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Why Isn't There Duplex Printing in the SCCs
Duplex printing in non-environmentally controlled situations such as our SCCs is very
problematic. Generally we have little to no control over either temperature or humidity levels in the
Student Computer Centers. At times we have external fans blowing directly on the existing printers to help
dissapate heat. Combine this with the fact that we utilize environmentally-friendly recycled
paper, run it through the laser printer hot press process, and paper jams and printer maintenance
challenges increase drastically. ITS User Services believes that the increase in cost
to procure and support print operations (most SCCs locations and/or hours are unattended) in such an environment
would substantially more than negate any cost savings gained by duplex printing. Additionally, in our past
experience, we have suffered significant printer damage resulting from students trying to clear print
jams from non-duplex printers in unstaffed SCCs.
The good news is that the university is saving overall costs for energy by not having highly
controlled environmental rooms for our labs and utilizing lower cost solutions such as the
university’s well water chillers for cooling.
Additionally, we encourage reduction in printing by encouraging use of electronic
documents, such as creating PDF files, in lieu of paper documents.
What does it cost to print (Academic Year 2008-2009):
Paper cost per page: $0.004010
Toner cost per page: $0.008145
Total cost per page: $0.012155
FY2009 SCC print Cost: $55,828.60
Analysis: Much of the printing in the SCCs is one page so for that percentage there is no gain.
If we assume that amount is 25% that leaves $41,871.45 with ~1/3rd of that cost is the paper
($13,957.15) and half of that ($6,978.58) could be saved *assuming* all prints other than
single pages were an even number of pages. Offsetting costs would be cost of purchasing
duplexers for our 14 printers ($1,572/year) leaving $5,406.58. Over the course of the year,
we believe that amount would be more than offset by decreased availability due to paper jams,
increased expenses for broken equipment repair and additional projected downtime for students.
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