The retailer has published a new blog, offering a handy guide to printer etiquette.
In a typical office, the blog asserts, “it’s only natural that some of your co-workers’ habits occasionally get on your nerves.” To defuse this situation, the blog provides a run-down of the “etiquette you and your colleagues should employ when it comes to shared materials” – including hardware such as printers, as well as other materials like fridges and cupboards.
The first suggestion the blog offers is to “let people with fewer documents print first,” particularly if it is an “urgent, shorter document.” It adds that “if you have a particularly long document that isn’t time-sensitive, you might want to wait until an off time to do your printing, or use a less popular printer.”
The second tip is to “fill paper trays and replace empty cartridges,” arguing the logic that “you wouldn’t – or shouldn’t – take the last drop of coffee without refilling the pot”, and you shouldn’t do so with paper or ink either. “If you have a low ink or toner warning,” Cartridge World writes, “either let your office manager know you need to order more cartridges, or replace it yourself” – something it calls a “simple task, that takes just a few minutes.”
Thirdly, “don’t leave your papers in the printer for hours”, something which the blog says “may seem intuitive,” but happens “all too often.” “This is especially frustrating for someone who picks up the entire stack and then has to sift through to find which pages are theirs,” the blog states. “Unsurprisingly, this is also how many documents get lost.”
The final advice dispensed by the blog is to not remove someone else’s prints from the tray, which it describes “incredibly frustrating, especially if the document is time-sensitive, and you have to return to your desk and re-print it.”
Overall, the blog encourages readers to be “considerate and mindful when using the office printer”, whilst also acknowledging that sometimes the best course of action is to “learn to accept [your colleagues’] quirks.”
You can read the blog for yourself, here.
