Companies that currently go the route of using compatible cartridges to save costs, but run the risk of losing the warranty, and maybe even damaging the printer, can now achieve similar savings without substituting the original cartridges for re-fills.
Cartridge.co.za believes companies will be better served by seeking advice on how their printing costs could be substantially reduced without resorting to the use of compatibles and re-filled cartridges.
Solution providers should be educating clients about the differences between total cost of ownership, the often deceiving `price tag` of the printer, and then highlighting the far-reaching advantages of the former.
Companies, together with their suppliers, should do regular assessments of the printers currently being utilised, to establish what their `cost-per-pages` are, and whether it may be viable to replace some of those printers with a single larger unit that operates a much lower cost-per-page and as a result, saves the company money over the duty life of the printer.
Unlike larger corporates, SME buyers, who are often uninformed, tend to be put off by the higher purchase price of these larger workgroup printers, not realising that the running costs of printers can account to 10 times the initial purchase price of that printer. It is therefore necessary that suppliers shift the client`s focus to the long-term costs together with high productivity, rather than the short sightedness of just the printer`s price tag.
The cost-per-page on printers can vary from as low as 8c to as high as a couple of rand, so it stands to reason that by getting informed advice from a supplier, a company could effectively reduce its printing costs by more than half, without resorting to the use of re-filled cartridges.
Buyers of re-filled cartridges also need to review whether the short-term savings caused by the high prices of original cartridges compared to compatibles, are still a major contributing factor to the `original vs compatible` debate.
With the recent strengthening of the local currency, distributors of original equipment have passed substantial savings over to the consumer, whereas the price of compatibles has, for the most part, remained unchanged. This effect has brought the price differences down substantially and companies and suppliers alike need to constantly review these differences and assess whether the decreased savings are worth the risks associated with using re-filled cartridges.
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