What Printing Actually Costs a Coworking Space
coworking spaces run on paper more than most people realize — shared printers see dozens of unfamiliar users a week, each with different default settings. The average employee here prints around 6,000 pages a year, and industry-wide waste patterns suggest roughly a quarter of that is misprints: wrong margins, faded toner, the wrong version sent to the tray. Here's what that costs a space your size, and how to stop it.
Why coworking spaces Print More Than Average
Shared printers are used by members who don't know the machine's quirks — different default paper sizes, different driver settings, different expectations. That mismatch between user and machine is exactly the kind of thing a quick test print catches, and it's also exactly what shared-space printers rarely get from any one user.
Interactive: Estimate Your space's Waste
Estimates based on 6,000 pages/employee/year and a 35% misprint rate — adjust the numbers for your actual team size.
The 35% Problem: Where the Waste Comes From
- Members printing with the wrong default paper size or driver
- Jobs abandoned entirely when the printout doesn't match expectations
- Repeated small reprints across many different users per day
What a space Saves by Testing Before Printing
| Employees | Est. Sheets Wasted/Year | Est. Cost/Year | Est. Savings with Pre-Print Testing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | 16,800 | $1,680 | $1,176 |
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does printing cost a space per year?
Even a small coworking space with a handful of staff and dozens of daily member print jobs can see disproportionately high per-page waste, since most users are printing on unfamiliar settings.
Why do coworking spaces waste so much paper?
Shared equipment means no single user is responsible for calibration, so alignment and color issues go uncaught until someone happens to notice a bad printout.
How can a space reduce printing costs?
The fastest fix is catching problems before a full job runs — a single test print reveals alignment, color, and formatting issues that would otherwise turn into a wasted batch. Run a free test print before your next job.
Related
Other industries: Law Firm, School District, Medical Office.
Most coworking spaces we hear from run CANON equipment — see the CANON test print page for brand-specific checks.
See also: the PrinterPrintTest blog for more on avoiding wasted print jobs.
Run a free test print before your next big job.
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