Whenever equipment is purchased, particularly in the technology space, the sales price only tells a small part of its financial story. Just like a car buyer considers the cost of gas and maintenance, a tech purchaser must look at the total cost of a product over its entire lifetime in order to determine whether it makes sense. This calculation is known as the Total Cost of Ownership, or TCO.

TCO incorporates not just the purchase price of a product but also its ongoing costs in the form of maintenance, supplies, and other expenses. In the case of printer technology, this will generally include the cost of ink or toner, paper, expected repair costs, and the cost of electricity. Advanced TCO costing might even measure the footprint of the device and include a cost metric based on the amount of square footage of the business’s office space it occupies. 

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