OfficeMedic’s Price/Yield Index (PYI) is a number used to compare the supplies cost of operating a piece of office equipment. It’s arrived at by determining the cost of supplies for printing 10,000 pages on a given machine, at the MSRP or street price for the supplies.

For example, the HP LaserJet 4000 uses a 27X toner cartridge that has a yield of 10,000 pages. At $128.99 (OfficeDepot, as of today’s date) for this cartridge, that gives this machine a PYI of 129. With our remanufactured compatible cartridge, OfficeMedic can bring the PYI down to 80.

In another example, the Brother HL-2170W uses two supply items: the TN360 toner (2,600 pages, $64.99) and the DR360 drum unit (12,000 pages, $99.99). (We’re using the high-yield toner cartridge for this example.) Crunching the numbers, we find a PYI of 333 for this machine:

(64.99/2600*10000) + (99.99/12000*10000) = 333.29

Before buying a printer, fax machine, or copier, be sure to calculate the cost of supplies for operating the equipment.