To the uninitiated, one photocopier may seem to be much like another. Perhaps one prints colour while another only offers black and white reproductions. But otherwise, what is there to choose between them?
The answer is much more than you might imagine! There are various factors that it’s worth considering when choosing new copiers for schools. These include:
- Whether it offers colour as well as black and white reproductions.
- How reliable the photocopier is.
- Whether it can produce double-sided copies.
- Whether you can rent a copier instead of buying.
School budgets are often tight, with headteachers and their staff having to find ways of doing more, often with less funding. On average, the per-pupil spend in UK schools was between £7,000 and £8,000 a year in 2024/25.
That might sound like a lot, but when you factor in everything that is provided for that sum, from teaching staff and facilities through to materials, it’s easy to see how that doesn’t go as far as many would like.
So, let’s look at how some of these factors could help you reduce the amount of your school budget is spent on copying.
Rental photocopiers for schools
We understand the pressure schools are under to deliver more with less and we believe that our young people’s education is important. That’s why we offer a copier hire service to schools with no upfront charges.
Schools don’t need to pay to rent the photocopier itself under our model, they simply pay for the copying and print charges.
This means you’ll only be paying for what you actually use, without any of the upfront costs associated with buying your own copier. Plus, you won’t have to allocate budget to covering ink or toner costs, because this will be covered by your fee for what you print or copy.
Reliability of photocopiers for hire
Reliability is a big one for schools, where photocopiers are likely to receive moderate to heavy use during term time.
As we move into exam season in the summer months, it is even more important that copiers are online consistently so that staff and pupils alike can get the documents they need.
That means choosing a well-respected brand of photocopier is a good place to start. But what about maintenance and repairs? This is why hiring a photocopier can be a better option.
When you do so, we will monitor the levels of toner and ink in your copier and replace them as needed, as well as be available to troubleshoot any problems with your photocopier. This means you get reliability and support services in one bundle at no extra cost.
Double-sided photocopying and printing
This is perhaps one of the simplest steps you can take to reduce costs for your school around photocopying and printing. That’s because double-sided printing or copying (also known as duplex printing) immediately halves the amount of paper you use.
Naturally, this reduces the amount you’re spending on providing paper for use in your school’s photocopiers and printers.
If you choose the right photocopier for your school, you can set it up to automatically print on both sides of the page, so you’re not even having to rely on your staff or students to remember to select this option.
Colour or black and white printing
In schools, most documents will be perfectly adequate if reproduced in black and white rather than colour. However, it is important to know whether your photocopier can create colour reproductions – but not for the reason you might think.
Copiers that can produce colour as well as black and white documents will have both a colour ink cartridge and a toner cartridge.
When you are printing or copying in black and white, you want the machine to use the toner, because this is the most cost-effective way to print in black and white. However, if you haven’t got your copier set up correctly, it could inadvertently use the colour ink to make black.
Basically, your copier or printer can create black by mixing all the colours in its cartridge. As you can imagine, this will drain the cartridge quickly and mean you are using expensive colour ink when you don’t need to.
For this reason, you may decide that you only want black and white photocopiers and printers to be available to your students and the majority of staff. You may have one copier and printer that offers colour documents, but which isn’t accessible to everyone.
This can ensure that when people are printing, they are only using toner rather than rinsing through more expensive colour inks to get the same result.