I've got probably about 500 pages of printing to do with much more to come while I collate it.
Whats the cheapest way for me to do this as it wont be a one off print.
Thanks
Id love recommendations on how and where you do your print jobs
Ebzmyst on 03/08/2023 - 12:45
Last edited 03/08/2023 - 12:46
Last edited 03/08/2023 - 12:46
Comments
Yeah the trouble is that for any budget level printer you're going to be screwed on ink/toner, even with aftermarket brands. And any pro-level printer is going to cost you at least in the mid-high hundreds of dollars. Oh and for that volume, don't use inkjets. Laser is the way to go.
One option is to buy an old commercial printer, making sure that toner is still cheap and accessible, make sure the print quality is up to scratch and that any consumables such as drums and toner waste still have plenty of life left in them. I've bought a couple of such printers for $50/$300 and they both came with several hundred dollars worth of original toner, and despite having printed tens of thousands of pages, they still printed like new.
I'd only recommend aftermarket toner if you don't care much about colour, I've never had much success getting good colour reproduction from the cheap stuff. Besides that, keep an eye out for unopened original cartridges on TM/eBay/Amazon etc. I picked up a truckload of original high yield unopened toner cartridges for ~$50 each that retail for over $400.
Other option is to go to the likes of Warehouse Stationary. Once you get into the hundreds of pages their printing charge isn't too bad, they can also handle binding and double sided printing no problem. I don't have much experience with this though.
I have sold quite a few laser printers over the years, and they are generally in excellent condition, although usually with no toner (drums and other consumables are usually fine with life left in them though).
I don't have any now, so can't help, but have a look on TradeMe.
Note that decent business printers are usually pretty heavy (at least two people to pick up) as they are full of metal!
As a business owner I'd be horrified to find out that an employee started printing hundreds of pages off for a mate. That would be theft in my book and be grounds for instant dismissal. One or two pages and I wouldn't notice, or even really mind. Hundreds of pages and you're clearly milking the employer. Don't do it.
Agree with this, especially if its from a big company that has print monitoring in place. Not worth to risk your job for something like this.
Removed comment as bad life advice
🤣 all good
Ask a friend who owns a laser printer if you can borrow their printer and BYO toner + paper. Third party toner is quite cheap, $40 incl shipping from trademe usually lasts about 2,000 pages.
get it from suppliers in china. alibaba is the one id recommend the most. just takes a couple of months so not ideal if youre needing it right away but you can probably ask and pay for expedited shipping
Is that really cheaper than buying a second-hand laser printer, and printed yourself? Going second hand, I would think you'd manage around 1c per page (excluding paper costs - that would depend on the feedstock you require), especially if you on-sell the printer later (probably for a similar amount that you paid for it) so your net cash costs would only be toner, and negligible power.
Seems improbable, but perhaps unit rates for even small volumes (500 in this case) are much lower out of China than I would have guessed.
im not too sure but i figured 500pcs would be a big enough order for them to accept and you can probably get much better paper quality for a similar price than getting the most basic one you can grab here locally
just another option i recommend but not too sure of op's exact needs or situation
500 is a very small quantity - its only two reams of paper - many offices would go through that much in a day easily.
I second finding a second-hand laser printer. I just recently picked up a HP M477DW off FB marketplace for $50. The colour cartridges were like 1/4 full and the black was 1/2 full.
thanks for all your suggestions i'll take them all into consideration. I need some acts printed ACC and other handbooks etc. I dont do well retaining information reading it online. Hard copies will be the best way for me. Laser printer sounds ok its the ink always that I find is difficult. Thanks again
I have to get some stuff printed & bound for work (~200 page manuals), and found the easiest answer is just to email the PDF (or take in on USB) to one of the local Warehouse Stationary stores
I have been impressed; I can email it though and pick up a bound copy later than day with no issues.
Costs the company about $30 a pop, but last time I tried to print and bind in house at work, I burnt about an hour and ended up with a broken binding machine.
That hour is better spend doing chargeable work, so I found it pretty cost effective way of doing it.I keep getting this as a facebook advert - https://www.printonline.co.nz/
Looks good - haven't used it myself tho!Find a local printing company charge around 15-18c per page or I'm getting mine done at the Otago University Print shop only 10c per copy and they do it for public quotes. Check if your local university has a Print shop.
Depends on how big the size is, but would think just buying an inkjet or mono laser would be better being not a one off?