Printing is one of those silent office expenses that quietly add up. In fact, office equipment such as printers are listed as the #4 top hidden costs in an office. From toner and other consumables to paper and maintenance, the costs associated with office printing can be staggering if left unchecked. The good news? You don’t need a complete office overhaul to start saving. With a few smart strategies, like our 10 practical tips for how to reduce printing costs, you can cut your office printing costs almost immediately and improve efficiency. Let’s take a look, shall we?
How to Reduce Printing Costs in the Office: 10 Tips
Cutting printing costs doesn’t have to be complex or require drastic changes. When it comes to ways on how to reduce printing costs in the workplace, small, smart steps can add up to significant savings almost overnight.
- Audit Your Printing Habits
The first step you can take is to start with taking a hard look at your office’s printing habits. How often are employees printing unnecessary documents? Are multiple copies being printed unnecessarily? Do you have the right type of print equipment for your office’s needs? A simple print assessment, whether conducted internally or if you enlist the help of a print provider like Parmetech, can reveal where money is being wasted.
- Embrace Digital Alternatives
According to Google AI results, nearly half of all printed documents are thrown away within 24 hours and 30% of print jobs are never even picked up from the printer. Encourage employees to ask themselves “does this document really need to be printed” before hitting “print.” ask yourself: can this document be shared digitally instead? Policies that promote email sharing, cloud storage, and collaborative documents reduce unnecessary printing, saving money on both paper and toner, while also improving workflow efficiency.
- Set Default Duplex (Double-Sided) Printing
When it comes to ways on how to reduce printing costs, this one is easy! Printing on both sides of the paper, referred to as duplex printing or double-sided printing, can cut paper usage by up to 50%. By setting the default print properties to duplex printing there will be no more accidental single-sided printing. Instead, employees would need to make the effort to change the setting to single-sided printing when it’s needed, helping to reduce paper usage.
- Use Draft Mode for Internal Documents
For internal documents such as rough drafts or memos, switching to Draft Mode uses significantly less toner. While Draft Mode does produce lower-quality images, for internal documents, the difference is barely noticeable and is an easy and worthwhile way of how to reduce printing costs in the office.
- Set Policies for Color Printing
Color printing is expensive. Depending on the print device, it can sometimes be up to five times or even 10 times more expensive than black-and-white printing. Just as you can set your default printer settings to duplex printing, you can also set the default to black-and-white printing, so that employees have to actively select color printing. Additionally, many printers have a built-in functionality that allows you to restrict color printing for users. You can also explore more robust print management software options that allow you to set quotas for employees or allow some users access to color printing and others none. By restricting color printing for only necessary documents, you will see significant printing savings.
- Consolidate Your Printing
Many times, we’ll see offices that have multiple smaller printers and MFPs either for personal use or because people think that a smaller printer is less expensive (common printer myth). Instead of having multiple small printers or MFPs in each office, you should consider centralizing office printing to one or a few high-efficiency office copiers. Not only does centralized printing reduce maintenance costs, save energy, and help monitor usage, but the cost per page to print from an office copier is actually less expensive.
- Invest in High-Capacity Toner Cartridges
While high-capacity toner cartridges have a higher upfront cost, they last longer and cost less per printed page than standard capacity toner cartridges. For example, for a popular Xerox color robust desktop printer, their standard capacity color toner cartridge yields 6,000 pages and costs $263. The same exact color toner, just the high-capacity option, yields 16,000 pages and costs $539. When you do math, the standard toner cartridge costs $0.04 per page and the high-capacity toner cartridge costs $0.03. While one cent might not seem like much, over the course of printing 16,000 pages you’re saving $160! So, as you can see, choosing high-capacity toner cartridges can dramatically reduce your printing budget over time.
- Implement Secure Print Release
Secure print release requires users to authenticate at the printer before their job prints. This reduces wasteful printing from forgotten or mis-sent documents and improves overall security. To implement secure print release properly, you more than likely will need some sort of print management software.
- Establish Smart Printing Policies
Educate your team with office-wide policies like “print only when necessary” or “preview before printing.” When employees understand not only how to reduce printing costs but also the consequences of not following these policies, they will make smarter choices, reducing waste.
- Leverage Managed Print Services
A managed print services (MPS) provider can analyze your printing environment, optimize devices, and implement cost-saving strategies you might not think of. There are many managed print services providers and choosing the right one can help your office reduce overall print costs by 20–30% or more, often immediately.
Reducing printing costs doesn’t have to be complicated. From small changes like duplex printing and draft mode to strategic solutions like managed print services, every office can save money and boost efficiency. Are you interested in learning more about how to reduce printing costs in your office today? Contact Parmetech to see how a print assessment and a customized managed print services solution can transform your office printing—and your budget.
