would sign it.

 

[PricelineNegotiator]

Sounds fun. How many sheets per month are you talking?

 

[kdw75]

Ours states that 7.5% is the average coverage. You have to remember though that they mean 7.5% of each color, so actually you are talking about 30% combined coverage.

Our contracted stated the same, but our salesman gave us a guarantee in writing, that we would not be charged for toner, no matter the coverage. He said that was simply put in there as a method to allow the company to crack down on people that were taking the toner and selling it.

 

[mrmunroe]

Thanks. That's the kind of info I was looking for.

 

[gig0]

replied to the wrong thread.

 

[Stephen Marsh]

The 5% coverage is an old historical reference for a black only print of a single document page filled with “light” text only (say photocopying a business document).

This is of course not the average job for most shops, even for black and white only prints.


Stephen Marsh

 

[jrsc]

It really depends on the company and who the manager that makes these decisions is at the time. We were fine with Ricoh for a long time then they had a manager change and all the sudden he wanted to charge us extra. We got into a big fight about it. Best bet is to cross that line off in the contract. The sales rep will tell you they can't do that but just keep pushing back.

 

[mrmunroe]

That's exactly what I was worried about. That line in the contract gives the company a loophole to charge more money for toner at their discretion.

 

[kdw75]

That's exactly what I was worried about. That line in the contract gives the company a loophole to charge more money for toner at their discretion.

Very true. But from my experience the toner costs them virtually nothing. Their only interest is that your machine is running, as their money comes from the click charges. While they may complain, they probably aren't going to let your machine run out of toner.

 

[mrmunroe]

Good point. I hadn't thought of that. No clicks, no money.

 

[AP90]

When I signed my contract, it stated something about 10% usage. I got onto my reps about that and they stated that was in there for going over by 10% usage. Basically if my clicks average out to where I'm using 110% coverage, then they know I'm selling toner or stockpiling. My contract has nothing to do with limiting my page coverage to 10%. Maybe my reps got it wrong (even though they are not new to any of this) but I have that to fall back on either way.

 

[mrmunroe]

I have several old Xerox Phasers. I was amazed when I learned that they actually count every pixel that gets printed! The number is humongous but it makes it a very simple task to determine the average amount of toner coverage. To me, that means that a copier company knows whether or not you are selling or stockpiling toner. That's not an issue I'm concerned about.
____________

What concerns me is that if I print 3x4" labels, in solid color, 18 up on a 13x19" sheet, by my calculation, that equals 17 times more toner than the 5% coverage I signed up for. If toner came in one pound bags, that would mean that the copier company would have to send me 18 bags when my contract said I should only need one bag. If I was the bean counter at the copier company, I'm pretty sure I'd notice the difference right away.

 

[pippip]

In Ireland we have a company that sells rebranded Konica's and they have their click charges relating to coverage. So 1-20% would be one rate, then 21%-40% etc etc.

 

[mrmunroe]

That's interesting. It indicates to me that that company is concerned about the amount of toner on a printed sheet.