It is not really a secret that printer manufacturers keep the costs of their printers extremely low. This is possible because when purchasing a printer, you are entering into a long term contract (although you may not think of it that way) because you are agreeing to continually buy ink for that particular model. The ink is not kept artificially low in price and if you use a lot of ink in your business then it is an expense that really could start to add up. The good news is there are a few tricks and tips to keeping this cost down, so you don't end up buying expensive ink on a regular basis. Read on to learn what tricks you can employ to reduce costs and keep them to an absolute minimum.
Trick 1: research ink prices
This is probably the most important tip if you don't want to spend a fortune on printer ink. Find out first about ink prices before anything else. A good idea is to prepare a list of all the different prices of ink cartridges so you can take it with you to the shop when out looking for a printer. This trick doesn't end here however, as many people will look at the price per volume cost. This is a mistake as the volume figure doesn't reveal how many pages of printing the cartridge will be capable of which differs between models and makes. Instead look at the page yield price which will tell you how much it will cost to produce "x" number of pages. This makes comparison far easier and provides a much clearer overall picture of price.
Trick 2 : consider different types of printer
The world of printer technology has changed over the years, and never before have there been so many different types, styles and designs of printer available. Ink yield plays a crucial role in keeping ink costs down as shown above, and following on with this theme choosing a printer that uses less ink to print is an important step. Laser printers, although very effective at printing use more ink to print a single page then inkjet printers. To keep costs down an inkjet printer would be far more suitable therefore.
Trick 3 : is colour printing important?
If primarily printing is just for sheets of plain text then purchasing coloured ink may be completely unnecessary. If you do use occasional colour and like to have the choice, then purchase cartridges that have separate tanks for each colour, as opposed to lumping all the colours into one tank. This means it will be possible to replace a single colour as and when is necessary which will be far more cost efficient in the long term.
Trick 4 : only print when necessary
There is never a need to print an email for example. This is a waste of ink as by its nature, an email can generally be sent to anyone that needs to see it. Really think before printing any document or web page. Web pages should be avoided in particular too as the logos, adverts, banners and headers that will be printed alongside any text you are actually looking for will drain your colour supplies in no time. That is not to say however you should never print as ink does tend to dry up when unused for long periods of time. To strike the perfect balance, print something small every week at the very least.
Trick 5 : keep on printing
If the flashing light has come on or your printer is displaying some other warning sign that the ink is running low and the supplies will need replenishing, don't necessarily rush straight out to buy more. The warning lights on printers come on notoriously early. Instead judge the amount of ink left by viewing the quality of the printing. If it is very faded and difficult to read, then it's time for a change!
Printer ink is a necessary cost in this world, however by shopping wisely and using cartridges such as the Epson stylus SX200 ink cartridges or the Epson stylus SX215 Ink Cartridges it is possible to keep costs to a minimum.