Printer recommendation for 300-600 sheet prints per day

[wheresmycar]

Hi,

My sister in law, as part of her job, is required to print as much as 300-800 sheets per day depending on how many court cases she is dealing with. We currently have x2 Canon TS5050 printers which work great for draft+greyscale prints and the refillable ink is dirt cheap. Only drawback being, the maximum paper input is 100 sheets. The super affordable TS5050 runs great but there's always the fear of cheaper hardware throwing in the towel.

So we're looking for suggestions with the following in mind:

- Increased paper input capacity (minimum 300 as individual case files range from 120-200 sheets)
- Something which is presumably more robust/reliable for the long run for bulk printing
- Colour would be a nice feature but not necessary
- preferably affordable ink replacements
- Something compact as the study room she works in is limited for space. printer will sit on the desk.

 

[Blue4130]

Without a doubt, switch to laser printing

 

[Deleted member 223428]

Something like this for that workload.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Brother-HL-L6300DW-Wireless-Connected-Printing/dp/B01BFMGZ14/

8000 page OEM toners

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Brother-TN3480-Cartridge-Genuine-Supplies/dp/B01BFHH27K/

 

[Zach_01]

I cannot recommend a model but definately get a laser printer for this kind of printing.
Lasers are faster and less expensive per paper printing.

 

[Bill_Bright]

Who is paying for this?

300 - 800 sheets a day is a HUGE volume. Those are "industrial" level numbers. I recommend considering leasing a "commercial" grade printer from an business supply company.

 

[P4-630]

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[bug]

Definitely laser for that volume. It's way cheaper in the long run.
IPP Everywhere/AirPrint may also come in handy if printing straight from various mobile devices.

 

[Andrea87]

300-600 pages a day are 9-18K per month, and roughly 108-216K per year. Have you looked into renting something? As I believe it's mostly black and white, buying a consumer printer to process that kind of volume means running it into the ground in a couple years if everything goes well.

For a laser I would suggest an high-volume Kyocera such as the Ecosys P-3260 dn, 60 pages per minute A4, drum and developer guaranted for 500k pages or 3 years with a 500 sheet paper tray.

The only kind of inkjet I would consider for such a job are the HP Officejet Pagewide series, P57750dw for multifunction or P55250dw for printer only. Cartridges last up to 10/16K pages depending on models.

Between the two I would definitely go for the laser printer, rented with a contract offering maintenance and perhaps a large "zero-cost" amount of pages included in every month's price.

 

[bug]

@Andrea87 Have you considered she may not be working week-ends? She may not even have to print over her vacation

 

[cvaldes]

Who is paying for this?

300 - 800 sheets a day is a HUGE volume. Those are "industrial" level numbers. I recommend considering leasing a "commercial" grade printer from an business supply company.

This is the first response in this discussion thread grounded in reality. Andrea87 makes some excellent follow up points.

For this volume (10K-15K sheets per month), it really should be a leased machine with a service contract. Typical SOHO printers aren't designed for this heavy load.

At the last company I worked for, the main high-volume printers were all leased (with such a service contract). A few employees had personal printers that were purchased and maintained by the on-site IT staff.

Something like the Brother laser printer posted here would be a good backup device in case the primary printer fails and a service technician can't come out for a few days (which invariably happens at the least convenient time).

 

[GhostRyder]

It depends really on what you want to spend and what type of environment you're in. If your looking for something on a budget that can handle alot of printing, you can pick up a Xerox Phaser 3330 for around 200 that is rated for 6k printing a month and can have extra trays expanded to hold extra paper. You can go further on it on printing as the area I work in goes well beyond that and they generally hold up fine.

If you want something actually rated for the job your asking (About 15k per month roughly), I would recommend something like the Xerox Versalink B400 as it has the same expandability, is rated for 15k pages a month, and is not too crazy pricey (About 800).

These are both very compact machines that can have trays added easily for more paper and you can pick up drums for these for a reasonable price. These are both B&W printers.

 

[nomdeplume]

... and right there we have the concept underlying a paperless office in a nutshell.

 

[Bill_Bright]

... and right there we have the concept underlying a paperless office in a nutshell.

Except the OP indicated these were court cases. That means, as government documents, they must be printed out in hard copies, boxed up and sent to the nearest fancy golf course for unguarded storage in a basement somewhere.

 

[cvaldes]

... and right there we have the concept underlying a paperless office in a nutshell.

A lot of industries are still mired in traditional work processes and are resistant to change: government and legal are definitely part of this group. And this varies by area.

Japan's government procedures still rely heavily on seals (essentially an ink stamp on a paper document) and most Europeans over thirty will tell you stories about queuing up at various counters to do this or that.

And there is a learning curve in adopting electronic documentation too, something that doesn't happen at the same speed for every person. It's pretty easy for me to pencil in notes on a piece of paper and use multi-colored page markers. I have one of those four-color pens and it's faster changing ink colors with that pen than switching pen tool colors for e-doc markup software.

Several years ago the city council piloted a program to give council members a choice of download e-docs or stick with courier-delivered hardcopy for weekly council meetings. It was split pretty evenly split at the time.

You can see the partial adoption in a lot of places even on the sidelines of a football game. Some people are using paper, others are using approved electronic devices. For sure, electronic devices provide alternate content like video that paper can't provide. Paper doesn't crash though.

Whether or not OP's sister in law can go exclusively paperless wasn't shared. But for sure, even in 2022, it's not yet an option for some people in some situations. In the original post, the first sentence is written in a way that indicates that she must furnish hardcopy for her job.

Hell, even the US federal budget is printed out.

 

[Frick]

Who is paying for this?

300 - 800 sheets a day is a HUGE volume. Those are "industrial" level numbers. I recommend considering leasing a "commercial" grade printer from an business supply company.

This is literally the only way for this that makes sense unless there's staff on premise for handling thay kind of thing, but since the question is thrown out here I assume there isn't.

Lease.

 

[Wirko]

Something compact as the study room she works in is limited for space. printer will sit on the desk.

Laser printers emit ozone and microscopic particles of toner, and both may not be totally harmless to a person sitting next to a busy printer in a small room. Take care of good ventilation.

Also, you may need double-sided printing. I don't know much about large office printers, maybe all of them support it, but it's better to check before buying or leasing.

 

[wheresmycar]

thanks guys. Laser printer on lease it is. Never considered "leasing" but it definitely sounds like the practical way forward especially if this includes servicing/maintenance/replacements

We're in the UK... just wandering, are these lease plans inclusive of servicing should anything go wrong? Or do these suppliers vary in their business practices? Ideally we would love some peace of mind and wouldn't mind paying a little on top to add those perks.

300-600 pages a day are 9-18K per month, and roughly 108-216K per year. Have you looked into renting something? As I believe it's mostly black and white, buying a consumer printer to process that kind of volume means running it into the ground in a couple years if everything goes well.

For a laser I would suggest an high-volume Kyocera such as the Ecosys P-3260 dn, 60 pages per minute A4, drum and developer guaranted for 500k pages or 3 years with a 500 sheet paper tray.

The only kind of inkjet I would consider for such a job are the HP Officejet Pagewide series, P57750dw for multifunction or P55250dw for printer only. Cartridges last up to 10/16K pages depending on models.

Between the two I would definitely go for the laser printer, "rented with a contract offering maintenance and perhaps a large "zero-cost" amount of pages included in every month's price".

that there sounds perfect. Any recommendations for a UK lease supplier who is reliable? (anyone?)

For those of you asking why so many papers, trust me I was equally concerned but the courts demand it. She's a solicitor advocate and deals with anywhere between 2-7 cases a day (maximum 8 cases in special circumstances). Each case usually requires around 120-250 sheets of paper which the advocate is required to present at the hearing or in the least have immediate access to if requested by the judge. Printer/paper costs are already predetermined within the salary although I don't know if shes getting sufficient imbursement to cover the full cost (will definitely look into that once we work out the printer/ink costs).

 

[cvaldes]

Your best bet is to inquire about leasing companies from (business) neighbors or other local people whom you trust. When I say local, I mean local to your sister in law, not where you live, not where another UK TPU participant lives two hours away.

It's not just about pricing. It's also about responsiveness when there is a problem that requires on-site service. A lot of offices and business around her are using such companies for sure.

The cost of the consumables will be one of her biggest long term expenses. Consumer grade home-focused ink cartridges are a poor value per page. I only print 10 pages per month, cost and speed matter less. She is printing 30-50x that amount per workday, nearly a ream of paper (here in the USA, a ream is 500 sheets).

 

[bonehead123]

2nd, 3rd or whatever on the business-class lease w/ a service plan....I'm not sure how it works across the pond, but surely it would be similar.

As for the papered office thing goes....get this:

I remember when I got married overseas years ago, my intended & I had to drive all around a large city, going from 1 gov't office to another & back again (Fed, State, county, local-major & local-minor) taking a huge file box of 22 documents with us, each of which required at least 9 (or more) original, hand-typed hard versions (no copies or carbon paper allowed), each of which had to be individually stamped, dated, signed & sealed in an extremely precise location on each document (everything had to be precisely inside the pre-arranged outlined spaces) in an extremely precise order only by the 1 specifically designated person, in each of the 33+ offices we visited, only to be carried to the next office for a repeat of the same process all over again.. miss a step - FU, start all over AND pay me again, get something stamped/dated/signed/sealed out of sequence - FU, start all over AND pay me AGAIN....

Sad thing was, that it all had to be completed within 72 hrs from start to finish, including complete physical exams for both of us, without a single goofy anywhere, or else we would not have been issued a marriage license....

 

[SL2]

Also, you may need double-sided printing.

This.

While it's possible to do manually with any printer, I still doubt that's what they're doing with the printers in the OP.. Lots of paper/money to save.

I remember when I got married overseas years ago,

Where?

 

[claes]

Is she employed by someone? Sounds like the boss should foot the bill and can probably recommend some good services (if they don’t have one already).

 

[Chomiq]

Even if you're going to lease make it a business expense and have the firm pay for it. If she's going to print that many pages I suspect that she'll have to scan something to, so you might want to give combo units a look. We have an older Canon multi-function color laser printer at our local office, it's a lifesaver for printing, scanning and emailing documents. Find a company that deals with this sort of setup, give them your requirements and budget and consider their offer.

 

[Wirko]

2nd, 3rd or whatever on the business-class lease w/ a service plan....I'm not sure how it works across the pond, but surely it would be similar.

As for the papered office thing goes....get this:

I remember when I got married overseas years ago, my intended & I had to drive all around a large city, going from 1 gov't office to another & back again (Fed, State, county, local-major & local-minor) taking a huge file box of 22 documents with us, each of which required at least 9 (or more) original, hand-typed hard versions (no copies or carbon paper allowed), each of which had to be individually stamped, dated, signed & sealed in an extremely precise location on each document (everything had to be precisely inside the pre-arranged outlined spaces) in an extremely precise order only by the 1 specifically designated person, in each of the 33+ offices we visited, only to be carried to the next office for a repeat of the same process all over again.. miss a step - FU, start all over AND pay me again, get something stamped/dated/signed/sealed out of sequence - FU, start all over AND pay me AGAIN....

Sad thing was, that it all had to be completed within 72 hrs from start to finish, including complete physical exams for both of us, without a single goofy anywhere, or else we would not have been issued a marriage license....

Italy?

Man, you could write a book based on this experience.

Each case usually requires around 120-250 sheets of paper which the advocate is required to present at the hearing

That's because of many copies required, not just long documents, I guess.

 

[bonehead123]

Italy?

Man, you could write a book based on this experience.


That's because of many copies required, not just long documents, I guess.

Not Italy, but a nearby neighbor. I'll just count my description here as a summary of the forthcoming book, hehehe

Legal documents are inherently long documents (both physically and context-wise), mainly due to the gazzillions of unnecessary, overly complex, and discombobulated words that nobody other than lawyers & judges can even attempt to decipher...

 

[Bill_Bright]

Duplex (2-sided) printing is certainly a great paper saver - great for the environment as well as the budget.

However, there are several issues about duplex printing that may, or may not be problems folks should be aware of.

1. It takes time for the printing device to flip the paper over. The mechanical process of flipping the piece of paper adds time. But also, there typically is an introduced delay of a couple seconds to ensure the ink/toner on side 1 dries first to avoid smearing during the flip. "IF" delivering these hard copies is "time sensitive", delays may be unacceptable. 100s of pages would add up.

2. Duplex printing adds to the mechanical and programming complexity of the printing device. That likely will add to the cost of purchase or leasing, as well as any repairs which may happen more frequently due to more moving parts.

3. Since these are official court papers, duplex printing may not be authorized.

4. Printing large documents in "reverse order" is a wonderful convenience. With simplex (1-sided) printing, it always results in page 1 being on top of the completed print job. It saves a lot of time by not having to manually re-order all the pages. You just grab and go.

But in duplex mode, it sometimes results in page 1 being printed on the flip side (page 2). "IF" the document has the page numbers printed on the page, this can throw off the synchronization of the numbering. This then requires editing the document to add a blank page at the beginning, then re-running the print job. That's ends up wasting time, paper and ink/toner.

Bottom line - there is a learning process to make duplex printing work best for you.