Usage and Grammar

Q. Does one “maximize the total cost of ownership” or “minimize the total cost of ownership”? This phrase is going to be our service’s tagline so we need to get it right.

A. If you make the cost of ownership as high as possible, you maximize it; if you make it as low as possible, you minimize it. Before you decide, you need to be sure which one your service aims to do. And after you decide, if you think it’s possible that others might be confused about what it means, you should probably keep working on that slogan.