Despite the “paperless” office, writers still need to print out copy at times. No one would take a disk with a few pages on it to a copy shop for printing. What about printing out a 40-page user manual or 90 pages of sample chapters for a book proposal? Do you print at home or take it to a shop?
It’s easy to determine the print cost at the print shop. Just call them and ask. However, if you want to print on your laser printer, what is the cost for that? There’s only one way to know the answer to that question. Keep a spreadsheet that calculates not only the paper cost but includes the toner. It’s not that hard to do. The best time to set up the spreadsheet is when you replace the existing toner because that gives you a longer time period for more exact results. It can be done just about any time, though, but you will need to do some estimating.
Before changing the toner, use the printer’s status print out to see how many pages printed with the current cartridge. The printer documentation should tell you how to get that report. Alternatively, if it is a network printer, you should be able to see the status page by using a Web browser. Just enter the IP address in the browser URL bar. The network router probably has an IP of 192.168.1.1. If the printer is assigned a dynamic address the printer most likely has an IP of one number higher than your computer(s). With one computer on a network, the PC often will be at 192.168.1.100. In this case, the printer likely is at 192.168.1.101. Two computers on the network? Then try 192.168.102. With a static IP address, you should already know the printer’s address.
Use the same technique to get statistics if beginning part way into the toner cycle. In this case you will have to estimate full toner use based on the claimed average pages printed (from the printer manufacturer details) and a ratio of current printouts for the known time length of printing.
