How to save money on desktop printing
Posted
Apr 20 2009, 01:24 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Printers are generally cheap, but ink is not. The price of replacement cartridges can be shocking.
How can we spend less on our printing needs? Mike at Money TLD offers "10 ways to save on printing."
He starts with some good basic advice: Print only the documents you really need. "Do you really need to print out every e-mail?" he asks. Good grief. Do people really still do that?
The rest of his tips are not so obvious, and one is downright clever.
Figure out the cost per page before you buy a printer. An article at PC Support Tips says the cost per page on an inkjet printer can be 8 cents for black ink and about three times more for color printing. The per-page cost for laser printers, which are more expensive, is much lower.
"The cheapskate's guide to printing" at PC World is a bit old but still has useful tips about what kind of printer is most cost-effective for the amount and type of use it gets.
We know that the printer companies say you should NEVER do this, but go with off-brand ink (and paper). Mike says, "There's definitely some inferior stuff out there, though, so find a good supplier and stick with it." Better yet, refill the cartridge yourself.
Keep printing even though your computer says you need a refill. Our computer told us long before our printing quality declined that our ink cartridge was on its last legs. Here's a clever hack from Mike for maximizing the use of a toner cartridge: "Take an opaque piece of tape and stick it onto the toner cartridge." That blocks the little light that shines through the cartridge to monitor the toner level, so it won't stop working prematurely.
This next one brings to mind that funny commercial where the office guys are shaking the toner cartridges to get them to last longer. Mike, however, suggests a gentle shaking, not a full-out boogaloo. "This will redistribute the toner more evenly and will often give you hundreds more pages," he adds.
If you really do a lot of printing, have separate printers for different purposes. Do your routine printing on a black-and-white printer, and only photos on your photo printer.
Cheapest tip of all, for some people: Don't get a printer. If you really don't need one on your desk all the time, let the local printing store do the work for you. Also, "The Weakonomist" says he read about an apartment complex that offered tenants wireless access to one printer. The users share the costs.
Related reading:
Get 10 years of use from your computer
5 ways to squeeze savings from your workplace
Ink recycling programs change, but you can still benefit
The hidden costs behind the price tag
