How Your Company Can Lessen The Cost Of Printing

It’s the bane of any company’s existence, yet it’s one thing that a business absolutely cannot live without. Yep, those dreaded ink and paper costs are an inevitable part of running any successful company.

But while this is a necessary expenditure that can’t be overlooked, there are several ways of lessening the cost of such an overhead.

Invest in an advanced printer

The first thing you should consider is purchasing a printer that has capabilities which will reduce the amount of ink/toner you use. This will be cheaper for your company in the long run because when you add up the amount of money spent on paper each year you’ll soon see that a onetime investment in a good printer will save you hundreds or perhaps even thousands of pounds annually.

While we’re on the subject of printing paper, don’t feel you need to purchase the highest quality inkjet paper available unless you feel that it is totally unnecessary. The average price of a printing paper pack is around £3-£5 and most of the time such a basic averagely priced paper will suffice for common office printing duties.

So what printing techniques are there you ask?

Duplex Printing

If your business needs to print lots of documents on a daily basis the cost will quickly add up. A simple but often neglected means of printing is through ‘duplex print’, a feature of printing devices that allows prints a document on both sides. If you choose this approach you will be effectively be saving 50% of all your paper costs.

If you want to be particularly cost effective, why not print multiple pages of a document on one sheet; such as printing two A5 images on one sheet of A4 paper. Most printers have automatic technology that allows for this to happen. However, if you choose this option, don’t forget that the text will be made significantly smaller through such printing, making it difficult for someone to read. Printing in these ways is also, of course, an environmentally friendly alternative.

Using Draft Mode to reduce Ink and Toner costs

The most profitable means of reducing the overall cost of printing is through the amount of ink and toner being consumed. A useful way to create such a reduction is to select ‘Draft Print’ mode before creating a printing job. This is a setting that can be accessed in many ways; the most popular kind of access is through the print driver settings which can be opened via the Print Properties link which appears inside the print page screen of Microsoft Word.

Although Draft Mode does give printed text a lighter and dottier appearance, it ensures that all text and images will remain bright and attractive even as less ink is used, making it an excellent way to reduce ink and toner costs. Draft mode can also improve printing speed for an even greater performance.

The Wonders of EcoPrint 2

Using Draft Print is useful, but if your printer is less advanced with few satisfactory printing capabilities, using EcoPrint 2 is ideal. EcoPrint 2 is a relatively inexpensive program (£25-40) that allows you to personally choose the level of ink/toner you want to use.

This means that you can save funds simply by making the text lighter without reducing its eligibility or lessening the quality of the graphics. The ink that this saves over time will prove very profitable to your company.

Embrace pull-printing

The practice of pull printing is a beneficial one as it can save 10% on a firm’s overall printing output. Pull Printing is a feature included in most printers wherein a printing job can be stored on a server so that it can be later be printed at any time chosen, thereby reducing the costs of printing on les economical printers that may only be available at the time of writing. Another benefit of pull-printer storage technology is that it will assure that a company’s confidential and sensitive information won’t get lost.

The world is becoming more digital, but paper printing is far from over. It is still the leading means of communication between an organisation and its clients. Don’t let unnecessarily expensive overheads get in the way of your running a successful business.

Liam Brennan is a blogger with extensive knowledge of printing costs. He recommends LondonPrinterRepairs.co.uk for resolving all printing issues.

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Jeremy

Business Analyst and Local Business Marketer. Practical Brand Advisor. Co-founder & Admin at The Local Brand. Writes about marketing and investment. Motorcycle enthusiast and likes to travel.