How long should you keep a printer? Buying a new printer has become more problematic with supply shortages, rising costs, and staff shortages. Preventative maintenance and a few setting changes can dramatically impact the life of your printer. A lack of understanding can magnify issues, resulting in additional expenses, unintended delays, and the preventable cost of replacing your printer. Learn effective ways to extend the life of your printer.
Keeping Printers in Good Condition
You might be surprised at how long a printer’s life span will be if you take good care of it. With the proper care, business and home printers will live long and continue to print in quality.
When possible, use the draft/economy mode for printouts. High-quality printing is excessive for everyday documents, whereas draft mode produces readable text and images.
Decrease print waste by double-checking everything before printing. Any way to reduce the quantity of printing will reduce the stress put on the equipment. Make sure to use the proper size and weight of paper, too. This will help with printer jams.
Don’t let inkjet printers sit for too long without running; this results in dried and clogged ink cartridges and a lot of waste. While it is essential to reduce unnecessary printing, please be conscious of how long it has been since your last print job. If the printer has an ink clog, you may waste copies of paper trying to fix an avoidable problem.
Above all, the most crucial step is regular cleaning. Get your printer cleaned by a skilled printer professional once a year to maintain its condition.
What Printer Did You Choose?
Choosing the right printer dramatically affects how long you can keep it in good condition. Cheap printers cost you in the long run because they will break down more often, use more ink, and produce more waste. Businesses with high-volume print needs will not benefit from a cheap printer because small and cheap printers can’t handle the toll of mass printing.
Look for a printer that streamlines your workflow, has a lot of software capacity, and is easy to navigate. Go for an Energy Star model that will let you go green and reduce your carbon footprint. Look at names like Xerox, HP, and Brother to find great quality workhorses that will last.
How Long Should You Keep a Printer?
Here’s the big question: After how long should you get a new printer? Realistically, there is no easy, blanket answer for this. If your printer works and does the job to your satisfaction, there’s likely no reason to replace it.
If your print quality has gotten poor, you hear strange noises, have regular print jams, or need to replace actual parts, that’s another sign. To extend the life of your equipment, get a maintenance service program like those we offer. For more information, contact Vegas Ink and Toner or give us a call today!
