Now You've Heard Every Money Saving Tip Possible

Ok, I thought I had heard every money saving tip in existence -- but this next one was new to even me. It says that you can save money on your computer printing costs simply by using the correct font. And it's not a small savings either. Their claim is that you can save 31% on ink cartridge costs if you use the "right" font over the standard font. The details:

Arial, reigning as the most popular font, was used as the “zero” measurement, against which nine other fonts were tested. The clear winner was Century Gothic, which returned 31% savings in both printers. For the average private user, printing approximately 25 pages per week, this will easily generate a net reduction of $20 in a year. A business-user, printing approximately 250 pages per week, could save $80. If your organization uses multiple printers, you can save hundreds of dollars per year doing nothing more than picking a more economical font.

Century Gothic is a modern font that comes standard with MS Windows. Surprisingly, it even beat Ecofont which was specifically designed with efficiency and cost in mind. For those who require a more “traditional” look, Times New Roman provides a good balance between style and savings.

The fonts in order, starting with most economical, are:

• Century Gothic
• Ecofont
• Times Roman
• Calibri
• Verdana
• Arial
• Sans Serif
• Trebuchet
• Tahoma
• Franklin Gothic Medium

Now, do you feel like you've heard every money-saving tip there is? ;-)

And do you think you'll be changing the font you use (I like Arial myself, though I use Times New Roman a lot as well) in order to save a bit of money?

Comments

[Michael Goode]

Or simply buy a cheap laser printer and save even more over using an ink jet.

[guinness416]

Arial? WTF?!

Futura LT book all the way.

[Budgeting in the Fun Stuff]

I use Tahoma for all my emails...I hope no one's printing them and wishing I'd use Century Gothic instead, lol.

[Matt]

On a scale of 1 to 10 who cares.

In some cases corporate image is greater than cost.

[spivey]

Or, how about not printing at all??

Also, who actually prints 25 pages per week on their personal printer (not for business use)?

[Squirrelers]

Now this is one that I had not heard yet. It's always interesting how there is some new way to save that the rest of us didn't think about, but someone did. This one is cool.

I try not to print much, but if I did, and I found the font reasonably pleasing to the eye, I would make that switch to save a little bit. Why not, especially if for personal use.

[KaseyD]

Nix on the laser printer. There is some controversy about indoor air pollution that occurs with the print dust.

I'll try the different fonts instead.

I'm pretty close to 25 pages per week; but I work at home. I just can't get the hang of analyzing reports, reading lenghthy articles, etc. on the monitor.

I hope there are more money saving tips out there, if not maybe I'll just have to stop surfing the web for ideas. Oh wait, there's a money saving tip. Turn off the darn computer!

[Money Reasons]

Well, slap my computer silly! I wouldn't have ever though of that, but I guess it makes sense!

I cheat ever further and use a draft mode when I print most of my stuff (on resume stuff...). It uses less ink per page too.

[Ian G]

We actually had a presentation on this at the company I work for.

[billyjobob]

I don't worry about the font size. But I do print must stuff in gray scale and like MR I use the draft mode most of the time.

[Stephan]

really ian? haha thats hilarious. its a good tip, but really not something that the typical user will care about. i know i dont print anywhere near 25 pages a week at home. im lucky to print that many in a couple of months so the savings i could see are minimal. i already use times new roman so ill stick with it

Preferred Financial Services

[sunil]

how about the fact that most computers/printers are set up by default to print only on one side? excess capacity everywhere -

[KaseyD]

I just looked at all of the fonts to compare them. I don't get how Century Gothic can save money. Although it's a bit finer, the spacing (pitch) is wider than Arial. And Verdana is even wider. By about 15% when using the same point size. I don't have Ecofont available.

I think what you might save in ink, would be wasted on paper. Sure you can reuse and recycle paper, but I already do that. For now I'm sticking with Arial.

[Paul]

Maybe we should all write in 8pt instead of 10 or 12, as well.

[Elizabeth]

That is a very good tip, but, I don't see changing the font. Don't print that much and I like to play around with different fonts. At work, the font is pretty standard and can't really change. Personal is differeny.