7 Tips to Reduce Printing Costs
Here are 5 tips to reduce paper waste and printing costs that are sure to work!
1. Reduce Printing
Reducing paper waste is best to reduce printing costs. The first thing one should do to reduce printing costs is don’t print unless it is compulsory.
2. Use Soft Copies of Documents
You can use an electronic document management system to manage all of your office documents in one place. Soft copies of documents can be easily accessible online even in business meetings. It possible to view, edit, and add notes in online documents.
2. Recycle to Reduce Paper Waste
Collect used papers in a different bin and send them for recycling. It will not only help to reduce paper waste but also help to save trees and jungles. Employers can encourage their employees in their office. Teachers and parents should ensure that their kids are learning how to save papers and reduce paper waste.
3. Purchase a New Printer
This may sound odd, but buying a new printer can actually help you save money! Thanks to advancements in technology, there are more efficient printers available today that use less ink as compared to old printers. In addition to this, cartridges for old printers are sure to get expensive as demand decreases over time. You’ll also save money on repairing and maintenance costs with a new printer!
4. Buy the Right Printer
If you’re willing to do away with your old printer and buy a new one, make the right choice to help you save money in the future. Here are some points to bear in mind:
Look for a printer that can print more for less. This doesn’t mean you look for a budget printer; printers with a low sticker price often cost more in the long run. On the other hand, a high-end laser printer will have a low cost per page, thus saving you a lot of money on printer ink. Buy a printer that matches your printing demands. All printers have a duty cycle, which is the maximum number of pages they can be expected to print per month. Pushing a printer beyond its stated maximum can shorten the hardware lifespan and increase maintenance costs. Note that high-end printers usually have higher duty cycles and come with better value consumables, i.e., toner or cartridge, that costs less per page. Consider buying a printer that has an automatic duplexer. This function allows you to print on both sides of a page, making it both an eco-friendly and economical choice. To save on utility costs, go for an energy-efficient printer. Modern ones with the EnergyStar label consume less energy in sleep mode, wake up from sleep modes quickly, and take less time to warm up toner. Furthermore, most printer models lapse into sleep mode within a short period of inactivity, generating less heat and reducing the demand for air conditioning.
5. Change Settings
Tweaking printer and page settings according to your needs can effectively reduce printing volume and the amount of printer ink used. Here’s what you need to do:
Use ‘print preview’ to check how many pages you’re about to print. Quite often, people end up wasting a whole page to print just a single line or unimportant information, especially when printing web pages. By using the preview option, you’ll be able to eliminate wastage of resources. Cram more information onto each page so that you can print fewer pages. While duplexing is an option, also use the ‘shrink to fit’ option in Excel and decrease font size in documents. When printing PowerPoint slides, print multiple slides on a single page. Change the default font style to a cost-effective one like Times New Roman or Century Gothic. Select the ‘draft’ mode on your printer as the default setting. In this mode, the cartridge does not make multiple passes over the same area, thereby using less ink to print a document. Switch to normal mode when you need to print quality documents. Internal documents need not have logos, graphics, and charts in various colors. So stick to printing black and white copies and save color cartridges for later.
All the above are the first three steps to reduce printing costs at the initial point.
6. Select Toner or Ink Wisely
The type of cartridge you use also affects the costs related to printing. Be wise when selecting toner or ink, and you’ll be able to stick to your budget easily.
Printer cartridges come in varying capacities ranging from economy, standard, moderate, to XL. If you print a lot, buying a cartridge marked XL makes sense as you’re likely to get more ink for less than if you’d buy multiple standard-sized cartridges. Buy in bulk to avail discounts. However, keep in mind that cartridges have a use-by date, so don’t overstock. Compare prices at all vendors before buying. Check out prices online too. Third-party or refilled cartridges come a lot cheaper than brand manufactured ones. What’s more, if you use a specific printer like a wide-format one to print advertising graphics or architectural drawings, you’ll easily be able to find compatible Epson wide format printer cartridges! We have prepared an exclusive article about how to get more ink out of cartridges. These tips will help you to reduce printing costs in your home or office.
7. Take Care of Your Printer and Cartridges
As mentioned, newer printer models can reduce repair and maintenance costs. That being said, if you do your bit and take care of both your printer and cartridges, you’ll be able to prolong the life of your device and keep printing costs to a minimum.
Repeated start-up and slow-down cycles can wear out printer components and lead to lighter printing and functionality defects. Apart from this, the components spin just like something was being printed, causing toner to accumulate on the drum only to be discarded into the cartridge’s waste bin. To get around this, print multiple pages together after the entire document is generated or the last page is spooled. To change settings, go the ‘Advanced’ section under Printer Properties. When using old cartridges, there’s the chance of particulates coming out of the solution and clogging the nozzles. Use the printer setting to clean nozzles as need be.
Conclusion
Printing costs can amount to a lot over time. But with the tips given here, you now know what you need to do to bring them down! So get started on implementing these tips right away and make the most of this business consumable.
