This New Year, say goodbye to bad office printing habits. We all make mistakes on the job from time to time and printing is no exception.

At first, making mistakes with your printer might not seem like an issue. If these printing mistakes are not addressed and corrected early, they will eventually turn into bad printing habits which will gradually burn a hole in your company’s wallet. They can even result in a security liability if you aren’t careful. But, don’t worry – it’s easy to recognize these bad habits and after doing so, you’ll notice amazing results within your printed materials and perhaps even a considerable amount of savings in your technology budget.

Keep reading for some of the most common bad printing habits out there and how to avoid them this year:  

One of the most common issues people run into with their printer or multifunction printer (MFP) is paper that doesn’t feed correctly or that comes out crumpled. On one hand, it’s a hassle to have to re-print your document. On the other hand, you’re practically tossing your investment in the garbage each time you have to throw out a job. There can be many reasons why your documents aren’t printing correctly. The most common cause for this particular issue is paper being loaded into the printer incorrectly.

In the future, make sure that the paper is not curled or creased before loading the printer. To do so, fan the stack of paper before loading it into the printer. Avoid overloading your printer with paper by making sure the paper stack does not rise above the edge guide. Verify that the guide inside of the paper drawer is adjusted correctly and that the paper is loaded accordingly. Making sure that all of these steps are taken before loading paper into the printer will help you avoid printing mishaps in the future.

Careless printing is a common, yet damaging, trap that many employees fall into. Statistics reveal that the average office employee prints anywhere up to 10,000 documents every year and discards roughly four million tons of paper every year. These statistics might sound hyperbolic. However, when you think about how many supplies you go through regularly, those numbers seem more realistic. Another habit you should definitely cut is careless, wasteful printing. You can do so by cutting the following wasteful printing habits out of your daily routine:

Printing every document

Some office employees have a habit of printing hard copies when it would be simpler to utilize the digital version of the document. Instead of continuing this practice, implement and enforce a print quota to motivate your team to think carefully before printing. These quotas can be established and allocated on a daily, weekly or quarterly schedule. Also, be sure to preview each document before printing to ensure that you only print what’s necessary and not those random blank sheets in between documents.

Printing in color when it isn’t necessary

Honestly, how often do we check our printer settings before sending a job? Despite the fact that most office documents are monochrome, employees will often print in color accidentally by using the QuickPrint function without checking the settings. Even though printing in color only costs a few extra cents than printing in monochrome, it’s a common printing mistake that can cost your company hundreds over time.

Printing single-sided

While some documents need to be single-sided, there are other print or copy jobs that could benefit from being double-sided. After all, by printing double-sided your company can save in supply costs which will leave more room to invest in upgrading your equipment or other improvements later on!

Throwing out print cartridges

Did you know that empty print cartridges take close to 1,000 years to decompose in landfills? Not to mention that empty cartridges are considered to be hazardous waste which does a considerable amount of damage to the environment when the materials end up in landfills. So, don’t throw out your empty cartridges! Recycle them instead.

It happens to the best of us. We send a job to the printer, get distracted by a phone call or a conversation with a colleague, and forget to retrieve the documents. While this is a very common printing habit, it can turn into a dangerous security breach should the documents fall into the wrong hands.

The best way to ensure that documents remain safe is to invest in print management software to implement secure print releases. Some systems guarantee that documents will not print until the right employee is there to retrieve them through the use of a pin code or other credentials. This will help you to protect sensitive documents while also reducing wasteful supply usage from forgotten documents.

Remember how we talked about the importance of checking your printer settings before hitting “Print”? Well, using the wrong settings and printing without checking the settings first is another bad printing habit to drop. The first thing to check before printing a job is that the document has the right file format. Avoid both .png and .gif formats, as they do not translate well beyond your computer screen. Next, verify that you have none of the aforementioned wasteful settings in use, such as unnecessary color printing. Preview the document before printing it to confirm that the document will match your needs and expectations. It might seem like a waste of time to check the settings before every job, but it will save you wasted time and money from repeating jobs in the long run.

Finally, the most important bad printing habit to leave behind is neglecting your print technology. These habits can take many forms, but the most important daily habit to keep up is anything that will prolong the life and functionality of your equipment. Taking care of your equipment will also ensure that your documents will always look crisp and detailed without distorted text and graphics or unsightly lines running across the page.

First, you should always make sure to remove dust and other debris from inside your equipment. Not doing so can cause jams and damage to your documents. Most printer or MFP manufacturers will include specific cleaning instructions either in the manual or on the website. It’s also important to make sure that your printer heads are clean and aligned correctly.

Have you ever seen a document come out of a printer covered in white lines? This often means that the printer heads are clogged and must be cleaned out. Directions for cleaning can be found within the user manual or online. It is imperative that you read up on how your printer heads should be cleaned and aligned to avoid damaging the internal parts of the printer.

Printers, copiers and MFPs are the cornerstone of office productivity, so be sure to treat your equipment well and avoid these common bad printing habits before they throw a wrench in your day-to-day productivity, or worse, your printing budget.

 By utilizing managed print services, you can implement strategies to manage your print or MFP device while having access continual optimization and maintenance throughout the life of your contract. Reach out to us today and we’ll help you find a plan that works for you and your print volume needs.