The Do’s and Don’ts of the Office Printer

Office Printer Courtesy – The Do’s & Don’ts

Like all things in life classed as communal, there are certain rules attached to using an office printer that help to bring order to the universe. Neglect to follow these often unspoken rules, and you stand to be ostracised by your peers for crimes against social decorum and good old-fashioned printer courtesy — and that’s before your boss finds out you’ve been printing documents for personal use.

To help you avoid the faux pas of the printer, here are a few do’s and don’ts.

Do — Refill Paper Trays and Replace Print Cartridges

Replacing what you’ve used is just common courtesy, but many people seem to make it their mission to avoid performing such trivial tasks — preferring to leave them for someone else to deal with. The thing is, the next person along could feel the exact same way, and before you know it half the office can’t print because of low ink levels or a lack of paper. That’s why you should always refill paper trays and replace print cartridges, even after you’ve collected your documents from the printer.

Don’t — Remove Someone Else’s Documents from the Out Tray

If your office printer gets some heavy use, there’ll likely always be a sheet or two floating about in the out tray. While it can be tempting to remove these in search of your own document, don’t. It’s not only frustrating to stand up and walk over to the printer only to find that your printout isn’t there, and be forced to reprint it, it’s also really wasteful.

Do — Let Colleagues with Fewer Documents Go First

Picture this: you’re running late to an important meeting, and need to print out a quick document. But alas, one of your colleagues is busy printing a two hundred-page report that’s causing quite the queue at the printer. While it’s sometimes tricky to negotiate who goes first at the printer, it pays to show some courtesy to your colleagues before hitting print on a massive job.

Don’t — Print Personal Documents

Lots of office workers hold the belief that printing one or two personal documents doesn’t cause any harm, and they’re probably right. Take this to another level and start printing your own stuff everyday however, and your boss will probably have something to say on the matter. Ink and toner costs a lot of money, and HR will factor this overhead into the company’s budget. You don’t want to be the one responsible for wasting company money on personal printing.

Do — Help Out a Colleague in Need

 Printers can be taxing to deal with on a daily basis, with no-end of problems cropping up to stall the printing process. Jams, errors and faults can befall the office printer at any time, leaving some inexperienced staff wondering what to do next. If you notice one of your colleagues staring blankly at the printer, play the Good Samaritan and offer a helping hand. Even if you don’t know what you’re doing yourself, two brains to fix the problem is better than one.

Don’t — Adjust Printer Settings without Asking

Certain tasks might call for a change in printer settings, but you should never go playing around with different functions without asking. Not only are office printers expensive pieces of kit, they’re easy to throw out of sync with a bit of heavy handed tinkering. If you need to adjust the settings, speak to the experts in the IT department first. That way, if something does go awry, you can pass culpability on to some other sorry soul.

One of the most important ‘do’s’ of printing in the office is to make sure you’ve always got replacement cartridges on hand to keep the printer ticking over — and that’s where TonerGiant comes in. Thanks to our affordable prices and quick reorder function, you can be sure your office machine is never without ink or toner.

 To browse our range of cheap printer cartridges for business printers, visit the homepage or call 0845 365 3605.