Public page-volume data trails the calendar, so the clearest signals come from IDC’s last published counts and HP’s more recent commentary. IDC reported that 2.8 trillion pages were printed in 2020 across office and home devices, down nearly 14% year over year. Laser pages, which are mostly printed in offices, fell 16%, while inkjet pages rose 4% as people printed at home.
IDC did not expect a full recovery. It projected a 2% rebound in 2021 that would stay short of pre-pandemic levels, then a return to decline from 2022 onward, with around 2.3 trillion pages in 2025. Those figures are forecasts, not measurements.
HP’s CEO gave a more recent read in 2024, saying the number of printed pages has dropped by a fifth compared with before the pandemic. He attributed it to hybrid work, with fewer people in the office each day. Hybrid schedules cut office print volume, and the evidence since 2020 shows it has stayed lower.
Print volume is not falling evenly. Pages that exist for convenience, such as drafts, internal review copies, and reference printouts, are the easiest for employees to move onto a screen. Pages that need a signature, a physical record, or a finished look tend to stay.
HP’s CEO also noted that industrial customers are printing more labels and packaging as capital investment recovers. Print volume trends differ sharply between the office and the production floor.
The result is a print mix with fewer pages overall and a larger share the business cannot afford to have stall. When the jobs that remain are contracts and customer documents, a down machine matters more than it did when the same device mostly produced drafts.
Printing costs attach to equipment and service, not just pages. A lease payment, a service agreement, a supply closet, and the IT time spent on tickets all continue when page counts fall. A fleet built for a busier office often carries more machines than today’s volume needs, which is the problem behind device sprawl.
To reduce printing costs, the work starts with matching device class to actual volume, consolidating machines that sit idle, and reviewing lease end dates before they renew unchanged.
Longer device life changes the math too. HP’s CEO said printer life is being extended as hardware sales decline. How long a machine lasts, covered in Americom’s guide to copier lifespan, depends on how hard it is pushed, how well it is maintained, and whether its features still fit current workflows. A lightly used machine can outlast its lease and still lack the secure print release or scanning your teams now expect.
Most fleets show the same patterns once someone looks at the data:
A printer fleet assessment answers these with data instead of impressions. It maps what you own, what each device actually prints, and where the two no longer match.
Ready to compare your current page counts against your fleet? Americom runs a print environment assessment that maps your devices and shows where volume and equipment no longer match.
Americom is a family-owned St. Louis company founded in 1990, and managed print services there include fleet evaluation and right-sizing, which matches equipment to your volume and workflow. Americom services 455 machines for every dedicated technician, and a certified technician reaches your door in less than 4 hours.
Every managed print services agreement is backed by the 360 Customer Support Guarantee. If your equipment fails to perform during your agreement term, Americom replaces it at no charge.
Better News Papers shows what right-sizing looks like in practice. The company was managing print leases from three separate vendors across seven locations. Americom consolidated everything into a single Canon fleet under one managed print services agreement, with one click rate and one monthly bill.
Year-end is when equipment decisions meet budget and tax planning. Section 179 is a conversation many businesses have with their tax advisor this time of year, so ask yours whether a purchase or lease changes your picture. Americom brings the volume data and device options to that conversation, and your advisor handles the tax treatment.
Print volume is lower than it was before 2020, and the evidence suggests it is staying lower. Your costs follow your fleet, not your page count, so the fleet is what needs to change. Call Americom at 314-894-1154 or schedule your assessment to see where your print volume and your equipment have drifted apart.
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