What's actually going on
Fifty people typically generate 8,000 to 20,000 pages a month, and at that volume device placement matters as much as device choice.
One machine for fifty people creates a queue and a single point of failure. Five machines create five supply chains and five sets of drivers.
The right answer is normally two devices: a main workhorse and a smaller backup on another floor or department.
What to do in the next 48 hours
- 1Pull twelve months of meter data across every device you currently run, including desktop printers people bought themselves.
- 2Plan for a primary 50 to 60 page-per-minute colour multifunction with a finisher, plus a secondary device sized at roughly a third of the volume.
- 3Standardise on one manufacturer so drivers, toner and staff training are shared across devices.
- 4Set up follow-you or secure release printing if you have any confidential documents sitting in output trays.
The honest tradeoffs
- Consolidating onto fewer, larger devices cuts cost per page substantially but increases the impact of any single failure — make sure your service agreement response time reflects that.
- Keeping departmental desktop printers keeps people happy and is the most expensive printing in most buildings, often five to ten times the cost per page of the central device.
Your next step
Questions people ask next
- How many copiers does a 50-person office need?
- Usually two: a primary high-volume multifunction with finishing, plus a smaller secondary device for a different floor or department and for redundancy. Beyond that, additional devices rarely pay for themselves.
- How many pages does a 50-person office print monthly?
- Commonly between 8,000 and 20,000 pages a month, though the range is wide. Aggregate meter readings across every current device, including personal desktop printers, before sizing anything.
More on a copier I have to choose
- What copier do I actually need?
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- What copier does a law office need?
- What copier does a school need?
- What copier does a medical office need?
- My copier lease is ending and I don't know what to do
- My lease auto-renewed and I never agreed to it
- I have to return a copier and I don't know the rules