How to Save Money While Photocopying?

Answer 1

One of the biggest expenses many small businesses deal with is related to photocopying. It can be easy to go through paper and toner when you need to make several photocopies of important documents. The key to saving money while photocopying is to do as much preparation as possible before making copies.

Efficient Paper Use

The quickest way to cut photocopying costs is to change the type of paper you use, and the way you use it. Since photocopies are not high quality prints, there is no need to use high quality paper in your copy machine. You will have suitable results even if you use the cheapest paper on the market. When you make copies, be sure to set the copier to print on both sides of the paper. If you make double-sided copies you immediately cut your paper consumption in half, which will have a dramatic impact on your paper usage.

Contrast Settings

Most photocopiers have a way to adjust the contrast of the copies you make. If the majority of your photocopying involves black and white text, you can probably get away with setting the contrast to the very lightest level without any problems. The lighter the contrast, the less toner you will use for each copy. Experiment with the contrast levels to find the lowest setting you can use to get the copy quality that you need. Replacing toner is expensive and messy, so any opportunity to reduce usage without impacting daily production can be welcome.

Look it Over Twice

It can be very frustrating to discover a mistake in a document after you’ve made hundreds of copies. The wasted toner and wasted paper add up very quickly if you need to change the document and make copies again. Careful proofreading may take a little extra time, but it can save you quite a lot of money in the long run. If possible, have someone else look over the document before you begin to make copies. They will have a fresh perspective and may catch mistakes that you would overlook because you have been working with the document so closely. It is much less expensive to fix one document than to fix multiple copies.