subject: Strategies for Reducing Office Printing Costs [print this page] One of the most unnecessary and bloated expenses a small business faces is its printing costs. Paper, toner and ink can add up if not properly managed. Thankfully, there are a number of valuable strategies your office can employ to significantly reduce these costs.
Create an Office Printing Policy: Proactively ask that your employees only print critical documents. If you suspect that an employee is abusing printing privileges, utilize printer activity monitoring software to track printing. It is one thing for an employee to occasionally print out directions, but it is unacceptable (and essentially theft) if they are printing out long personal documents and non-company related ebooks.
Determine a Company Font: Select a font that is thinner than the common default (Ariel) and thus conserve ink, saving you approximately 10% in printing costs. Sound too good to be true? The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay switched to Century Gothic and predicts it will reduce its printing supplies bill by $10,000 annually. Likewise, the FBI and NASA have made similar switches. This trend has even resulted in entrepreneurial fonts. Ecofont, for example, has pioneered fonts that punch indistinguishable holes in the characters. These holes, while invisible to the human eye, can reduce the required ink by 25%.
Buy Remanufactured Cartridges at a Fraction of the Price: There are a number of high quality remanufactured ink cartridges available online for a fraction of the price of a new brand name cartridge. Thanks to superior manufacturing and quality assurance testing, thesediscount printer ink cartridges provide the same quality as name brand cartridges. Even graphic designers and artists can use these cartridges without compromising their print or color quality.
Note: Be sure to purchase only from remanufacture facilities that are certified ISO-9000, ensuring the quality of the product and that you will not void your printer's warranty.
Use Less Paper: By using less paper you not only reduce costs, but you also reduce your environmental impact. Set your printer to print on both sides. Use "scratch paper" for printing less important internal documents.
