Printer ink – how to save on the office supplies

Printer ink, as liquids go is one of the priciest ones we purchase. The cost per millilitre is comparable to fine champagne.

It’s why some people are frustrated when their printer at home or in the office flashes a warning that it’s running low on ink.

You can reduce ink consumption and save money by buying a more energy-efficient printer.

Consumer Reports says that the best way to decide whether you need a printer and how much you plan to print is to determine what you will use it for.

“You want to choose a printer that doesn’t waste a lot of ink on maintenance cycles and one that doesn’t have high costs to replace that ink,” Chris Raymond with Consumer Reports said.

When you buy ink, the name-brand cartridge will perform the best, but it will also cost more. A compatible or knockoff cartridge will cost less and may or not perform as well.

Sometimes, knock-off cartridges won’t work at all. That’s because printers and ink cartridges communicate using electronic chips and some third-party chips might not be recognized by some printers.

Some services refill used ink cartridges at a fractional price, but this depends on the manufacturer. Some manufacturers make it harder to refill and reuse cartridges, say stores that offer the service.

You can also try and do this yourself by purchasing refill kits.

Consumer Reports has calculated the cost of a printer if you print 30 pages per month of text and 10 of graphics.

The Brother MFC-J1010DW is a cartridge-based inkjet printer that has high ink costs. They are also not known for their reliability. But testers gave it top marks. It costs $130, but the annual ink cost is $90.

Even though the initial cost is higher, there is a better solution if you do a lot color printing.

“Tank printers don’t use ink cartridges. They have reservoirs that you refill with bottles of ink,” Raymond said.

Comparing ink bottles to cartridges is a great deal. The Epson EcoTank ET-2400, which costs $265 and only $8 in annual ink costs, was rated the best by testers. It’s among the cheapest options for printing.

If you don’t need to print in color, a black and white laser printer is your best bet. The all-in one Canon imageCLASS laser printer, which sells for around $200, has an annual ink cost of approximately $18 for toner. It also gets top marks for speed and text quality.

You can also save ink if you change your font. Tests have shown that Times New Roman font uses 27 percent more ink than Arial.

Leaving your printer on will also prevent the cleaning cycle which occurs every time you turn it off.