An American economist coined the term “conspicuous consumption” at the end of the 19th century to describe the behavior of the “new rich”, who used their discretionary income to buy luxury items that were more about demonstrating social status and power than about actually being useful. More than 100 years later, we sometimes call this “bling”—and it can be seen in cars, smartphone apps, and computer hardware. However, since you’re reading this article about economical printing, you’re probably already trying to cure yourself of affluenza. Let’s see what can be done.
Taking a comprehensive view, the cost of printing includes the price of the printer, ink or toner, paper, and repairs. If we assume it would be less expensive to buy a new printer than repair your own printer, then the last factor becomes irrelevant. However, we must consider the expected lifetime of the printer—and the longer the expected lifetime, the more the cost of the ink/toner and paper come to dominate the total cost of printing.
The first step to saving on ink/toner is to use less. You can do this by adjusting the print quality in your printer’s settings. The flip side of this is to spend less on ink/toner when you do buy it. With proper care, inkjet cartridges can be refilled several times at a fraction of the manufacturer’s price. Of course, the printer manufacturer wants you to buy their expensive ink, so certain features (such as correct detection of ink levels) may not work with refilled ink cartridges.
You can save money on paper by printing on both sides. Inexpensive printers won’t automate this process, requiring you to print on one side and then reinsert the printed page to print on the other side. Not terribly convenient, but this is the least expensive way to use both sides of the paper. A more expensive printer will support automatic duplex printing (sometimes with the purchase of an attachment). To make a rational decision here, you have to decide how much your time is worth.
Another way to save on both ink/toner and paper is to not print anything unless absolutely necessary. Electronic information can often be conveniently stored, shared, collaborated on, and consumed without ever being put to paper. Send office productivity files (.doc, .xls, .ppt, etc.) directly. Alternatively, you can install a “software printer”, which lets you print documents to various electronic file formats, e.g. .pdf, .jpg, .tiff. This approach has the added advantage of eliminating the need for expensive software to be able to read/view the documents. In other words, you can print a PowerPoint presentation to a PDF file; the presentation can be viewed with Adobe Acrobat. No ink/toner, paper, or pricey software involved.
Conspicuous consumption may not be a major factor when it comes to printing, but there are very practical printer features that will raise the overall cost of printing but which should be considered when making a purchase, for example: color printing, print speed, resolution, Wi-Fi connectivity, AirPrint support, auto-duplexing, and integrated flatbed scanner and fax machine.
In conclusion, use less ink; buy generic ink; use both sides of the paper; and only print to paper if you must. If you apply these tips on economical printing, you may free up some money in your pocket. And then maybe you could get yourself some bling.