As a business owner, you know that it is important to be efficient with your resources. Afinia Memjet color label printers like the L701, L801 and L901 are known for their low total cost of ownership. But did you know that ink coverage affects your cost per label?

The more ink used on each print, the higher the cost per label. This is because every time a printer prints, it uses up some of its cartridge’s ink supply. If you use less ink per label, then you will have to replace cartridges less often, and you'll save money in the long run.

Afinia Ink Cost Comparison For Color Label Printers

Let's translate this into actual dollars and cents for some of Afinia's most popular inkjet color label printers using some examples such as the following 4" x 3" example labels. You'll see that in this comparison, we've selected labels with light, medium, and heavy ink coverage. Labels with light coverage have less printed content at 25% compared to the medium coverage at 50% and heavy coverage at 90%. These ink cost are based on Afinia inks pricing on Nov 2021.

Thus, if you have a label with heavy coverage, it will use more ink, and consequently, cost more to print. For example, using the Afinia L301, the heavy coverage label costs almost twice as much to print as the light coverage label.

If you are using an Afinia color label printer, it is important to be aware of the impact that ink coverage has on cost per label. Here’s how much our example labels would cost to print on Afinia’s most popular color label printers with light, medium, and heavy coverage:

Tips for Reducing Ink Coverage

For a bigger impact, especially for businesses with high-volume printing needs, cost savings start with your label design.

There are a few things you can do to reduce the amount of ink coverage on your labels:

• Try using less text or graphics on your labels. Ask your label designer to keep ink coverage in mind as they design your labels.
• Use a lighter font or background color instead of a dark one. This can help to reduce ink coverage because the printer is using less ink to cover up the background.
• Select a smaller label size if it makes sense for your item. This will also help to reduce the amount of ink used on your labels, which will reduce the amount it costs to print them.
• Use draft mode when printing test labels. Draft mode uses less ink than normal. The labels will still be usable, but the text and images won't look as crisp or vibrant as they would in normal mode. This is fine for testing purposes.

These are just a few ways to reduce the cost of your label printing projects using Afinia color label printers, including the L301, L501, L701, L801/L801+, and L901/L901+.

If you're interested in finding out how much it would cost to print your own label design on one of these Afinia label printers and would like printed samples, we're happy to oblige. Request free Afinia sample labels by sending us your label design and we will do a cost analysis and mail you some printed samples.