With companies like webSaver.ca and Save.ca now offering printable coupons and the influx of online coupons available couponing is definitely moving in a new direction. Printables are the way of the future!
I’m actually still surprised by the amount of people who frown upon printable coupons. We hear it all the time – it wastes my ink, it wastes my paper, I don’t have a printer. Well ladies and gents, I am here to tell you why it pays to print!
Cost to the Company
Although having coupons mailed to your home is free for you it most certainly IS NOT to the company supplying them! There are many factors to take into account here that drive up the price of mailing out coupons. There is the cost of the paper, the ink, the time to process and print the coupons, the equipment to print the coupons, the envelopes, and the postage. Then there is the value of the coupon that is going to be lost from each sale and the fee the Brand offering the coupon has to pay to the distributing company. Sites like webSaver.ca and P&G have taken steps such as having minimum order requirements in order to help reduce these costs but when you multiple each cost by the millions of coupons processed each year it is in no way cheap for anybody (well, except for you!).
Coupon Values
We have also noticed a growing trend with mail-to-home coupons generally having a lower value than the ones you print at home. This is most likely due to all of the cost factors we talked about above. If the company can eliminated all of the costs involved with actually mailing the coupon it is more likely they will offer higher savings! It only makes sense right! And as an added bonus most SmartSource Printable Coupons allow you to print them twice per computer – double the coupons equals double the savings!
Immediate Savings
One of the greatest benefits of a printable coupon is they are available NOW! Look at it this way – there is a GREAT sale on toothpaste this week and you know that there is both a printable or a mail-to-home version of the same coupon. If you take the mail-to-home option you risk the coupon not arriving in time for you to cash in on the sale or the store being out of stock by the time it arrives. On the flip side, you print that coupon at home and can go to the store right away to get your toothpaste so you can be sure to get your sale.
Think of it as an Investment
Purchasing a good quality printer may seem like a lot of money out of pocket. And really it can be. But if you think about it like an investment it really isn’t so bad. You can use a printer for so much more than printing coupons! Use it to make greeting cards, party invitations, print family photos at home, make gift tags, or print colouring book pages – the options are endless! And for the few pennies per print it will cost you (I’m going to break it down below) you will wind up saving tons in the long run! Not to mention the oodles of savings that will come with all of the coupons you can now print! If you’re not into doing all of the other things that your printer is capable of and just want to print coupons I would recommend going with a mono laser printer.
It Really Isn’t THAT Expensive
I completely understand that many of you feel that printing coupons is a waste of your resources (ink, paper) but in actuality the cost is mere pennies per page! I would only ever recommend a laser printer to anybody looking to purchase one. It is more expensive for the actual unit and the toner cartridges are also pricey but the value far outweighs the costs. Laser printers have a better print quality and cost less to use in the long run. If you’re not into doing all of the other things that your printer is capable of and just want to print coupons I would recommend going with a black-only laser printer.
I’m going to break it all down from scratch to show you that for what it costs to print a coupon you are actually still in the green! I have taken all prices from Staples.ca.
LASER
Brother HL2240 B/W Laser Printer – $119.93 (new printers almost always come with a starter cartridge so you won’t have to purchase toner right away!)
High Yield Toner Cartridge (2600 prints) – $65.33 (currently 10% off)
Case of Laser Paper (2500 sheets) – $43.96
Now this might seem like a lot of money to put out for a printer and it is, but like I said it is an investment and it will pay for itself quickly!
So now here is the breakdown on what it will cost you per print based on the above numbers.
Toner: Cost / # of Prints per Cartridge = $0.025 per page
Paper: Cost / # of Pages per Case = $0.017 per page
Total Cost per Print: $0.042
So for just about 4 pennies per page you could be printing high value coupons to help you save on your groceries! Even with the cost of the print deducted from the value of the coupon you are still saving more than you are spending! You should easily be able to recover the cost of the printer with the extra money you will now be saving with all of your extra coupons! And your new printer will last you for many years to come.
Now for everyone who uses InkJet printers here is what it costs you to print per page.
INKJET
Canon Pixma iP2700 Photo Inkjet Printer – $49.99
Canon PG-210XL Black/Colour Ink Cartridges Combo Pack, High Yield (401 prints) – $57.75
Case of Inkjet Paper (2500 sheets) – $37.45
Again, this option isn’t cheap either! Here is the breakdown on your cost per print based on the numbers above.
Ink: Cost / # of Prints per Cartridge = $0.144 per page
Paper: Cost / # of Pages per Case = $0.014 per page
Total Cost per Print: $0.158
As you can see the cost of printing on an Inkjet printer is almost 4 times that of a laser printer. It is almost important to note that the toner in the laser printer will last over 6 times as long as the ink in your inkjet printer.
So for all of you anti-print couponers – it is time to jump on the bandwagon and get printing!
Do you have an opinion about print-at-home coupons? Or do you have an example of why print at home coupons are great? How about a printer that you highly recommend? Share it all below in the comments!
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