Business handling and operations come with a lot of expenses. This makes business owners adopt certain ways that can help them business money effectively. Did you know office printing is one of the major expenses that eat up a major portion of the administrative expense budget? Thankfully with the help of some changes in your workplace habits, you can save business costs.
The rapidly evolving digital age, technological advancements, and other integrations in your daily operations will help you reduce print costs. In our article today, we list some of the smart tips that will help you in the long run. Some of the tips discussed are easy enough to be integrated in-house by the management team, employees, and the IT department as well.
Without further ado, let us dive straight into the tips that will help you save money and cut print costs.
Consider It To Be A Game
A few honest challenges and competition will help motivate the entire team to take the necessary steps. Starting a mutual mission to save money by reducing the use of paper and printing costs can be an ideal solution to collectively bring employees into the saving spirit. If you plan to do so, you can turn cost savings into a game in numerous ways.
One of the creative and friendly ways can be hosting a competition between different departments to see which one saves the most costs. The winning department may get a treat or some kind of bonus points at the end of each week. This way you can save considerably and at the same time achieve your goals.
Print In Black And White, Instead Of Color
You should make black and white prints as the default, and choose color options very rarely. Black and white printing also known as mono print should be your intention, as it helps save money that is otherwise spent on color prints. Color is much more expensive than mono. That said if you are leveraging managed printing services the cost per page will be high, and also in color options, the ink itself is expensive.
When it comes to managing your printing needs, consider incorporating dropship toner cartridges for a more cost-effective approach. Opt for black and white prints, also known as mono prints, as the default option. By doing so, you can significantly cut down on expenses compared to color prints. Additionally, if you are utilizing managed printing services, the cost per page can be high, especially for color options as the ink itself can be expensive. Therefore, embracing the efficiency and affordability of dropship toner cartridges can truly make a positive impact on your printing expenses.
Are you aware that with managed printing services, even a hyperlink in color print will incur the total cost of color prints? This is why we recommend options for mono and online printing services to make sure the budget is controlled. Furthermore, whenever you opt for color prints, pay close attention to them. If you notice your employees tossing the prints quickly, switch to black-and-white printing.
Go Digital With Documents
With the world going digital at a rapid pace, your workplace shouldn’t be an exception. You can start small and scale up as and when required. Initially, you can make the most of digital documentation and document automation concepts. Instead of printing hundreds of sheets for the same meeting, you can simply put your points in a PDF or a PowerPoint presentation.
Such documents can be emailed to each attendee of the meeting so that everyone is on the same page. The same concept is great for onboarding packets, small training sessions, all required HR information, and several other communications that were previously driven by hard copies.
Choosing digital documents will keep your entire team on the same page, and updating the information from one place will update it everywhere. Digitized documents have several perks and this is why they are recommended over printed copies.
Software Solutions
Software solutions prove to be one of the smartest ways of saving paper as well as printing costs to a great extent. Some of the solutions available in the market are only meant to cut down the printing costs of your office. Based on your specific needs, you should choose software that has all the required functions for smoother operations. With the software, you can set some hard and soft print rules for your employees.
Such rules will keep reminding them of ways in which they can help your business cut costs. They will set up notification reminders to let end-users know about the savings by choosing black and white, and also to choose duplex printing for larger documents instead of printing on one side.
Though the employees don’t need to go with the suggested option, such notifications will for sure make them rethink their decision. You should encourage your employees to make smarter decisions and also abide by the specific guidelines for a better future.
Shutting Printer Appropriately
When using an Inkjet printer you should make sure to switch the device off through a power strip. The devices do not acquire much power but still disconnecting properly from the power source is recommended so that it gets connected again easily. If the device stays connected throughout, the print heads consume more ink than usual thereby increasing the overall cost of prints.
On the contrary, laser printers consume more power when idle but are still connected to the power switch. The printers usually come with an “off power” switch so that the device gets disconnected from the main switch and doesn’t stay in standby mode.
Have Patience And Do Not Act At The First Message
The printers are set in a way that the low ink message will display as soon as the level of the ink reaches half or something lower. Hence, you are not required to replace the cartridge as soon as you receive the notification of “ink is low”. Wait until the cartridge is empty and then replace it with a new one. You can keep checking the volume of ink left to have an idea of the copies it can still print. When using toner cartridges, upon receiving the message, you can remove the toner and shake the cartridge a bit horizontally for better results.
This way you will be able to cartridge for a little longer without getting any errors in your prints.
The Bottom Line
Going digital and opting for online services when it comes to printing, helps save a good amount of money. The smart tricks mentioned above will help you save a good amount of printing costs in the long run. This will help reduce overheads that can be otherwise utilized to scale your company up.
