Hey everyone! I'm looking to gather some insights on how companies manage their printing systems, specifically with regard to color versus black and white printing. In my company, we rent printers and have a unique setup where we pay based on the number of prints: black and white prints are cheaper, while color prints are much pricier. We have two visible print queues—"COLOR-Printer" and "NB-Printer"—though both point to the same physical printer. This system is meant to encourage users to consciously select their print options. However, I've noticed some folks accidentally send black and white documents to the color queue, which can quickly add up in costs. How do you handle printing at your place? Do you have any systems in place, or is it more automated?
3 Answers
If you’re only using a print server, I recommend sticking to one queue that defaults to black and white. That way, if someone needs color, they must actively switch it. We lease our printers and are now switching to Papercut for management, but the default will still be B&W to push that choice onto users.
We use Printerlogic at my workplace, which is great because all printers are set to default to black and white. If anyone needs color, they have to manually select it. Plus, we get detailed reports on color usage by employee, which helps in managing costs effectively. We don't have any extra duplicate printers or confusing profiles, just one solid setup.
Does your report show a clear breakdown between color and black and white prints? That would really help with understanding usage.
Exactly! The default setting helps a lot. Many people accidentally choose color because that's just what the printer shows first. Also, those reports are super handy for tracking who’s printing what.
I've heard a lot about Papercut. It might not have the most user-friendly interface, but the reporting features are really detailed and good for tracking costs, even if it comes at a higher price. It's why so many companies prefer it, despite some hiccups in usability.
Honestly, I find Papercut super intuitive. I’ve tried it against others and it seems way smoother than something like uniFLOW.
But how do you track the number of prints between color and black and white if you're only using one queue?