How to Spend Less on Printing and Get Better Results

One of the hidden costs of doing business is the cost of printing. No matter what business you are in or how hard you try to "go paperless," you will have printing expenses. The key is to spend less on printing and get better results at the same time.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Encourage proofreading in your business. Proofreading errors can increase printing costs by as much as 25 percent. Not only will you spend less on printing, you will get better results if you proofread effectively.

2. Consider moving smaller printing tasks in-house. Today, there are high quality printers available at an affordable price. If you need to print less than 200 pages, you will spend less on printing and get better results. You'll also save the time, trouble and expense of outsourcing the printing task.

3. Recycle your toner cartridges. You can save as much as 50 percent on in-house printing costs if you recycle each cartridge just once.

4. Use draft-quality printing for internal text documents. Unless you have graphics in your documents, draft-quality is sufficient for your business needs.

5. Develop a long-term relationship with your printing provider. If you have a need for high-volume printing, it's in your provider's best interest to offer you regular discounts. Your provider benefits by increasing her ongoing revenue and you benefit by spending less on printing.

Tips & Warnings

• If you only print a few photos, laser printers are the most cost-effective in-house printers. If you print photos often, however, you will get better results with an ink-jet printer.

Who Can Help:

• eFax is the world’s #1 Internet fax service.  Send and receive faxes by email and kiss your fax machine goodbye. 30-Day Free Trial