1. Equipment Downtime
While the device is being repaired, people go print in another department or at a copy shop. That's work hours that appear in no budget.
2. Reprints
Faded, smeared, or crooked printouts get reprinted. With poor-quality consumables, this can reach up to 5% of total volume.
3. Forgotten Printouts
Jobs no one picks up from the tray — a consistent 15-25% of volume in an office without pull printing.
4. Color Printing Out of Habit
Documents get printed in color simply because that's the default. Every such page costs 5-8 times more.
5. A Mixed Fleet
Five models mean five cartridge types in the warehouse, frozen cash, and expired leftovers.
6. Electricity
Devices that never go into sleep mode add up to a noticeable sum over a year. Check the timer for entering power-saving mode — it's often simply switched off.
7. IT Time
Installing drivers, clearing jams, tracking down why "it's not printing" — these are hours of specialist time that never get accounted for in the printing budget at all.
What to Do
Once a year, consolidate all these categories into a single table. It usually turns out that real printing costs are one and a half times higher than the "cartridges" line in the budget.