Do you know your true office printing costs, or are you relying on rough guesses? If you have ever wondered how to find out how much you are spending on printing, this guide will walk you through a practical, repeatable method for print costs benchmarking so you can make confident decisions before switching suppliers or exploring a managed print service.
Many businesses only see a few visible line items, like paper or toner, and assume that is the whole story. In reality, printing spend often hides across multiple suppliers, ad hoc purchases, service call-outs, and staff time spent dealing with issues. Benchmarking gives you a clear baseline, highlights waste, and helps you compare options fairly, including a managed service.
This article is written to be simple to follow, even if you are not technical. You will end up with a clear monthly figure, a realistic cost-per-page estimate, and a shortlist of quick wins to reduce spend.
What counts as “print costs” and what most businesses miss
Before you can benchmark properly, you need to be clear on what you are counting. The biggest benchmarking mistakes happen when businesses only include consumables, or only include a lease, and ignore everything else that affects real spend.
Direct costs (easy to spot)
- Paper (A4, A3, specialist stock, labels)
- Toner or ink (including drums, waste containers, maintenance kits)
- Repairs and maintenance (call-outs, parts, labour)
- Lease or finance payments (if you rent devices)
- Service contracts (including click charges or support agreements)
Hidden costs (often overlooked)
- Downtime and lost productivity when printing stops
- Time spent ordering supplies and managing multiple vendors
- IT support time helping with driver issues, network printing, and troubleshooting
- Wasted prints (misprints, duplicates, wrong settings, abandoned print jobs)
- Emergency purchases when toner runs out unexpectedly
Real-world example: a 20-person office buys a mix of “good value” desktop printers. The printers are inexpensive, but the ink is costly, staff frequently reprint documents due to streaks or faded text, and someone spends time each week tracking down cartridges. On paper, printing looks cheap. In practice, the true cost is much higher.
Step 1: List every device and who uses it
Start by building a simple device inventory. This gives you visibility and stops you missing devices tucked away in a back office or used by a single department. You do not need a complicated spreadsheet, but you do need consistency.
Build a basic printer inventory
Create a list of every printer, photocopier, and multi-function device (print, scan, copy). Include location and usage so you can spot patterns later.
- Make and model
- Location (office, floor, department)
- Who uses it (team or job role)
- Ownership type (owned, leased, rented, unknown)
- Primary purpose (invoices, packing slips, contracts, client packs)
- Known issues (paper jams, streaks, slow printing, frequent errors)
Pay special attention to “single point of failure” devices, meaning one device everyone relies on. These often cause the biggest productivity loss when they fail.
Step 2: Gather your usage data (print volume)
Benchmarking works best when you use real usage data. Your goal is to calculate how many pages you print each month and how that is split between black-and-white and colour.
How to find page counts without overcomplicating it
Most devices track their own counters. You can usually find page totals on the device screen under a menu called something like “counter”, “meter”, or “usage”. If you have invoices from a service provider, the page counts may already be listed.
- Service invoices: look for monthly or quarterly meter readings
- Device counters: record total prints, copies, and (if available) colour pages
- IT logs or print management reports: use these if you already have them, but do not worry if you do not
Record colour vs black-and-white
Colour pages often cost more than black-and-white pages because of toner usage and device wear. Even if your business “rarely prints in colour”, benchmarking can reveal that a single team is driving most of it.
Tip: If you regularly print A3, labels, or specialist stock, record those separately. This helps you avoid comparing a simple A4-only setup against a quote designed for mixed media.
Step 3: Pull the last 6 to 12 months of spend
This is where most businesses uncover the real story. Printing costs often sit across multiple suppliers and cost codes. To benchmark accurately, gather the last 6 to 12 months of spend so you can create a reliable monthly average.
Where to find the numbers
- Finance or accounts system: supplier invoices for paper, toner, repairs, servicing
- Lease provider: monthly device payments (printers or photocopiers)
- Stationery supplier: ongoing paper and consumables
- Online marketplaces: ad hoc toner orders and emergency purchases
- Maintenance and call-outs: one-off invoices from local repair companies
Do not worry if the data is messy. The aim is to capture enough to create a realistic baseline.
Print cost checklist table
Use the checklist below to make sure you are not missing key items. This is a common reason businesses underestimate their office printing costs.
| Cost area | Typical examples | Where to find it | Benchmarking notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Consumables | Toner, ink, drums, maintenance kits | Supplier invoices, online orders | Include emergency buys, not just planned orders |
| Paper and media | A4, A3, labels, envelopes, specialist stock | Stationery supplier, accounts reports | Separate standard paper from specialist media if needed |
| Device payments | Leases, rentals, finance agreements | Lease provider invoices | Include all devices, even “small” desktop printers |
| Maintenance and repairs | Call-outs, parts, labour, servicing | Repair invoices, service agreements | One-offs matter because they show reliability issues |
| Managed service charges (if any) | Click charges, service plans, support fees | Service provider invoices | Match charges to printed volume where possible |
| Hidden operational cost | Time spent resolving printer issues | Internal estimate | Even a rough estimate helps you see the true impact |
Quick sanity check: if you have 10+ printer-related suppliers and ad hoc purchases, you almost certainly have hidden spend. A managed approach often simplifies this into one clear monthly cost and service plan.
Step 4: Calculate your baseline benchmarks
Now that you have device inventory, usage data, and spend, you can calculate your baseline. These metrics help you understand what “normal” looks like and make it much easier to compare a quote later.
Your key benchmarking numbers
- Average monthly print spend (total spend divided by number of months)
- Average monthly print volume (pages per month, split by colour and black-and-white if possible)
- Estimated cost per page (monthly spend divided by monthly pages)
- Cost per employee (optional but useful for leadership teams)
A “good enough” cost-per-page method
You do not need perfection to get value from print costs benchmarking. Start with a clear, reasonable estimate, then refine it if needed.
Simple formula:
Total monthly printing spend ÷ Total pages printed per month = Estimated cost per page
Worked example: A 25-person business prints 18,000 pages per month. Over the last 12 months, they spent £1,200 per month on average across paper, toner, servicing, and device payments. Their estimated cost per page is £1,200 ÷ 18,000 = £0.066 per page (6.6p).
That number becomes your benchmark. If a new solution reduces cost per page, improves reliability, and lowers time lost to issues, you can see the impact clearly.
Step 5: Identify waste and quick savings before you switch
Once you have your baseline, the next step is spotting what is driving cost. This is often where businesses find savings immediately, even before changing anything.
Common patterns benchmarking reveals
- Too many small printers with expensive consumables
- Overuse of colour for internal documents
- Frequent reprints caused by poor print quality or wrong settings
- Unplanned toner purchases because stock is not managed
- Ageing devices generating high repair costs and downtime
- High-volume departments quietly driving most spend
Turn insights into action
Use what you find to create a short list of priorities. For example:
- Reduce colour printing where it is not needed
- Consolidate multiple small devices into fewer, more efficient ones
- Introduce standard default settings (like black-and-white by default)
- Replace unreliable devices that generate repeat call-outs
Even if you plan to switch, these insights give you a stronger starting point and better questions to ask potential providers.
How to compare your benchmark against a managed print quote (apples-to-apples)
Once you understand your true office printing costs, comparing options becomes far easier. The key is to compare like-for-like using your benchmark volumes and your real monthly spend, not rough assumptions.
What a fair comparison should include
- Devices: what is included, what is recommended, and why
- Servicing and repairs: clear coverage with predictable costs
- Consumables: what is included (toner, drums, parts) and what is excluded
- Support: response times and how issues are handled
- Pricing aligned to your actual volumes: so you are not overpaying for unused capacity
If your benchmark shows that leasing is part of your current spend, it is worth looking at structured options such as printer leasing for businesses or photocopier leasing options that align device capability to real usage.
For a broader view of managed support and cost control, explore Carden Managed Print services to see how a more streamlined approach can reduce supplier complexity and improve reliability.
Questions to ask any provider
- What is included in the monthly cost, and what is not?
- How are additional pages charged if volumes increase?
- What happens if volumes decrease?
- What is the expected device lifespan and replacement approach?
- How quickly are faults handled, and what support is available?
If you want help validating the numbers, you can contact Carden Managed Print and share your current device list and recent invoices. A clear benchmark often reveals savings opportunities very quickly.
A simple 30-minute benchmarking routine you can repeat quarterly
Benchmarking is not a one-off exercise. A quick quarterly check keeps your costs under control and helps you spot changes in printing behaviour before they become expensive.
- Update your device list: add new devices and remove retired ones
- Record page counters: total pages and colour split where possible
- Pull invoices: paper, toner, servicing, leases
- Refresh your benchmarks: monthly spend and estimated cost per page
- Track changes: identify what caused increases or decreases
This routine keeps your print environment predictable and makes it far easier to justify improvements.
Your next step: get a clear benchmark and explore savings
Print costs benchmarking helps you move from guesswork to clarity. By gathering device data, usage volumes, and 6 to 12 months of spend, you can calculate your true office printing costs, identify waste, and compare any new solution fairly. The result is a stronger business case, fewer surprises, and a clearer path to savings.
If you would like a second opinion on your figures or want to explore what a managed print service could look like for your business, contact Carden Managed Print to discuss your current setup and get help turning your data into a clear, actionable benchmark.
