Bored of paying over the odds for black ink on white paper? Here’s how to reduce your printing costs.
Isn’t it crazy how despite almost everything being digital or online these days, when we’re working, there’s no getting away from needing to print things? Even if all the resources you need for your task are readily available in a cloud somewhere, it’s likely you’ll still need to have printed copies of all your projects. But then, printing doesn’t come cheap, and business owners may not be rolling in the dough at the start. How do you keep the cost down?
Cutting the cost
The first thing to consider is the printer itself. Do you even need a home printer, or are your printing requirements low enough to make leasing the equipment or paying for printing at a shop better options?
If buying a home office printer is the only way, you can limit your expenses by using refills of printer ink, as it can get very expensive, instead of buying brand-new cartridges every time one runs out. They’re much cheaper, and better for the environment, too. Some printer manufacturers will tell you your warranty is void if you use unofficial cartridges, but guess what — they’re lying, and that’s illegal. Unless they can prove your cartridges caused the fault, they have to help you out.
You can also make cash from empty cartridges by selling them to companies that then refill them with ink. It’s not likely to be a considerable amount, but it’s basically free money, so who’s complaining?
Cut corners on paper, too — if you’re only printing invoices, you don’t need to use expensive paper. Sure, it will look nice, but it won’t make your invoice any better, and will only cost you money you don’t need to spend. If you don’t need much, you can even split a ream with your team and cut costs even further. You could even split the cost of a printer if you wanted, although deciding who gets to keep it in their office could prove tricky.
Softly, softly software
Being savvy about how you set up your printer can also save you cash. Using economy options in the settings can help you use less ink. However, there may be a slight loss in quality, so a test print before you hand it over to a client might be the better way to go. Only print the pages you need, and use the ‘shrink to fit’ function rather than print your last two lines on a whole page.
You can also install drivers that make your printer more efficient. For more on this, visit https://softfamous.com/canon-pixma-mp250-printer-driver/
50 Shades of Grayscale
Printing in color may look pretty, but it’s expensive. The printer itself will cost more. The ink costs more. In most cases, it’s just not worth it. If that graph will be just as readable in grayscale as it is in full, glorious color, then print it in grayscale. Only print in color if you absolutely need to, like if the work you’re presenting is color-coded.
Be patient
If your printer is like most, occasionally it will throw a massive tantrum and just not print anything at all. Don’t be tempted to just mash the ‘print’ button until something comes out. Make sure you cancel all jobs in your queue, or you may find that everything prints at once and wastes huge amounts of paper and ink.
