How to save money on printing

One of the biggest concerns that businesses have when it comes to printing is cost, but running a printer doesn’t need to be that expensive. There are lots of things you can do to make your operation more budget-friendly without compromising on the number of documents you print out. If your costs have skyrocketed recently, then this blog will help you to identify key areas where you can cut down. Sometimes it just takes a little bit of time and effort to streamline your spending and find a system that works for your business and its needs.

Ink

Buying ink can really drive up the cost of your printing, but it doesn’t have to. If you’re always going for premium quality ink at high prices, think about whether you really need that for the type of printing you’re doing. If you’re just printing documents and business cards, you can probably get away with spending a lot less. Sometimes you don’t even need to compromise on quality, you just need to shop around. Make sure you’re always getting more for your money and taking the time to find the cheapest hp 301 ink cartridge you can.

Paper

Second on the list is paper. Similarly to ink, you probably don’t need luxurious paper if your printing is mostly for internal use or legal documents. While you’ll want to up the quality a bit for leaflets and business cards, you don’t need fine, art-grade sheets. Because paper doesn’t expire and can be stored for years, it’s a good idea to buy it in bulk. If you can, look for recycled paper, because this can sometimes be cheaper as well.

But before you go out in search of the cheapest paper, make sure you’re not wasting the paper you have. For internal printing, use both sides of the document or use old print-outs as scrap paper for notes. Question whether you really need to print something before you do. Chances are, there’s a lot of paper waste in your office that could easily be stopped with a few new policies on printer usage.

Colours and fonts

If what you’re printing isn’t going to be distributed to clients, opt for greyscale if you can. Colours will use up more of your ink reserves, so if it’s not essential, stick to black and white. Even business cards can be in black and white and still look sophisticated and professional. If necessary, add a pop of colour to just one part of the card.

It’s also important to think about fonts. Most people don’t realise that certain fonts use more ink than others – even if you’re printing out the same number of words. Arial is a very popular font, but eats through ink reserves a lot faster than Times New Roman. Because both of these fonts are easy to read and generally accepted as suitable for even legal documents, make the switch to save on ink.

Printing is essential for so many businesses, so make sure you’re being as economical as possible.