Windows 7 - Multi Function Color Lasers toner wastage

I have an OKI MC561 MFP which I am very pleased with.

At the moment I am predominately using it for scanning and extremely mimimal printing. I have noticed though that the color toner levels are already down to 80% full.

When MFP's start up and go through the warming up phase do they waste toner even when not printing?

There should be no toner waste/usage during warm up phase. However, it seems to be a characteristic of laser toner power to settle and give a false reading. I have a monochrome laser and every so ofter I'll shake the toner canister to redistribute the power. That seems to give a higher reading. Don't have any scientific proof that's what's happening but it works for me.

Thanks for this. So there is no possible way that toner can get used other than actual printing? What is the MFP doing then during the 45 seconds it takes to start up? There are all sorts of different noises that come from the device during that period as if it's preparing for lift off !

I'm not an expert so this is kinda how I understand things. A laser printer uses + / - voltage to get the toner from the cartridge to a cylindrical drum which in turn "fixes" the toner onto a piece of paper. I think these articles may explain it better than I can.

How Does a Laser Printer Work? | eHow.com

How a Laser Printer Works

And with a MFP you've got the added components of scanner, fax, etc that also need to be prepped prior to actually doing any work. I suppose in the cleaning process (when residual toner is removed from the drum) there might be a slight loss but really too small to be measured.

I have had an answer from the manufacturer to my question which I thought you might be interested in although it is very frustrating for me.

"Every time the printer is powered on the drums will rotate and prime themselves with toner waiting to be applied to paper also when this process occurs it extracts toner from the toner cartridge to make sure the drum is full to the brim hence for the faster print speed"