Reducing printer ink consumption is one of the top queries of people nowadays. Due to rapid increases in paper prices as well as the printer ink price the secret ways of reducing printing consumables are a must if you have one.
Moreover, due to having a lot more variety & ink type, people get confused and choose the wrong item based on their actual needs.
These are the ways that help you in reducing printer ink consumption, however, laser ID card printers may not produce better images if you apply these techniques of reducing inks.
Choose the right printer
Choosing the right printer is the most important thing before considering keeping ink consumption low. For instance, if a student buys a six-color ink tank printer then the print cost would never be minimum since the actual work of the printer is to make quality photos.
If your concentration is to keep an all-in-one home printer then these top 5 are the most efficient in terms of consuming inks. For more, follow our in-depth printer buying guide.
Examine the printer’s behavior
Knowing the behavior of the printer is another important task that helps in keeping ink consumption low. For instance, if you are using a laser printer that takes some minutes to get ready, you should not infrequently print one or two pages all day. Try to maximize printing by putting the documents in the queue.
Furthermore, there are some printers that need a different cartridge to operate smoothly. You need to carefully choose the right one which ensures a better printing experience.
Here’s a quick comparison of how different print color costs for a one-page print.
| Ink Cartridge (HP) | Ink Tank (Canon Pixma) | |
| Black Page Yield | 1,140 pages | 5,415 pages |
| Color page Yield | 744 pages | 4,790 pages |
| Black Print Cost | 0.029 USD per print | 0.003 USD per print |
| Color Print Cost | 0.086 USD per print | 0.008 USD per print |
| Print Speed | 24 PPM | 15 PPM |
Update Driver
We often forget to update the printer’s driver after installing it. The driver sets the firmware to work efficiently and it gets slower over time. Therefore, checking driver updates regularly is a clever option that helps in a smoother printing experience & reduces ink consumption by lowering the trouble.
Get a bulk discount
If you have already examined your printer and know the print volume per month, you can go for a bulk purchase of the print consumables from the authorized store. Similarly, you can take advantage of the big day such as Black Friday or other campaigns to get the whole year’s ink ready at a lower cost.
Try eco mode
Almost every printer has this option which enables printing in economy mode by lowering the DPI or making some minor changes within the printer settings. If the documents are for drafting or anything less important, the eco mode works well always.
Setting Optimization
You need to check the default settings of your printer before printing a lot. There must be default settings that may not be suitable for regular documents. For instance, check the DPI to make it lower for the low-value prints.
Print in Grayscale mode
Grayscale mode enables the prints in black and white only. The sharpness is further controlled by the level of DPI that you have set. Unless you need a colorful object with maximum details, try printing in grayscale which maximizes the print yield and reduces the per-page print cost by almost 30%.
Choosing font wisely
There are some fonts that take unusual space and shape that pushes the page and color requirement higher. For optimizing the ink cost, choosing a regular font like Calibri will contribute to saving printing consumables.
Regular Maintenance
Regular maintenance is a must if you need to bring ink consumption down. Up on use, the print head gets clogged and slower which ultimately affects consuming more inks while printing. Follow our 7-step maintenance guide and enhance the life of your printer.
Purchase Drip Free Ink Bottle
If you are using an inkjet printer with a liquid ink tank, make sure to buy drip-free inks that reduce the risk of ink wastage while refilling the tanks. There are only a few suppliers who sell such drip-free ink bottles. A couple of minutes of web research will help you a lot.
Use genuine ink cartridges
Even if your printer allows you to print on third-party inks, always make sure that you have the original ink cartridges to bring down the ink consumption. Third-party ink may sound cheaper initially but it affects higher consumption and damages the print head.
Leave the printer ON
Leaving the printer on is always a wise decision if you are thinking about saving on ink costs. If you keep it on, the rebooting time will not be required and it will print on a regular flow which ultimately reduces wastage from the nozzle.
Reduce Graphical Image
Unless it is highly essential, avoiding graphical image printing is a wise decision that helps in bringing the cost down. For instance, if you are printing a draft, just remove the graphical image and check the whole document. Or if you need it, prefer the grayscale mode to reduce the consumption of color inks.
Avoid Unnecessary Bold Texts
We often make some lines or words bold while writing a document. Bold fonts require a higher amount of ink than the regular. Try avoiding this and it will surely contribute to savings from consumable costs.
Making savings from print inks is always tricky but straight forward. if you can follow these simple guidelines, it will be easier for you to earn bak from the contribution made from the inks that you have saved during a year.
Good luck!
