Our History

Advantage Laser Products was founded in 1987. Founded by Brian Chaney and Marvin Masson in the store room of Campbell's Office Products in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Freshly graduated from college (Brian - University of Oklahoma, Marvin - University of Alabama), we originally started as "Advantage Publishing" and were in the business of laser typesetting. We were producing several local newspapers, brochures, etc. plus doing custom FoxPro programming and database work. We started with a Macintosh SE and an Apple LaserWriter Plus. It was the LaserWriter Plus that eventually led us to the toner cartridge business. We were burning through cartridges at an alarming rate. To save money, we investigated buying remanufactured toner cartridges, one thing led to another and we found ourselves doing the remanufacturing ourselves. Once we began remanufacturing toner cartridges, it took off and Advantage Publishing was renamed Advantage Recharging.

This was early times for toner cartridge recycling and we were able to pickup some great clients, including Boeing, McDonnell Douglas out of Huntsville and locally the University of Alabama. So with relatively little competition we grew like wildfire. Times have since changed and increased competition and competitive bidding with little regard to product quality has led us to working with mostly small and medium sized business, that demand a quality product for a fair price.

In 1989, we began selling MICR toner for check printing for the HP LaserJet II/III. Little did we know it but this transformed our company. As we began to sell MICR toner we found it was a good niche market and fitted our technical expertise.

As our product mix grew, we felt Advantage Recharging was limited and we changed our name to "Advantage Laser Products". In 1990 we expanded by opening an office in Atlanta, recognizing the obvious market benefits of being located in a big city.

In 1991, John Miller, fresh from WestCorp Software, began selling MICR toner for ALP. It didn't take long for John to come on board as a full partner and totally transform our customer service department from a very amateur setup to what it is today (the best customer service department on the planet!). John brought on check paper to supplement our line of MICR toner in 1995. This was a great move, now half of our finished goods storage is taken up with check paper as we sell several million sheets a month.

In 1997 we purchased our own 15,000 sq/ft building and we're still at 1840 Marietta Blvd. It's a great building deep in the heart of the Chattahoochee industrial district. While not the prettiest part of town, it's functional and the renaissance of west Atlanta has brought some great restaurants, condos, etc. In 2010 we added a 21kw solar array to our rooftop and switched to LED interior lighting. The result has been a reduction of 50% in our energy bills.

The technical challenges we face continue to grow with the more complex color laser printers more wide spread. We still produce 95% of our cartridges in house, while so many of our competitors choose to outsourced abroad. Our business isn't doubling every year like it did our first 7 years, we're still growing and more importantly we still take care of our customers. If you are looking for an environmentally conscious company that offers great quality products and fantastic customer service - we're for you!