Many Lightning Labels customers started out printing labels on their home ink-jet printer. This is a great place to start because it is relatively inexpensive and you can print very small quantities of labels as you need them. Of course, you want your labels to look great so you print them in photo quality mode. Then you start to notice how quickly you are going through ink.
Ink for home ink-jet printers is one of the most expensive liquids in the world. For colored ink you can pay around $20 for a cartridge containing just 11ml of ink. That equates to around $7,000 for a gallon of ink. Certainly makes gasoline prices look cheap. But a more important question is how many labels can you print from a cartridge of ink? The answer is, of course, it depends. It depends on the size of your labels and how much ink coverage is needed.
You can get some idea by looking at the cost to print 4x6 photos. A couple of old studies pegged ink costs somewhere around 20c a label to produce a 4x6 photo. I don't think ink has gone down that much in recent years so that is probably still accurate. The costs vary widely from brand of printer and where you buy your ink. Then you need to take into consideration wear and tear on the printer and the cost of your time while printing the labels (and removing the inevitable paper jams). And you will need to factor in the cost of blank labels.
Printing labels yourself is an excellent way to get started if you need product labels. What we have found is that as time goes on, it is not just the cost but also the hassle of printing labels in-house that drives people to look for a professional label printer. Best of all, as your volume increases you may be surprised to find that it is actually less expensive to outsource this very important part of your business.
Photo courtesy of justinbaeder.














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