I went 220 days without printing anything at work. Forced to finally submit an expense report, I had to install a printer and put some toner to paper. Sad day.
Like many of my quests, I didn’t really set out to see how long I could go without printing. It wasn’t until about a month had passed that I realized I haven’t even installed a printer on my new work laptop. It was at that point I wanted to see just how long I could go.
I’m equipped with many electronic devices. I found it was easy for me to simply email myself some information that I could then access on my iPhone, iPad, or at home. For more than six months, there was no need for me to waste paper or toner.
Finally, I had to submit an expense report. The only process is to print out a form, sign it, and attach physical receipts. My previous company had a paperless method via American Express. Although the health care industry is being pushed into better leveraging electronic health records, its accounting departments (at least their expense report process) seems to favor paper.
Have you ever tried to see how long you can go without printing? Does anyone have me beat?
Bravo! I never kept track but I rarely print things these days if I can help it. I’m mostly “printing” to a PDF and then archiving that file or e-mailing it off to somebody. It’s just stunning to see some people print every single file, email, or page that lands on their monitor.
We also have a system at work where people on hourly wages have to submit their timesheets online. Then for a reason that can’t exactly be explained to me, they also have to print the submission page out, sign it, and turn it into our business office.
The paperless office could be a reality with people like us but unfortunately I think there are still too many others out there that have built their workflows around 35PPM print outs on their desk (ruling out being able to consolidate to high-capacity printers as well).