Lexmark XC9635 — Enterprise Colour Multifunction Printer, available through Ink Inc.
Most business owners in Sherwood Park and the Edmonton metro area think they know what their printer costs them. They bought it, they order toner when the light flashes, and they call a tech when it jams for the third time in a week.
But here's what nobody tells you: that printer is quietly one of the most expensive things in your office.
What businesses are actually spending on printing
Industry data shows the average business spends 1–3% of annual revenue on printing. For a $1.5M company in Fort Saskatchewan or Vegreville, that's up to $45,000 a year — most of it invisible, buried in supply orders, service calls, and staff time spent not doing their actual job.
Here's the real breakdown:
- Toner bought at retail — reactive purchasing always costs more. Most businesses pay 20–40% above contract pricing because they're buying one cartridge at a time when they're already out
- Unpredictable service calls — billed per visit with no ceiling. A single drum replacement or fuser repair can run $300–$600 with no warning
- Equipment depreciation — that $5,000 copier is worth $500 in four years. You've absorbed the full capital cost while the technology falls behind
- Downtime — the cost nobody tracks but everyone feels. When the printer goes down before a deadline, someone's scrambling. That scramble costs real money in lost productivity
Ownership vs. leasing: what the numbers actually look like
Let's compare two Sherwood Park businesses — both printing roughly 3,000 pages a month.
Business A owns their equipment:
- Copier purchase (amortized): $120/month
- Toner and consumables: $180/month
- Service calls (averaged): $90/month
- Staff time troubleshooting: 2 hours/week × $25/hr = $200/month
- Total: ~$590/month — unpredictable, reactive, and rising
Business B leases through a managed print provider:
- Monthly lease including device, toner, maintenance, and support: $280/month
- Staff time troubleshooting: near zero
- Total: ~$280/month — fixed, predictable, and covered
The math isn't close. And that's before factoring in the next equipment refresh.
What managed print leasing actually includes
This is where most businesses are surprised. A proper managed print agreement isn't just a rental — it's a fully managed service. Here's what's typically covered:
- The device — commercial-grade printer or multifunction copier, current generation
- All toner and consumables — delivered before you run out, not after
- Proactive maintenance — monitored remotely, serviced before it fails
- On-site support — when something does go wrong, a tech comes to you
- End-of-term refresh — when the lease ends, you upgrade to current technology
No capital outlay. No surprise invoices. No staff troubleshooting paper jams at 8:45am before a client meeting.
We work with businesses across Sherwood Park, Edmonton, Fort Saskatchewan, Vegreville, and Lloydminster. The industries vary — professional services, logistics, healthcare administration, trades — but the pattern is consistent: within the first quarter of switching to managed print, costs drop and the operational headache disappears entirely.
The businesses getting ahead of this aren't buying cheaper printers. They're getting out of the ownership model entirely.
How to know if leasing is right for your business
You're a strong candidate for managed print leasing if:
- Your office prints more than 500 pages a month
- You have more than 5 staff sharing print infrastructure
- You've dealt with a printer or copier breakdown in the last 12 months
- You're currently buying toner reactively — when you run out, not on contract
- You can't tell me off the top of your head what printing costs you per month
If two or more of those apply, you're almost certainly overpaying and underserved by your current setup.
Ink Inc. offers a free, no-obligation print assessment for businesses across the Edmonton metro area and Alberta. We'll look at what you're currently running, what it's actually costing you, and what a managed print solution would look like — with real numbers, not estimates.
No sales pressure. Just clarity on what your print environment is costing you — and what it could cost instead.
Request a Free Print Assessment →