shopping for a low-end printer for photo printing.

Forums › Digital Imaging › shopping for a low-end printer for photo printing.

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Lykho

253 posts

Ultimate Geek

#770521 26-Feb-2013 14:54

timmmay: Check out the Epson Stylus range

Cost per page can be found here for some printers. This is USD, and things cost more in NZ due to remoteness, so I figure you're at around $2 per A4 page. That's much better than a lab, even accounting for mistakes and reprinting.

will do.
thanks for that link.
I was at Warehouse Stationery today and saw a couple cheap HP printers. ...after seeing that their inks are the most costly, I think I can safely rule them out.

Sharesies

Trade NZ and US shares and funds with Sharesies (affiliate link).

Lykho

253 posts

Ultimate Geek

#770559 26-Feb-2013 15:43

timmmay: Labs are charging more because they can. They pay the same for paper whether it's 6x4, 8x12/A4, or A2, it comes off big rolls. If a 6x4 is 50c then an 8x12 should be $2.

I guess A4s are quite a tiny part of their business, then? I mean, otherwise with $4 of wiggle-room where you can still make a profit you'd think there would be a few companies offering great deals/half price, still making a tidy profit on those, and maybe getting more of that business because of the pricing.

rayonline

1734 posts

Uber Geek

#770599 26-Feb-2013 16:26

I think that's just target pricing, pricing diff things differently to max profit or other measures they have in place. People by large IMO are prepared to pay that much, those prices are from the likes of Harvey Norman, real photo labs will be more than that. If it's Jetstar flight or even AirNZ I heard people are prepared to pay more for a can of coke than say Pak'n'Save.

Even if they sell at no profit, they still get more customer foot traffic in stores, the printer staff get more experience and learn to work more efficiently, they can access larger quantities which is cheaper, they can replace the ink/chemistry so the quality is better, more word of mouth, they may buy other stuff, they may get a few enlargements etc ... also they need to compete, 6x4s are cheap for a lot of stores like that, unless if you go to a real lab and they may charge $1 or $2 per 6x4.

Lykho

253 posts

Ultimate Geek

#770686 26-Feb-2013 19:48

rayonline:
Even if they sell at no profit, they still get more customer foot traffic in stores, the printer staff get more experience and learn to work more efficiently, they can access larger quantities which is cheaper, they can replace the ink/chemistry so the quality is better, more word of mouth, they may buy other stuff, they may get a few enlargements etc ... also they need to compete, 6x4s are cheap for a lot of stores like that, unless if you go to a real lab and they may charge $1 or $2 per 6x4.

wow. ya reckon 6x4s would really be a loss leader?

rayonline

1734 posts

Uber Geek

#770705 26-Feb-2013 20:02

They may sell for little profit or near break even. i guess in a way even if they do that the other benefits may still outweigh it .. In the film days, a roll of average Joe film typically had 24 frames (than the 36). A lot of places then had a deal that if you paid $1 more you got double prints or pay $2 more and got triple prints.

More recently I have shot more film than digital. Digital is just pictures of people and they want a fast turn around even from people I know, I am no pro ;-) Haven't earned a cent. But I pay for the processing but it is so much cheaper to scan the film and then go to a place like Harvey Norman and have them printed on the same Fuji paper. For small prints, nothing wrong with flatbed scanners. You can also adjust the white balance a bit better than some of the pro labs. While the printer isn't your own printer, the accuracy is more than enough for small snaps. But given a chance, cannot beat a well exposed color slide but that's a diff topic.

Re: that linked article, I don't quite believe it is transferable to NZ. I may have a older generation printer that is ink hungrier but it's not that less as $2. Did that include paper cost? As of now.

Ink $25NZ or $15US (for mine).
Paper $1,50 each here or 60c NZD if bought overseas at today's exchange rate 1.20 to the 1.00. That's A4 glossy premium. Assume free delivery.

You can get 6x4 Epson's but they're $10US 100x. 10c USD each. 12c NZD. In NZ they are $22NZ for 50 which is 44c each. See the difference between online USA and online NZ.