If you lease printers, there’s a 90% chance you’re overpaying. Not because you’re careless—because the model is built to exploit inattention.

Here’s what happened.

I walked into a friend's office. Mid-sized company—around 400 employees with around 80 in the office on any given day. They had 5 leased MFPs (multi-function printers). No one questioned it because “we’ve always had 5.”

We ran a 90-day usage audit.

2 of the 5 devices printed zero pages.

Another one printed less than 100 pages a month.

They were locked into fixed monthly lease payments—regardless of usage.

Here’s the kicker:

That setup was costing them ~$18,000/year.
We recommended switching them to a consumption-based print partner.
They now pay for what they actually print.

Annual spend dropped to ~$4,000.
Savings: $14,000.

Why this happens:

• Leases are sold based on worst-case usage scenarios.

• No one tracks usage after install.

• Printers are seen as “IT’s problem,” not a finance risk.

What you should do today:

1. Audit print volume per device (90 days minimum).

2. Identify underused devices.

3. Benchmark leasing vs consumption pricing.

4. Cut dead weight.

   
   

Printers are silent budget assassins.
They don’t beep when they kill profit.
They just keep printing... and charging you for nothing.