It seems as if some things never change, as businesses even 10 years ago were grumbling about the price of printer ink and this continues to happen even in 2020. Even though we don’t have much power to change the prices themselves, we can still make a few modifications to the way we use printer ink and use a few tips to reduce costs when having to buy new cartridges. Consider the following ideas the next time the topic of printer ink comes up in the weekly team meeting.

Try out an ink tank printer

Sometimes called reservoir printers, ink tanks are a wonderful way to not only save cash, but also cut out the need to constantly throw away and buy new ink cartridges. However, if you do plan to buy cartridges, you can check out sites like https://www.inkpal.com.au/. In case you come across any questions or concerns, you can simply click on the “contact us” option and ask them for assistance. Coming back to ink tanks, the basic idea is that you simply fill up the ink bottles located inside the printer – just like filling up your vehicle with petrol. The ink bottles are cheaper than cartridges, but the only issue some businesses will have is the cost of the ink tank printer, as these are currently priced at around £300. This can be a bit alarming, especially if you already have a printer that runs perfectly well, but if your goal is to save money in the long run and reduce the need to buy new cartridges, then ink tank printers are your best bet.

Don’t turn your printer on and off

You might think that turning a printer off is a better way to conserve energy, but the problem is that many modern printers perform a maintenance cycle to essentially clean itself when it is turned on. This cycle uses up a small portion of ink to clean the cartridge nozzles, which is important from time to time, but not necessary several times throughout the day. Inkjet printers barely use any energy when kept on all day, so you’re not draining much power by doing this and actually saving a lot of ink.

Look around for third-party ink

Unless you really care that your printer ink has to be from a well-known brand such as HP, Canon, or Epson, then you should know that third-party ink can give you real savings. Browsing online at a place like Tonerpartner lets you shop for third-party recycled cartridges that are often half the price of branded products. The best way is to simply try out a third-party ink cartridge and see if you can notice any difference to the more expensive option, if not, then continue to shop online for cheaper deals.

Be smarter with your printing

If you use your printer straight out of the box and never adjust the settings on your computer, then of course things will typically run well, but you can be doing so much more to make things cheaper and eco-friendly. You could make some of these changes right away:

• If you don’t need colour, then change the settings to black and white ink
• Switch to Draft Quality if the document is purely for in-house purposes
• Use the Print Preview option to ensure everything fits correctly on the page before printing
• Don’t immediately switch the cartridge as soon as you get a ‘low ink warning’ as you can often keep printing for several more days
• Use fonts like Times New Roman or Calibri, as these actually use less ink than other fonts
• It sounds simple, but don’t print if you don’t have to! Emailing, cloud sharing, or scanning are equally great forms of passing on a document

Want to save money on more business expenses? See our tips here and discover them all.