Starting a business is not easy. One of the qualities it demands is being willing and able to dive into many different roles. The new business owner will not just be manager and salesman, he will be logistics, advertizing, human resources, building maintenance… the list goes on. I would like to think I am pretty intrepid and that is why when my office costs sky rocketed I rolled up my sleeves and read about ink.
Ink and toner can be a substantial cost for a business, especially a small business. Unlike a larger company, which can get bulk discounts, you are at the mercy of the store prices. Plus, unlike a more established company which has predictable cycles of business, your schedule may be more spontaneous. You could go months with relatively little in the way of printing needs and then suddenly need to turn out thousands of pages for something. Planning and stocking can be a pain.
This is why my cost was so high. We we were over ordering whenever we could get a tiny discount, or under ordering and then running out mid project, and I did not really know how to secure a discount for us. My research turned up some great information. For example, did you know the company who made your printer is not the only company who makes toner for it? Even if you have a very specialized machine you can find a third party source for ink cartridges, often at cutthroat prices.
Armed with this kind of knowledge I began to shop online for our toner, focusing on getting the best price regardless of brand and never relying on the catalog from our manufacturer. It turned out this strategy paid off and I lowered our costs significantly all because I took time to read about ink. Of course I could not stop to celebrate