Keeping your overheads under control is a vital part of running a successful business. If you do not do that most of your profit will evaporate. It is important to track and monitor all your overheads. Including the little things. For example, most business owners are stunned to learn that they spend thousands every year on printing alone. Fortunately, it is not difficult to greatly reduce that bill and keep it under control. Here is how.
Shop around for the best ink deals
Ink is more expensive than any of the other items (discluding the printer itself) you need to be able to print documents for your business. So, it makes sense to focus first on getting that cost under control. Usually, you will find the cheapest printer inks online. But before you click the buy button make sure that you know what you are buying. Not all cartridges contain the same amount of ink.
Buy your paper in bulk
If you are not already doing so, consider buying your paper in bulk. Often, it will be much cheaper.
But you need to be sure that your usage levels are high enough. You do not want to have too much of your company’s money tied up for ages in boxes of paper. You will also need somewhere secure to store it.
Should your firm not use enough paper to make buying in bulk viable, consider clubbing together with other businesses in your building. Potentially, you can place a big order and divide it up according to what each company has contributed.
Identify where your printing budget is being spent
Minimizing how much your firm prints is by far the best way to reduce your printing costs. Start by auditing who is printing what. This way you can stay on track and figure out where savings could be made if there are unnecessary amounts being printed. If you run a printing company, it is important that you are up to speed with how many resources you are using each time. This is where Just-in-Time (JiT) printing comes in. Instead of holding onto lots of stock that isn’t being used, you only have what you need to complete orders, making your processes more efficient.
Educate and incentivize your staff
Once you know who is doing what and why you can start to address some of the waste that is almost certainly happening. Often, you will find that some people have just got into the habit of printing everything out. Pointing out what is happening and explaining that you want that to stop is the next step. When you do so, take the time to explain the cost benefits to your staff. You might even want to incentivize them by providing some sort of reward to the first department to cut their printing levels by a certain percentage.
Keep on monitoring
Once you have got things under control you will be able to establish roughly how much printing needs to be done each week to keep your business running efficiently. If you notice that consumption of ink, toner, and paper is starting to rise you can identify which department is responsible and investigate. Enabling you to stop the amount you spend on printing from spiraling out of control again.
The cash you save from this exercise can be reinvested into your company. Plus, of course, printing less is also better for the environment.
Interesting Related Article: “How and Where You Can Find Good Compatible HP Printer Inks“