Closing off the accounts and liaising with the accountant, reviewing annual sales and expenditure and setting budgets for the next 12 months. 

Printing could be one of the big office expenses for small and mid-sized enterprises. Ending of the year is a good time to review your print strategy and usage and make changes that can help controlling your printing cost in the coming year. Here are four ways to do so.

1. Choose cut-price consumables

Do you opt for the generic brand when you’re having a script filled at the pharmacy, or choose OEM parts and consumables when your car is in the repair shop? If so, you’re familiar with the concept of receiving equivalent quality goods without the big brand price tag.

Taking the same approach to printer consumables – opting for reputable generic substitutes rather than the manufacturer’s own lines – can result in savings of up to 30 per cent. It is a straightforward way to cut costs – significantly easier than, for example, asking employees to ‘think before they print’ or adopt paper-free practices that are not compatible with the way your business does business.

2. Stock the store room

If you have a good idea of your printing requirements over the next 12 months, stocking the storeroom with consumables can be a very useful work. Having a stash of supplies on hand reduces the need for regular reordering and means one less task for admin staff to stay on top of in the new year.

3. Crack down on colour

Do you have rules in place which dictate whether your employees can print their documents in colour, or is it a matter of anything goes? Some of largest organisations, including many government departments and agencies, have cut back on colour and are reaping significant savings as a result.

Printing in colour can cost up to 10 times more than doing so in black and white – think around five cents a copy versus 0.5 cents, for those on managed print service agreements. Cutting back on colour needn’t be something that’s arduous for businesses to police – scan codes or cards can be used to determine who can and can’t have access to the colour toner drums.

4. Buy black and white machines

One way to sidestep the colour question entirely is to buy or lease machines which only print in black and white. It is not the preferred option for printer resellers, who typically push the colour option enthusiastically. Higher unit prices and higher consumables costs mean more money in the till and that is part of the reason why an estimated 90 percent of office printers in Australia have a colour option.

The good news is, there are plenty of mono printers on the market which can turn out equally high-quality pages. If your business has no, or limited, need to produce colour documents, opting for one or several black and white printers can mean more money in the bank in 2022.

Time to act

“A penny saved is a penny earned” for many small and medium-sized businesses in Australia looking for ways to maintain financial viability in today’s uncertain economic times. Rationalising printing costs in 2022 can be a painless way to reduce your outlay without affecting your operations or the quality of your output.