It is a good idea to take advice or at least research before you go to buy something new. If you ask an expert before purchasing a new laser printer, it would be very likely that the experienced individual will tell you to pay attention to the toner cartridge yield. It is the same as considering the mileage of a car that you expect to use daily. Very few people look at the cartridge yield when buying a printer.
This puts us in the position of paying through our noses just to keep our printers running. The worst part is that you need to use the printer regularly or else it will stop working altogether. It is an insidious trap. You need to stop printing too much to save money because the toner cartridge yield is not good enough but you can’t stop printing because it will result in your printing getting ruined.
You need to pay close attention to the toner cartridge yield before you pull the trigger on that printer purchase. If you don’t, you will set yourself up for a lifetime of unnecessary spending. To pay attention to the toner cartridge yield, you will need to understand what it is in the first place.
How is the toner cartridge yield estimated?
Toner cartridge yield is estimated based on ISO/IEC yield methodologies. These are standardized methodologies offered by an independent third party so that the buyers can compare cartridges that are made by different OEM or Original Equipment Manufacturers. You can’t compare apples and oranges, so this is a way to turn all the oranges into apples or vice versa.
The methodology is complex with numerous intricacies, but to summarize, the principle is simple. Find how many pages every cartridge will yield. Since the pages can’t be different, find a way to standardize the pages being printed. The chosen standardization was five percent coverage. This means that only five percent of the pages will be covered in toner.
This is why you often see “XYZ pages with 5% coverage” on all cartridges. If the phrase “5% coverage” is not prominent on the cartridge box, you can be sure that it will be available in the fine print somewhere. That is how the industry works.
Common reasons for low toner cartridge yield
Your pages have more than 5% coverage. This one is obvious. You are not meeting the estimated toner cartridge yield just because you are printing pages with more than 5% toner coverage. This could happen in a lot of ways. Pictures and graphics almost always needs more toner than 5% coverage pages do. At the same time, a lot of text documents also see higher percentages. In the case of text documents, the percentage can also depend on the font that you are using.
You print double-sided a lot. What a lot of people do not realize is that pages that are printed on both sides are counted as two pages when it comes to toner consumption. It may sound simple and obvious but most printer owners tend to count the number of pages that they have used from a stack. This will give them the number of pages that they have used but if they have printed in duplex then the estimated count will be way off the actual number. Duplex printing also means that the paper has to travel long distances to be reversed. While the paper is turning, the printing process is still active. This means that when you print a duplex, the printing and cartridge components are active for more than the period needed to print two pages.
If you wish to know more about your toner cartridge yield, you can contact your local leasing company. For example, if you have a copier in Memphis, you can contact Memphis (901) 235-5775. They can assist you with copier lease in Memphis, copier rental in Memphis, and copier repair in Memphis.
