Tip o’ the Day: Don’t Press That Button!
Today we're going to ask you to think twice, or even thrice before clicking that little print button. When you see a good Tip o' the Day, is your first instinct to print it so that you can look at it later? And when later comes, just how long do you look at that paper before you toss it, file it, or start doodling on it?
There are very few things in this life that we need to print, and they are: contracts that require an original signature and airline / travel e-tickets. Yes, that's all we can come up with. Really!
What about driving directions? If you decide to write it on paper, instead of storing it into your PDA, we guarantee it will take up just a tiny corner of scrap paper. How does it get there? Here's the old-school part: you jot down by hand.
Plus, you'll find that the moment you stop printing, your life will suddenly become more paperless. This leads to a simplified life, and we all like that! So go on, pretend that printer is broken and see how it feels to be liberated! The trees win, energy conservation wins, and your wallet wins (never buy toner again).
Rebecca says: I used to be a printaholic. Emails, maps, tips, recipes and articles. Then the best thing happened to me (for many reasons): I met my husband. He taught me to ease up on the printing drastically. Then another blessing happened, my printer stopped printing. That was almost two years ago. You'd be amazed what you don't need to print once your printer breaks (or you pretend it did).
January 25th, 2007 at 2:53 am
What I do is leave my printer unplugged across the room and so when I have to print something I have to lug it all the way over, plug it into my computer and the wall and then finally print. Having such a huge barrier to printing really makes me think twice before printing out that google map directions. I also use a program called FinePrint as my default printer. It forces a print preview and lets you delete pages/parts and resize it so that your print out is exactly what you want. The program is not free but it's a great addition to your PC library (http://www.fineprint.com/)
There's a good article at lifehacker about printing (also talks about FinePrint): http://lifehacker.com/software/feature/printing-power-tips-171578.php
-Billy
Senior at the University of Washington - Business (Information Systems)
Looking for good work in Sustainable Business
February 7th, 2007 at 1:45 am
Love the comment Billy. Anything that makes you really assess what you are about to do. I can't even count the number of times I would print something at work, and by the time I got over to the printer to pick up (too many) pages, I realized it wasn't even formatted right. What a waste!
May 2nd, 2007 at 12:42 pm
I just printed about 1000 envelopes so that I could send out a letter to my customers notifying them of a price increase. How do you suggest I inform all of my customers in a timely manner? Many do not use email and because my territory is central and northern Minnesota I will be unable to physically contact all of them prior to the increase. I could call all of them; however that would mean I would be unable to assist any other customers with issues or questions for approximately 83 hours (1000 calls X 5 minuets each), assuming each phone call only lasts for 5 minuets.