Save money by standardising ink cartridge models use across the office

There are a vast array of printers on the market and an even greater array of ink cartridges. As printer manufacturers bring out a new printer they are just as likely to bring out new ink cartridges to go with them.

This can cause problems for businesses to keep track of office running costs as there can be a considerable difference in the costs of various ink cartridges on the market.

With five or six different printers in an office and maybe as many as fifteen different ink cartridges it can be difficult to take advantage of economies of scale in the cartridge ink field.

When a company does buy in bulk they can find themselves left with a number of unused ink cartridges because they have had to change their printer and the new printer ink is different from the old.

Traditionally people buying printers have not given much consideration to the quality longevity or cost of the ink cartridges. However the consumer is becoming cannier in this regard and is not only considering the ink cartridge cost but also considering the advantages of standardising the ink cartridges across the entire office or organisation.

If you are considering standardising the printer ink throughout your organisation here are a few pointers to help.

Changing all your printers overnight is neither practical nor profitable so any changes that you make will have to be thought out carefully. First of all do your home work – decide on what type of printer best suits your needs.

Will an inkjet printer suffice or do you need a bigger laser printer. The costs in the long term can be considerable. The inkjet may be cheaper to buy but more expensive to run both in terms of money and time if things go wrong with it.

When you have decided what type of printer you want to go with you can do a number of things, change all your printers to this model right away. This option may suit you if (1) you are refurbishing your entire office, (2) are in need of new printers.

Another alternative might be to change printers only as you need to but have the printer you want in mind in advance. A third alternative might be to buy one or two new printers of the type you want and then replace the others as and when required

Implementing the changes in this instance should not be too difficult but it would be wise to introduce the new printers at a time when you are not too busy because there will undoubtly be teething problems.

Training on the new printers including how to feed the paper, clear paper jams and change the ink cartridges will be necessary – another reason to chose a quiet time for the change over.

Lastly it will be necessary to evaluate the new printers. Are they all that you had hoped for? Are they causing problems that you had not expected and would not have anticipated?

For this reason it is important that you have done your research and are sure of the quality of the product.