Maybe you won’t run into Big Foot the next time you walk the dog down the neighborhood trail. Maybe King Arthur isn’t going to stroll into Buckingham Palace next summer solstice to claim his due throne.
But it’s fun to stretch our imagination, entertain intriguing cultural myths. The problem, though, is when you think these fables are going to materialize in your life and, even worse, make it better – like expecting King Arthur (perhaps riding the Loch Ness Monster) to show up at your house and do your income taxes.
Believe it or not, Ripley, wishful myths are bountiful when it comes to business printing. They’re truly fairy tales but with the unhappy ending of printer costs in the red and productivity painted black.
Let’s check these printing myths to get back to reality.
Printing isn’t costing my business that much money
Printers may not require alchemical gold to work, and printer paper does kinda grow on trees (unlike money). This doesn’t exclude printing from having a significant budget impact. An average employee prints 10,000 pages per year, at a startling cost of about $725. What’s more, three percent of a company’s revenue is spent on paper. At the same time, 90 percent of offices have no formal print policy and two-thirds don’t track printing expenses.
Even in a small office of five to ten people, printer costs add up and aren’t exactly environmentally friendly. Furthermore, printing costs usually top the expense list just behind rent, payroll, and utilities for most small-to-medium businesses.
The easiest way to manage these costs is to create a printer policy that regulates color docs, promotes double-sided printing, and champions digital assets for presentations or collaterals. A print-monitoring program can also go a long way in taming printer costs.
If I just buy ink cartridges instead of toner, I’ll save more money
That seems so logical it must be true. After all, ink cartridges are cheaper than toner cartridges.
Not so fast. As we’ve demonstrated, toner is more economical than ink in the long run. However, inkjet printing is more versatile and superior for graphics collaterals, often a better fit for small or home offices. The point is to know what’s better for your needs (and we provide the choices here). It’s not all black and white unless you want just to print black and white, and you should probably go for a laser printer.
My printer will be fine until the day it dies the true death
Printers are like horses, not that you can ride them to fight White Walkers from Game of Thrones. But like horses, they do wear down with time (and software updates tend to slow them down, just like software updates slow older iPhones).
The EPA states that if your printer, copier, or scanner is older than five years, its consumption is about 50 percent higher than a newer device. Also, New Energy Star qualified printers are on average twice as competent than standard models.
The average lifespan of an inkjet printer is three years. Laser printers last about five to six years. Still want to hang on to your old machine? Consider that, as your printer requires more service with age, on average printer repair costs are three times as expensive as the price of a new printer.
My printer is secure because I have a small office
You’re confident that hackers could care less about your office.
But they do care, as do most criminals.
Cyberattacks last year cost small-to-medium businesses an average of more than $2.2 million, while 63 percent of companies experience annually one or more print-related data breaches. The number of cyberattacks continues to rise. Therefore, it’s no surprise small-to-medium business owners have been investing more time and money into preemptive network security.
What can you do, especially with a limited budget?
Beyond printer policies that manage printing and document placing, a well-managed print service increases the security of your printers, as all documents can be potentially tracked, networks guarded, and printers monitored.
Managed print services are still too costly
We thought you would say that. In a reality away from Hogwarts, an effective managed print services can reduce business costs by 20-30 percent.
That’s no tall tale and can pay for more than printer programs – like an extra office pizza party!
All printer programs or managed print services are the same
There’s much to consider when researching a printer vendor. We cover this exploration in a past article. What is imperative — and always a frog that doesn’t turn into a prince — is when a printer provider holds you hostage in a tower of long-term contracts and expensive cartridges.
If you’d rather have a princely ending, our printer programs are no cost beyond the supplies you buy from us. We even offer free delivery, although we don’t send King Arthur to your office.
It’s better to replace toner cartridge right after the “running low” signal flashes
Some people like to fill their gas tanks as soon as the low-fuel indicator flashes. But the signal doesn’t mean an automobile is out of juice. The same goes for the printer when it comes to ink or toner levels. The indicator will appear when there is about 20 percent ink or toner left in a cartridge.
On a similar note, if you’re about to take a photograph of the Loch Ness Monster and suddenly the low-power light flashes in your camera, go for the shot instead of running to charge your device. Just saying.
Better rely on big brands for quality ink or toner cartridges
Big brand toner or ink is typically more expensive than third-party or aftermarket alternatives. That must mean the toner or ink is better in quality.
This reasoning is sound but not necessarily true. Big brand toner or ink is priced to cover the affordable printers that lock you into buying their products (as well as their Godzilla marketing budgets).
As with any product, test the review-waters and do your homework. Our products go through our Triple Check System. We also offer a cartridge color challenge – where you can directly compare the quality of our ink/toner color versus that of competitors – making it easy to make the right decision.
Paper jams are all the printer’s fault
You might as well blame a horse for not wanting to charge into White Walkers. Sure, printers come in all quality levels, but there are methods to avoid paper jams:
- Be sure to square off the stack of paper before inserting it in the tray
- Double-check that pages are properly lined up
- Check to ensure the guides are flush with the paper
- Don’t over-fill the tray
Or watch our video on how to avoid painful paper jams.
Whatever you do, don’t let Big Foot fill your tray or have him involved in any printer decisions. Doing this, along with debunking these printing myths, will certainly improve your budget and productivity…happily ever after.
If you need assistance to get your printing in a reality that works best for your needs, please take our complimentary printer assessment.
