Color laser printers consume lots of consumables

Color laser printers are wonderful. The one I use is a Konica Minolta QMS 2200. We've had it for years and it works like a champ. Only thing is, the toner is really pricey. So pricey that I started suspecting that something was awry, so I kept a log of when I replaced what consumable and how much I paid. It's a lot! Yes, "consumable ", because in addition to the toner there are a bunch of other things that 'wear' out and that you have to replace. The printer very helpfully says, "Replace Oil Roller" and stops working. What the heck is an oil roller? I don't know but it costs $40 or so. It is actually quite cool how they have designed the inside of the thing to make each part easily replaceable with nice color coded numbered levers and knobs. But anyway, this does seem to be the ultimate expression of the razor-blade/razor business. The printers are surprisingly reasonable to buy and then, expensive to operate. For several years now I've been printing "two pages per sheet" on my color laser printer, hoping to save a few bucks. No not on paper, but on the 'consumables.' Paper is cheap. Does anyone out there know whether two pages per sheet reduces the consumption of consumables? Intuitively , it seems like it must, but I've never actually been able to prove or verify this. Technorati Tags: printer