Office printing is one of the few business costs that almost everyone overspends on and almost no one measures. It hides in plain sight – a bit of toner here, a service call there, reams of paper, the desktop printer someone bought without asking – and because it never appears as a single line in the accounts, it quietly creeps up year after year.
The good news is that most of that spend is recoverable, and most of it without buying a thing. Here is how to bring your office printing costs under control in 2026, in the order we would tackle it for a client.
1. You cannot cut what you cannot see
Every worthwhile print-cost project starts with the same step: measure what you actually print. Not what you think you print – what the devices report. Who is printing, how much, in colour or mono, on which machines, and what it truly costs once toner, paper, servicing and energy are added up.
This is exactly what a print audit is for, and it almost always surprises people – the volume of colour that did not need to be colour, the ancient desktop unit costing a fortune per page, the device nobody remembers buying. Our free print audit puts a real number on your current spend before you change anything, so every decision after it is based on fact rather than guesswork.
2. Understand where the money actually goes
Once you can see your print, the waste tends to cluster in the same few places:
- Uncontrolled colour. Colour pages can cost several times what a mono page costs. If everything defaults to colour, you are paying a premium on documents that never needed it.
- Single-sided by default. Printing one-sided doubles your paper use for no benefit on the vast majority of internal documents.
- Abandoned prints. Jobs sent and never collected – printed, then binned. Pure waste, and a data-protection risk sitting in the output tray.
- Ad-hoc desktop printers. Cheap to buy, brutal on cost per page, and a nightmare to supply and support. A scattering of these is often the single biggest hidden cost.
- Over-ordered toner. Cupboards full of cartridges bought in a panic, some for devices you no longer own.
3. Right-size the fleet
Most offices have both too many printers and the wrong ones. The fix is not to strip devices out until people suffer – it is to match the machines to the actual work. A smaller number of well-placed, efficient multifunction devices almost always costs less to run than a spread of desktop units, while giving staff faster, more capable machines and better reliability.
Getting the mix right – how many, what type, where – is where the audit earns its keep, because you are sizing to real usage rather than habit.
4. Set print rules that stick
Behaviour change only lasts if it is built into the defaults. The changes that save the most, and cost nothing to switch on, are:
- Double-sided and mono by default. Staff can still choose colour and single-sided when a job genuinely needs it – but the default does the saving quietly, every day.
- Secure release. Jobs are held until the person is at the device and authenticates, so nothing prints into an empty tray. It cuts waste and closes an obvious data-protection gap in one move.
- Sensible rules by user or department. Steer high-cost colour to where it is actually needed rather than leaving it wide open everywhere.
5. Get the contract right, not just the printer
How you acquire and run the devices matters as much as the devices themselves. For most businesses a lease or managed agreement works out cheaper over the life of a machine than buying outright, because hardware, toner, servicing and support arrive as one predictable monthly figure with no capital outlay and no surprise repair bills. See printer and copier leasing for how that works.
The catch is always in the terms, not the headline rate. Before you sign anything, read how to avoid hidden printer contract costs – auto-renewals, minimum volumes and steep excess-page charges are where a cheap-looking deal turns expensive.
6. Join it all up with managed print
Each step above helps on its own, but the real, lasting saving comes from running them together and keeping them running. That is what Managed Print Services do: consolidate your devices, right-size the fleet, control colour and volume, automate toner so you never over-order, and fold it all into one predictable monthly cost with servicing and support included. If the term is new to you, our guide to what MPS stands for explains it in full.
The difference is that a one-off tidy-up drifts back within a year, while a managed arrangement holds the savings in place and keeps adjusting as your needs change.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much do businesses spend on printing?
More than most realise. Print is a scattered cost – toner, paper, servicing, energy, wasted output and staff time – so it rarely shows up as one line in the accounts, which is exactly why it drifts. The only way to know your real figure is to measure it, and a free print audit will put an accurate number on it before you change anything.
What is the quickest way to cut printing costs?
Start by measuring your current print with an audit, then apply two changes that cost nothing: set devices to double-sided and black-and-white by default, and turn on secure release so jobs only print when the user is at the machine. Those alone remove a surprising amount of wasted paper and colour toner.
Does managed print actually save money?
Yes, because it tackles the causes rather than the symptoms. Managed Print Services consolidate your devices, right-size the fleet to your real usage, control colour and volume, automate toner supply so you never over-order, and roll everything into one predictable monthly cost with servicing included.
Should we lease or buy printers to reduce costs?
For most businesses a lease or managed print agreement works out cheaper over the life of the device than buying outright, because the hardware, toner, servicing and support come as one predictable monthly figure with no large upfront outlay and no surprise repair bills. The trap is in the contract terms, not the headline rate, so read the small print carefully.
Will cutting print costs mean worse printers?
Usually the opposite. Most savings come from having fewer, better-placed and better-managed devices rather than a cupboard full of ageing desktop printers, so staff typically end up with faster, more capable machines and fewer breakdowns while the business spends less.
Let us find your savings first
Every office is different, so the honest starting point is to measure yours. Mastercopy has been helping businesses across Thornaby, Stockton-on-Tees and the wider North East control their print for over 30 years, and we will tell you plainly where your money is going before we recommend anything.
To get a clear picture of your print spend and where to trim it, call the Mastercopy team on 01642 750404 or email sales@mastercopy.co.uk for a free, no-obligation print audit.