Small Business Cost Management - Reducing Printer Ink Waste

If you own a small business, then you undoubtedly do everything in your power to control your business costs. Surprisingly, computer ink may be one of your largest costs. Printer ink costs between $13.00 and $75.00 per ounce and this means that the ink in most cases is far more expensive than a fine bottle of champagne. Most businesses waste a great deal of ink, and this can lead to a large increase in your business expenditures. Fortunately, there are many ways you can cut down on the amount of ink you use and some great options are outlined in this article.

Leave Your Printer On

Most business owners think that they need to turn their printers off in the evening or during the day when the printer is no longer needed. This can help to save on electricity costs.  

Unfortunately, you may be wasting more money on computer ink than you save on electricity when you continually turn your printer off. This is the case, because your printer does not just use ink to print. It also uses ink for maintenance purposes and the majority of maintenance is performed when your printer is turned on and the printer cleans the printer heads. You do want to turn your printer off occasionally though to make sure it can rest, so keep your printer on during the week and shut it off on the weekend when you are away from the office.

Print in Batches

Not only can you save money by keeping your printer on, but you can also save yourself on costs by printing large batches of prints at one time. Your printer will use some ink when it prepares to print, and this means that you should try to save your emails and documents and print them all at one time. It is best to print between 10 and 30 documents ay once to extend your printer ink.

Buy A Second Printer

If you are trying to save money, then it may seem odd to purchase a new printer to help reduce costs. You can save yourself a great deal of money though if you have two printers in your office that are specifically designated for either black and white printing or color printing. Most documents you will print in your office will be composed of plain text and this means that they do not need any colored ink. This is great news, because black ink cartridges are, on average, 30% cheaper than color ones. Colored cartridges are considered more complex with multiple heads and reservoirs and this makes them more costly to produce.

Make sure to set your black and white printer to the default printer when you and your employees print from their computers. Ask employees only to use the color printer for photographs, presentation documents, and client paperwork.

Consider a Laser Printer

If you want to save the most money by installing a new black and white printer, then consider purchasing a laser printer. Laser printers use fine powdered toner instead of liquid ink and this toner is placed on paper with a heat fusion process. Very little toner is wasted during the printing process and less of the ink is used overall. On average, the laser printer will save you several cents per page when you print, and this savings can add up quickly if you typically print hundreds or thousands of documents every year.

Place Your Printers in a Separate Room

Your employees may print emails and other digital documents because they like to keep physical records of discussions, client orders, and ongoing projects. Some people may even place printers on their desks or ask for printers to be installed in several areas in your office. If this is the case for your business, then ban all desk printers and ask all employees to use two printers that are specifically set up in one area of your office.  

Make sure that the printer room is placed in a corner of your office space. This way, employees will need to walk to the printer to collect their prints. Your employees will soon realize that they may not want to spend all day walking back and forth to the printer for physical documents that are already stored on their computers.

Install Organization Software

By placing printers in a separate room, you can also keep track of the employees that print the most often. Work with these employees to install accounting, order tracking, and spreadsheet software that can keep track of information in an organized way. This way, the information can be pulled up easily on the computer so that printed documents are not required.

If you own a small business, then you need to make sure that your costs are controlled. Sites like http://www.dpoe.com can provide some suggestions. Printer ink is considered a large office cost and the information above can help you to reduce printer waste.


Share