If you're running a sticker business on your Roland BN2 and you have NO idea how much your ink is actually costing you per sticker - keep reading. The math might shock you, and if you're pricing your stickers based on guesses, you're almost certainly losing money.
But here's the twist - before we get to the sticker pricing help - I recently made a discovery that has been saving me a ridiculous amount of Roland ink. It's why I'm now telling all of you to: start ignoring the low ink warning completely so you're not wasting money and ink!!
The two Roland BN2 features that change everything
There are two things the Roland BN2 does with low ink that most people probably don't realize - at least I didn't until recently. A few weeks ago I ran out of magenta ink mid-print. The printer just stopped printing and prompted me to install a new cartridge - so I did.
It immediately picked back up printing like nothing happened. So when the warning popped up that my black and cyan were low I just.kept.printing..and printing and printing.
I still haven't swapped the cartridges. You will not believe how much I printed and how much ink I would have been wasted had I not ignored that low ink warning in Versaworks.
Here's why - the Roland BN2 keeps printing at full quality until a cartridge is physically empty (the warning is WAY premature), and if a cartridge does run dry mid-print, you can swap it instantly with no line, no banding, no reprint. That second feature is huge because it means there's no reason to ever swap early "just in case."
Why the Roland BN2 low ink warning is misleading
The low ink warning on your Roland BN2-20A (and BN2-30) appears WAY before your ink actually runs out. I don't know exactly how much ink in the cartridge triggers the alert, but after I got the low ink warning on my black and cyan cartridges I printed all this (and I still haven't replaced them):
- 5 20 x 60" full color banners (100% coverage)
- 21 5 x 6" candy bar wrappers
- 100 2 x 3" stickers
And here's the best part - the print quality stays absolutely perfect the entire time that warning is active. There's no gradual fade. No banding. It's perfect, full-saturation color right up until the exact moment the cartridge is actually empty.
Everything on this roll was printed with that low ink warning.
So what happens if you listen to the warning and swap the cartridge? You're tossing out a cartridge that still has a huge amount of usable ink in it. Every. Single. Time.
Let's get specific - here are the actual numbers
I know "I printed a lot and the warning was wrong" sounds vague, so let me show you the actual VersaWorks ink consumption data.
I pulled these numbers all straight from Versaworks for accuracy.
- Green "Places You'll Go" banner (18.6" x 59.4", 100% coverage): 8.03 mL
- Green banner reprint (same specs): 8.02 mL
- Pink "Then" photo collage banner (18.6" x 59.4"): 5.72 mL
- Pink "Now" banner (18.6" x 59.4"): 4.07 mL
- Pink "Congratulations" banner (18.6" x 59.4"): 3.31 mL
- 21 candy bar favor wrappers (5.4" x 6.3" each): 2.35 mL
- 100 coffee cup stickers (2" x 3" each): 0.11 mL
Total: 31.61 mL of ink used for 126 printed pieces, all AFTER the low ink warning came on.
What does that actually cost in ink?
Roland BN2 Eco-Sol MAX 2 cartridges are 220 mL each and run about $108 per cartridge. That works out to roughly 49 cents per mL of ink.
So the ink cost for my entire set of graduation projects - 5 banners, 21 favor wrappers, and 100 stickers - was about $15.49 in ink.
Now imagine I'd panicked and swapped my black and cyan cartridges the moment that low ink warning popped up. If the warning triggers around 10-20% remaining (pretty standard across printer manufacturers), that's 22 to 44 mL of usable ink per cartridge going straight into the trash. Times two cartridges. That's somewhere between $22 and $44 of ink you're throwing out every time you panic-swap.
Swap prematurely 3 or 4 times a year? You've thrown away the equivalent of a whole extra cartridge you never needed to buy.
But here's what really matters: knowing your ink cost per sticker
Okay so now you know not to replace your ink too early. Great. You're saving ink.
But here's the question that really matters if you're running a sticker business: how much is Roland ink actually costing you per sticker?
Because Roland BN2 ink is NOT cheap. We're talking $108+ per cartridge for TrueVIS/BN series ink. And if you're pricing your stickers based on what everyone else charges, or based on a random guess about your material cost, you are almost certainly underpricing.
A 20% coverage design and a 100% coverage design on the same size sticker use DRAMATICALLY different amounts of ink. A simple logo outline might use 20-30% coverage. A full-color illustration with solid backgrounds can hit 70-100%. That's the difference between a few cents of ink per sticker and real money per sticker.
If you're not factoring ink coverage into your pricing, you're losing money on your highest-ink-usage designs every single time you sell them.
Free Roland sticker pricing calculator
This is why I built a free vinyl sticker pricing calculator - no signup required - that gives you a quick estimate based on:
- Sticker dimensions
- Quantity
- Material type
- Color coverage percentage
It spits out your true material cost, estimated ink cost, and a suggested selling price so you can stop underpricing immediately.
Want the real numbers? The advanced calculator inside Silhouette U
The free calculator is great for a quick estimates, but it uses industry-standard ink pricing as a baseline. This is fine for most home printers. But Roland TrueVIS/BN series ink is significantly more expensive per mL than the industry average.
If you want to plug in your ACTUAL Roland cartridge cost, custom materials and get accurate numbers, you need the advanced calculator that comes free with a Silhouette U membership.
The advanced calculator adds:
- Custom ink pricing (plug in your actual Roland cartridge cost)
- Custom material pricing and markup
- Sticker type options - Kiss Cut, Die Cut, Easy Peel (each priced differently)
- Print quality modes (Draft, Standard, High) affecting ink consumption
- Labor cost calculation with hourly rate
- Bulk discount logic with auto-tiered pricing
- Currency conversion (USD, CAD, GBP)
- Customizable setup fees for new designs
Members get this plus one-on-one same-day chat support, exclusive videos, and a full library of advanced tutorials.
Roland BN2-20A links and resources
Here are the links to the Roland BN2-20A products I use and recommend:
Have you been swapping your Roland BN2 cartridges too early? Or pricing your stickers without factoring in real ink cost? Let me know in the comments!
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