Without a doubt, setting your printing defaults to duplex printing — where each page is printed double-sided — saves your business money and materials more quickly and easily than any other method for how to cut print expenses in a business. Just by changing the settings on your printer, cloud software or workstations, you instantly cut the volume of paper your office uses nearly in half.
So if you have not changed your settings to double-sided printing yet, here is some more information about how to do it and how much cold cash you will save.
Estimating Cost Savings of Duplex Printing
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the average office worker prints 10,000 sheets of paper every year. So, by that estimate, an office of 30 workers will print 300,000 sheets of paper a year. If that office purchases boxes of paper in 10 reams — good for 5,000 sheets total — and each of those boxes costs around $48 including tax, the total expense of paper that ends up used is 60 boxes at $2,880.
Cutting that amount in half with duplex printing saves the office $1,440 a year. It also saves 150,000 extra pieces of paper from the landfill or recycling facility. Larger offices of 80 employees would save $3,840 or $320 every month. Those extra dollars can go towards ordering more needed equipment, improving office furnishings or just into the war chest for a rainy day.
So, while changing your print settings may not transform your office overhead costs, it is a quick way to put money back in your business’s pocket while reducing waste. You can calculate your own potential printing savings courtesy of the Kyocera website.
Getting the Right Duplex Printer for Cutting Print Expenses in a Business
The good news is that most printers made within the past few years already include duplex printing features. Some have slower, reverse feed processes, while others use a collating rack to perform the process almost as quickly as printing single sided sheets. You could also attach duplex devices to existing printers, such as this highly rated one from HP. Of course, given the cost of most medium-quality office-ready printers, purchasing a duplexing printer new may make more sense from an expense and maintenance perspective.
Even the very oldest desktop printers are capable of printing duplex if the user is willing to catch the papers manually and reinsert them into the paper hopper.
Changing Your Settings to Duplex Printing
Individual printer units may have system settings to change duplex printing to default. Windows 7, 8 and 10 workstations can also be commanded to send every print job as a duplex when looking under the Control Panel>Print Settings icon. Software like web browsers and Microsoft Office can also have this feature set to default, automatically sending every job as a duplex.
Go ahead and give duplex printing a try to see how much paper and money you end up saving. If you want even deeper advice for decreasing printing expenses in your business, you can enlist the help of Freedom Profit Recovery’s Document Output managed savings services. We can optimize your software, equipment and workflow to save you the most money possible on printing, month after month.
About FPR
FPR is a privately-held North American-based consulting, technology services and outsourcing company. Through our industry-unique VISIONAnalysis™ process, we have successfully combined unparalleled expertise and comprehensive intelligence to deliver significant value and cost management to our clients. FPR collaborates with its clients to help them achieve high performance.
For more information, please feel free to contact Mr. Brent Newton at FPR at (972) 650-0700.