When you run a business, cutting costs is essential to turning a profit—and that doesn’t just mean production and service costs. You must be able to cut costs in all sectors of your business, especially if you’re currently struggling to stay in the black. One area that many businesses overlook when trying to cut costs is the usage of their business printers in Anchorage, AK. Printing costs may seem minor when you think of them as just being a few cents a page; however, those costs can add up quickly throughout the year. Keep reading to get a few helpful tips on cutting printing costs this year and increasing your business profits.
Use Color Printing Less Often
Color printing is rarely a necessity in an office setting. When employees are printing documents, make sure that their computers default to black-and-white printing instead of color. This should be sufficient for all interoffice communications and files. Color printing should be limited to customer-facing copy that requires the color to appear more professional.
If you’re struggling to curb color printing in your office, you can set limitations for each printer you have. Most modern printers enable unique login codes, which can allow you to set printing restrictions for each person. You can disable color printing for all but a few administrative professionals; this way, if color printing is ever necessary, it can be approved by management before the documents are printed off.
Set Limits on Personal Printing
Speaking of those unique login codes, you can also limit the number of pages employees can print each month. Most offices are relatively digitized these days, so excessive printing isn’t typically necessary. In fact, you’d be surprised by just how much of the printing done in your office is actually for personal use (e.g., printing out a child’s paper, a family calendar, activity pages for an upcoming road trip, recipes, and so on).
While most business owners don’t have a problem with employees doing personal printing in the office, you certainly don’t want anyone printing the 200-page manuscript they’ve been working on using your expensive ink and paper. So, use your printer’s security settings to place a cap on how many pages employees can print each month. If they need to exceed this limit for business purposes, that can still be approved; in the meantime, this should help ensure that nobody is abusing their printer privileges.
Make Use of Double-Sided Printing
Double-sided printing greatly reduces the amount of paper you use in your office, even if it still uses the same amount of ink. Have your employees adjust their printer settings so that the default is printing on both sides of the paper. Additionally, ensure that your employees know how to do double-sided copies, so you’re not wasting paper on that aspect of your print jobs either.
Change the Margins on Documents
When you were in school, your teacher probably had strict requirements for the sizes of your margins. In your office, however, you’ve got a lot more control over the margins within your own office, and making them a bit smaller can help save on paper. Most word processors default to margins of 1.25”. However, you can easily reduce those to 0.75” while still keeping them looking neat, tidy, and professional. But the best part is that this simple change alone can reduce your paper usage by up to 4.75%. Make sure you’re not wasting valuable paper with wide margins.
Use Ink-Saving Fonts
Most people don’t realize that different fonts require different amounts of ink to print. Naturally, you’ll probably assume that bold letters take more ink, but the typeface can also make a difference. Certain fonts have been proven to use less ink than others; Century Gothic, Times New Roman, and EcoFont (appropriately named, we think) are the most cost-effective font options. In fact, you might be surprised to learn that Century Gothic uses 30% less ink than Arial, a very popular default font in word processors. So, make sure everyone in your office checks the font they’re using and have them switch to a more eco-friendly option before hitting “print.”
Reduce the Font Size
In addition to changing the font itself, consider adjusting the size of the font you’re using on your documents. You were probably told in school to always use 12-point font, but you can get away with smaller text sizes on most office documents. Of course, you shouldn’t make the font so small that it’s difficult to read; but 11- or even 10-point fonts are often perfectly legible and will reduce both the amount of ink and paper you use for printing.
Make Sure You Have an Eco-Friendly Printer
The idea of purchasing a new printer to cut down on printing costs might sound counterintuitive, but a new one can be a smart investment if your printer is old and outdated. New printers use less ink and are less likely to waste paper with frequent paper jams, require less power, and print, copy, and scan much more quickly. This can save your business money on printing supplies, electricity, and the valuable time your employees spend waiting for their print jobs to process.
If you’re in the market for a new business printer for a business in Anchorage, AK, contact Arctic Office Products to learn more about the products we carry, or stop by our showroom today to see some of them for yourself. We carry a wide variety of printers from all of the big-name manufacturers, including Canon, HP, Sharp, Toshiba, and more. Give us a call and let us know what you’re looking for, and one of our experienced associates can help you find a printer that will reduce both your print times and your print costs!
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