managing colour printing by the public

----- Original Message -----
From: John Fitzgibbon jfitzgibbonGalwaylibrary.ie
> we have the option of colour the issue of charging
different rates
> arises. The colour printer uses four toners (cyan,
magenta, yellow, and
> black) whereas the black and white printer uses one
toner. This
> presumably will not quadruple the cost.  Few colours
will require the
> use of all four toners and four popular colours require
only one toner.

Actually, it will use much MORE than four times the toner. 
Why?  Many of the things they'll print in color are images
which require toner to cover the whole paper.  In typical
black and white text it is about five percent coverage with
toner. 

Also, almost all printing will require multiple colors.  It
would be rare indeed for many of the things to be printed to
be exactly one of those four colors.  Out of sixteen million
colors, you've got only four of them there.  Sure, an ocean
picture will be mostly blue, but not JUST the one color of
blue. 

> We are thinking of charging three times as much for a
colour copy as for
> a black and white copy. Are our assumptions correct?
Does colour
> printing cost approximately three times as much as
black and white
> printing?

Check with your local printing businesses that do walkin
copying or printing.  My observations are that it is more
like ten times the cost.  On our campus the color printing
is from fifty to seventy five cents, depending on what
printer in what location. Regular laser printing is five
cents per page, seven cents if printed duplex.

> the option of choosing colour or black and white. Is
there any software
> that will do this for us? At the moment the user has to
go into
> properties and make the change here. It is difficult to
always remember
> to do this and it is somewhat unfair to penalize
someone for this
> oversight. 

Make it default to black and white, which should be a
standard option in the printer setup.  Then let the ones who
want color make the change.

dan (Boise State U, Boise ID) 

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