Ways To Save On Your Inkjet Printing Costs

Contributed by Carla Davis

We login to Microsoft® Outlook®, checking all our unread e-mail. So we don’t forget a single action item, we print that e-mail—and the next, and the next, and the next. Before we know it, we’re feverishly printing every e-mail. Hours! Days go by! It’s not long before we walk over to the printer and see the same print jobs—some belonging to us, some to others—sitting there day, after day, after day, piling up into disorganized heaps and cluttering up the workspace. You ask yourself, “Gee, did I really need this?” right before pitching it into the waste bin. Truth is: we don’t really need a hard copy of most electronic documents. We just think we do. Hey! We’re humans. We deal in tangibles—if we can touch it, then it must be real. Then again, some of us are just print hogs—we have the compulsive urge to print.

Must have widgets and cool gadgets are appealing to bug-eyed consumers. And in fact, are generally affordable. So much so, many of us disregard or simply forget about the cost to upkeep the component, tugging at our purse strings. Case in point: printers. Manufacturers are practically giving them away at drop-dead costs. Meanwhile, have you stopped to notice the price of the cartridges, nearly exceeding the value of the printer itself, after just one or two purchases?

The first scenario teaches us a lesson in being conscience of how many gallons of ink we waste, daily—taking for granted the degree to which we print, unnecessarily. The second shows just how in tandem electronic products and peripherals work in luring away consumers’ wallets. From how well you make use of your computer, to the type of cartridge you purchase, right down to the brand of printer, the cost of cartridges can drain your pockets in ways you won’t imagine. Learn how to cut the cost of inkjet printing at every corner—what the manual doesn’t tell you!

Ink Cartridge

Avoid combination color-black cartridges.
Think about it! Why be forced to replace both the color and the black inks, when you only need one? If you think you’re getting a discount, think again! You’re throwing money down the drain. When you must buy again, purchase color and black inkjet cartridges, separately.

Brand versus generic.
Hyping up the brand name? Give me a break! This is Marketing 101. The brands cost more, leading (or, misleading, as it were) us to believe that the print quality of other cartridges pales in comparison to theirs. At $25-$30 a pop, in most cases, you get a spotty job at best. Find generic cartridges that are compatible with your printer.

Refill kits.
If you print in bulk or large quantities, refill kits are great to keep around. It’s like that old adage, “Why buy the whole cow, when you only need the milk?”

Recycled cartridges.
When you’ve just got to get a new one, not only are you performing your environmental duty, but you’re saving on the cost of new print cartridges, when you buy recycled.

Printer

Choose a printer based on the cost of ink.
Manufacturers often place warnings on printers, urging us not to use cartridges unintended for this model. Some even go so far as to patent the prescribed cartridge, legally prohibiting the reformulation of generic ink and/or cartridges for that model’s printer. It’s the manufacturer’s duty to sell you on their brand—by any means necessary. So before deciding on a printer, check out the fine print in the printer’s manual. Then, scroll down the cartridge aisle to see how much the specified brand will run you.

AHA!
How often have you, purely by accident, discovered a feature or function that you never knew existed—on a component you’ve owned for years? It just goes to show: 1) Our tendency to overdose on electronic features; and 2) How persuasive the technology industry is in getting us to make purchases we can’t justify or identify a need. Spec sheets highlight all the bells and whistles (e.g., high-speed printing, resolution, digital photo imaging). Know which are your picks and pans, before entering the store.

Computer

Color management.
Changing the printer default settings on your PC from best quality to draft can reduce excess ink output. A Windows tutorial can help you with changing your PC’s properties. If you have a multifunction unit that also photocopies, you can also change the properties on the unit’s control panel. Save optimal print quality for your final drafts.

Effective use of software programs.
We print e-mails, for instance, so we don’t forget important tasks or deadlines. Rather than stockpiling hard copies and manually sifting through them everyday, rely more on Microsoft Outlook task- or meeting-reminder programs to “ding” you. Effective use of these programs can significantly reduce the rate at which you print.

Print current page.
If the document has multiple pages, but you only need one, check the “Print Current Page” option before clicking “OK”. By the same token, if you must print, but only need a subset of what you see on the screen, copying and pasting the information into a Word document, and waiting until you’ve generated a full page of must-have information before printing, can also help you scale down your printing frequency.

While the printer has a one-time associated cost, as even repair is rarely worth the cost of the unit, cartridges have perpetual price ramifications that can drain the life right out of your bottom line. When it’s time to purchase your next cartridge, you’ll now have the tools to milk it for every dime it’s worth.

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