Making the most of 8 cents/page
Should you buy an Inkjet or Laser printer?
The answer really comes down to how busy you are. Inkjet printers are, on average, cheaper to purchase. This might be appealing when first purchasing a printer, but inkjet cartridges last a fraction of what laser toner does. Laser printers are far more cost effective at scale. If you serve only a few papers a week, an inkjet printer might work well for you. If you print documents every day, you will need a laser printer.
About Laser Printers
Laser printers, which use toner cartridges, produce sharp text, print much faster, and are significantly cheaper per page. If you serve 100 documents in a month, you'll likely go through 5 ink cartridges at $30 each, costing $150, and likely been paid around $80 for printing. If you bought a $150 toner cartridge for a laser printer instead, it would last you 3 more months, eventually making you money in the process.
If you print a lot of documents, a laser printer is the way to go. It's a bigger initial investment, and though toner is more expensive than ink, in this business, laser printers quickly pay for themselves.
Printer Features to Look For
Printers come with a lot of features these days, and there are plenty of articles on the best printer for your small business that you can read. Here are a few features that we have found are important for process servers:
PPM
Pages Per Minute, frequently PPM, will tell you how fast the printer is. If you are a busy process server, look for at least 30 PPM - though consider that models printing 40-48 PPM are over 30% faster. Still, 30 pages per minute at 8 cents per page means you're making $2.40 per minute. Just to print!
Scanning Feature
Determine how frequently you will need to scan proofs when submitting them to ABC Legal. If it's fairly frequently, you will likely want to consider purchasing a printer with a built-in scanner.
Monochrome
When printing documents with ABC Legal you will only need to print in black and white. If you don't mind having a printer that doesn't include color, consider purchasing a monochrome printer as it brings the price down, sometimes considerably.
Overall
A monochrome laser printer is your best bet. The savings on toner vs ink, plus the speed of a laser printer, will make printing and organizing documents a cinch.