Buying gifts for people in your professional network is not the same as purchasing presents for family members, friends, and others in your personal life or social circles. When you know people personally, you can use your knowledge of their preferences to select thoughtful gifts that you know they’ll love. The same is not generally true of buying gifts for business partners, clients, vendors, and so on. And it’s a good thing, too, because you could end up spending a lot of time and money on corporate gifts if you shopped this way. That said, sending out blanket, generic gifts to everyone in your corporate contact list is not without its potential blunders. So here are a few basics to get you started.

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Most of your printing and copying may be handled in small batches, but by the end of the month it can take a huge chunk out of your cash flow. From invoicing, to contracts, to miscellaneous personal documents your printing expenses may seem to be endless. That said, many of these needs can be solved digitally, and in the event that they can’t, there are a number of ways that you can still reduce the cost. If you are struggling with reducing your paper consumption and printing costs, here are a few pointers.

1. Never print emails. People often feel as though they should print important emails, just for good measure. Although, much of the information you’re printing is advertisements, and other miscellaneous buttons in the margins. If you want to keep those important documents in a safe place, be sure to make folders for them in your email account. You can also download them and keep folders for them saved on your computer, just in case.
2. Email all of your receipts. Now that most of the developed world is making a concerted effort to reduce its impact on the environment, many companies are moving away from paper receipts. Most people don’t mind receiving an emailed receipt because they know that it’s the easiest way to reference the receipt later on if needed. You can always print one for the .05% of your customers who still want one, but the majority of people actually prefer to receive digital receipts these days.
3. Always print double sided. When you do need to print documents, be sure to print them double sided. You can have all of the computers in your office reset so that they print double sided by default. That way you don’t have to go through the painstaking process of training all of your employees and making sure that they are following protocol.
4. Refill your ink cartridges. Did you know that you can save a lot of money on ink simply by refilling your ink cartridges rather than buying new ones? Not only that, but it’s also the most environmentally friendly way to go about it. In fact, one of the reasons why ink is so expensive is because the cartridges are expensive to produce and they are rarely disposed of properly. That’s why the ink companies offer big price incentives to people who are willing to reduce their impact a little.
5. Manage your printing online. If you have special printing jobs that you can’t complete in-house, you can always order them online through 48hourPrint.com. You can take care of all the designing on their website, choose from a wide variety of materials, printing dimensions, and fonts, and they will ship it all to your office within 48 hours. That way you don’t have to waste time running extra errands or sweating over how to use the latest version of Photoshop. In the end, it won’t just save you money, it will save you a whole lot of stress and anxiety.