The Real Cost of Business Printing: When to Use Office Depot vs. Other Options

There's no single "right" answer for business printing

Honestly, the question everyone asks—"laser printer vs. inkjet" or "should I just use Office Depot?"—is kinda the wrong one. The real question is: what's your actual print volume and what are you printing?

I've been on both sides of this. As a procurement manager for a mid-size company, I've tracked every dollar spent on printing over the last 6 years. We went from a freebie inkjet to a leased laser, then back to a mix of in-house and outsourced printing. I've burned money on the wrong setup, and I've saved us roughly $8,400 annually—about 17% of our printing budget—once we stopped guessing.

So here's what I've learned: there are three main scenarios, and your answer depends on which one fits.

Scenario 1: The High-Volume Office (1,000+ pages/month)

If you're printing more than a ream of paper a week, buy a laser printer. Period. Get a Brother or a used HP LaserJet for $200-400, and you'll get 10,000+ pages per $70 toner cartridge. That's about $0.02 per page.

People assume inkjets are cheaper because the machine costs $50. The reality is, the ink costs $60 and prints maybe 200-300 pages. That's $0.20-$0.30 per page. Ten times more expensive. I learned this the hard way: in Q2 2024, when we switched our shipping department from an inkjet to a laser, we cut per-page costs by 90%.

For this scenario, Office Depot's business solutions are solid. They'll sell you the machine and set up auto-ship on toner. Just watch the margin on their extended warranties—I've seen markup of 50%+ on those. A good third-party warranty can save you $100-150.

Key tip: Monitor your monthly page count. If you're consistently over 1,000, go laser. If you're under, keep reading.

Scenario 2: The Low-Volume Startup (under 200 pages/month)

Honestly, for a small business printing 50-100 pages a month, an inkjet is fine. But here's the catch: don't buy the cheapest inkjet. Get a mid-range Canon or Epson with separate ink tanks for each color. That way, when magenta runs out, you're not throwing away half-full cyan and yellow cartridges.

I think this is where Office Depot's small-friendly model actually works well. You can buy the printer there, and their membership perks often include a few free prints. Not huge, but it's something. And if you need business cards, they're decent—$20-35 for 500 cards, standard turnaround. I've used them for small runs when we needed something fast.

But here's the thing most people miss: outsource what's not core. Printing a few hundred flyers? Use Office Depot's print service (I've paid $80-150 for 1,000 flyers). Printing a file cabinet full of manuals? That's when you buy.

If I had a dollar for every startup that bought a $300 "business" inkjet and then spent $400 on ink in the first year... Well, I'd have a few hundred dollars.

Scenario 3: The Mixed Use (occasional bulk + daily printing)

This is the trickiest one. You need everyday printing for internal docs, but also occasional bulk jobs for client materials. The mistake I see: buying a massive laser printer capable of 10,000 pages/month when you only print 500 internally, and then using it for high-quality brochures (which look mediocre on a laser).

Here's what I'd recommend:

• In-house: A solid inkjet (Canon Pixma or Epson Expression Premium) for 50-100 pages/week. Cost per page: about $0.05-$0.08 with ink tank models.
• Outsource: Office Depot or a local print shop for runs over 100 copies or anything requiring color accuracy. Their offset printing is cheaper per unit at scale, and you don't have to stock the machine.

I've done this exact split for the past 3 years. Saved us $3,000 annually. The key is discipline: don't be tempted to run 500 copies of a client proposal on your home printer just because it's fast. The per-page cost will kill you.

How do you know which scenario you're in?

Most buyers focus on the upfront cost—the machine—and completely miss the total cost of ownership (TCO). Here's a quick way to figure it out:

1. Track your print volume for one month. Count every page. Be honest. If you think it's 200 but it's really 600, you'll make the wrong call.
2. Calculate your cost per page. Divide the cost of a cartridge by its page yield. If you're over $0.05/page for B&W, you're probably on the wrong setup.
3. Add 20% for hidden costs. Paper jams, ink drying out, replacement printers. That $50 printer isn't $50.

If you're in Scenario 1, buy a laser. Office Depot has decent options, but comparison-shop with Amazon Business for price. If you're in Scenario 2, get an inkjet from anywhere (Office Depot's fine) and use their print service for bulk. If you're in Scenario 3, outsource the bulk and keep the inkjet for daily use.

Bottom line: don't let a $50 machine trick you into $500 in ink costs. I made that mistake in 2023. You don't have to.