Printing costs

Does anyone have any advice for reducing printing costs?

I wondered about buying a program to convert PDFs so I could mark on them...

Shopping & Auditing Western Colorado, North Denver, the Central Rockies ~~~ and all stops leading to Aspen & Vail.

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Don't worry about it too much. When shoppers first start they seem to print everything. As you go along you will realize you just don't need to. I would suggest that you just save the pdfs and make yourself a couple of notes about unusual specifics for the job at hand. It has probably been close to 2 years since I last printed instructions or a form.

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Thanks! The last gas shop I printed was 36 pages.

Shopping & Auditing Western Colorado, North Denver, the Central Rockies ~~~ and all stops leading to Aspen & Vail.

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On my computer I have a file called Mystery Shopping. Inside I have a folder for each company I have worked with during the past several years. The pdf just gets saved in the company folder with a title like "USPS reg box 9 8 2016". Since I have been paid for my previous USPS shops I have no concern about just deleting the previous "USPS reg box [date]" files.

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If I need audit forms I print them at the library for 10 cents per page.

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Audit forms are of course different because you physically need them to do the audit and write on. General instructions, however, need to be reviewed but not printed. I don't know about your printer/ink situation, but I figure it costs less than 4 cents a page to print on my printer at home.

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As for the cost of printing (need to print, aside), I replaced an "efficient" inkjet printer with a monotone laser all-in-one printer and saved more than the cost of the laser printer in toner/ink costs in the first year! That was several years ago, and the price of the all-in-one equipment has gone down, whereas the cost of ink for a laser jet has not. Toner cartridges "look" expensive, but a large one lasts me about 18 months. That makes it very economical compared to laser jet inks. And, at least once during the long life of a toner cartridge, replacements go on a nice sale, which is when I pounce for a back-up/replacement to have in stock.

Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel

Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/09/2016 03:19PM by walesmaven.

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If you find certain types of audits are becoming a regular addition to your schedule, spending a little time to create a cheat sheet can be worthwhile. Don't forget to use grayscale printing whenever possible. A lot of MSCs go crazy with totally unnecessary color and bolding.

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"I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves up in the flag." -Molly Ivins
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Check your local library. I get 200 pages (black/white) free every month. I also carry a phone that is Wi-Fi only. It comes in handy for audio recording (legal in my state), pictures and additional storage.

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I bought ink refill, poked a hole in the Canon pixma MG 2922 that I bought at Walmart for $35, and I refill the ink myself. It costs less than $10 for two black and each of the colors on Amazon. There's a Youtube video showing how, where, to poke the hole, how to prime the ink head etc. I rarely print anymore though.

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I go to a place that sells refilled cartidges for $5 to $10 each. Staples frequently has rebates on reams of paper where the total cost is a penny plus sales tax after the rebate. I also use both sides of the paper.

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Do you have a public library nearby?

ETA: Looks like I'm not the first one to recommend that ;-). I'm about to give in and get an all-in-one with a scanner. We didn't replace the last one because my daughter was going through ink cartridges at about 2 per month.

Now scheduling travel shops for the day after Christmas through mid-January.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/13/2016 02:05AM by PasswordNotFound.

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I haven't printed instructions since I got an iPad from my kids last Christmas. Instead I save the files to the iBooks app. That way I can take the tablet with me and read over everything in the store parking lot one last time before I go in.

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I have a contract with HP instant ink. For $10.00 a month for 300 pages a month, they offer rollover if you don't use them. TYhey send me Ink when I need it and it's actually filled up and usually last me 4-6 months. Here's a link to find out more. [try.hpinstantink.com]

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@ekitz15 wrote:

Does anyone have any advice for reducing printing costs?

I wondered about buying a program to convert PDFs so I could mark on them...

HP Officejet Pro printers are awesome for printing. I've found them to be nearly as cheap as B/W laser but you get color too. I have the Officejet pro 8620 an XL black cartridge is good for 2200 pages or something.

Edit: don't use generic ink. My dad has same printer and did generics a few times and the quality went down over time. Had to clean it a few times, etc. not worth it. I always use genuine and never have problems.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/09/2016 04:33AM by quiettime.

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I got a Brother laser printer, and paired it with a new Epson ET-4550 in jet. The Epson uses tanks of liquid ink instead of cartridges. Epson claims two years of printing on a single fill, and the machine comes with an extra set of ink bottles. The laser printer cost per page is very low. Staples frequently has real bargains on paper. Use the two sided print feature, and dumb down the quality of the print to the minimum. It IS very important to review the guidelines and forms for each shop as they do change from time to time, even for recurring shops. But, I've found that for shops I do regularly I certainly don't need to print the guidelines every time. On the other hand, I always print the guidelines for restaurant shops and take them to the parking lot for a quick review to make sure I remember the details. For shops or audits requiring many copies or multiple page color prints, it's perfectly OK to ask the scheduler about reimbursement for printing at Office Depot or another print shop.

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I just bought an HP 4520 all in one printer and I love the quality but those dang cartridges are eating in to my profit. I do find that I am printing less of the comments, confirmations and guidelines as I am doing repeat shops and a lot of multiple locations. I still like to have a paper copy on file. I like to highlight important questions to ask or requests of the MSC.

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@KathyG wrote:

I haven't printed instructions since I got an iPad from my kids last Christmas. Instead I save the files to the iBooks app. That way I can take the tablet with me and read over everything in the store parking lot one last time before I go in.

This is a great idea I should be saving them to my iPad! I'm sure that I can figure out how to save pages to a PDF. I'm just nervous about it because I've never done it before!

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Here is a link to the HP printer cartridges that my 8620 Officejet pro uses. The page counts are accurate also. $40 for the 950xl black and ~2200 pages
[store.hp.com]

The newer model 8720 uses the 956XL cartridges that are up to 3000 pages...

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@ekitz15 wrote:

Does anyone have any advice for reducing printing costs?

I wondered about buying a program to convert PDFs so I could mark on them...

What kind of device are you using? Laptop, phone, tablet?

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I have an Epson workforce 545 (paid about 80.00). Just bought ink from Amazon (not OEM) paid 10.95 shipped. Installed and it works fine. That was for 2 double blacks and one each of the 3 colors. I always recommend Epson or Cannon for cheap non OEM ink. Read the reviews before buying non OEM ink.

Dan

Printing costs

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