Seven Ways to Save Money on Printing Costs

Many of the printers on the market today are surprisingly affordable—but not when you consider the cost of printing. The major printer manufacturers make most of their profits on consumables—especially ink cartridges—rather than the up-front cost of the printers themselves. That affordable printer may turn out to be more costly than you’d think, but you can take steps to reduce your printing costs. Here are seven ways you can save money.

Use Economy or Draft mode. Many printers have a standard setting that uses more ink than you may need. If you’re printing something for your records or personal use, you may not need your document to look perfect. You can make your ink cartridges last longer by setting your printer to Economy or Draft. Some printers will allow you to make this the default setting, while others may require you to change it manually each time you print.

Print in black and white. Color cartridges cost more than black and white. Many printers automatically print in color, however—even when you’re printing black and white text. When you’re printing a text document, go into your printer settings and be sure they’re set to black and white printing.

Don’t replace your cartridges before they’re empty. Some printers will warn you that the ink or toner is low long before the cartridge is empty. Don’t rush to replace your ink or toner cartridges when you see the printer’s warning. Keep printing as usual—the printer will stop when the ink is completely gone.

Print on both sides of your paper. You can save money on paper by printing on both sides of a sheet as often as possible. Some printers will do this automatically; with others, you’ll need to reload the paper manually to print on both sides. It may be a little extra effort, but you could cut your paper costs by as much as 50% this way.

Look into third-party cartridges. Third-party ink and toner cartridges can cost considerably less than originals. Some cartridge companies inject new ink into recycled cartridges, while others make new cartridges and ink from scratch using the original manufacturer’s specs. There is some cause for concern about third-party ink damaging printers, although some of this is hype from the original manufacturers. When buying remanufactured or compatible cartridges, be sure to choose a well-respected provider.

Turn your printer off when it’s not in use. If you don’t print often, turn your machine off when you’re not using it. This will save you money on your energy bill, and it will also prevent your printer from cleaning the print heads and nozzles too often. These automatic cleaning cycles can drain your cartridges when you’re not using your printer.

Store documents electronically. The best way to save money on printing costs is to print sparingly. Don’t print out every email you receive for your records—instead, save them in an electronic file on your computer. Back up your files on a disc or a portable hard drive instead of printing them out. When printing long documents, print only the pages you need—not the whole document.

Printing can be expensive, but you can save money by following these easy steps.
Do your best to conserve ink and other consumables, and limit your printing as much as possible—and you’ll be able to cut your printing costs over time.

Uri Savran is the CEO of Inklogic which is running Websites which help consumers save money on printing and making the purchase of Ink cartridges more efficient and easy.

www.printr.info