US government could save money by switching fonts

OMG.. have you heard about the 14-year-old boy named Suvir Mirchandani? No? Are you kidding me? He is all over the news right now. Suvir says the federal government could cut printing costs with one decision and could thereby save up to $400.000 per year. 

Everything started out with a project in his middle school. Due to the project Suvir had to think of different ways to cut waste and save money at his school. Reducing the waste of paper through recycling and dual-sided printing had been talked over a hundred time but no one really thought about the ink. "Ink is two times more expensive than French perfume by volume" Suvir says. If you trust CNN he is right because they wrote "Chanel No. 5 perfume costs $38 per ounce, while the equivalent amount of Hewlett-Packard printer ink can cost up to $75." As I read that I had to read it a second time to be sure to get it right. I mean I know that printing out is expensive because I need to print many things for university. Due to the high printing costs I'm sometimes short in money.

Suvir's idea is that by simple switching from Times New Roman to a narrower, smaller font the government would be using less of their precious printer ink. He suggested to switch from Times New Roman to Garamond. This might be just a small difference and even a small saving on each page but it would have a massive benefit in general. 

However, The Atlantic doesn't share the same opinion on this subject with Suvir. They say that the calculation cannot  be right because although printer ink is certainly expensive for consumer but mainly for consumer who are buying cartridge by cartridge. He didn't consider that large businesses as well as the government have special wholesale bulk contracts. That means that the government buys a larger amount of ink with a lower price than normal consumer.

I really think it is worth a second thought if Suvir is right with his calculation. I am not a hundred percent sure if it could really help saving money but for me it is important that a young guy started thinking about it and I am definitely impressed. As we all know printing out is very expensive therefore I think I will give it a try. Maybe I can save up some money for my next holiday.

I think I just give it a try otherwise I will never know if it is possible. :D

You want to read more about it check out these links below. 

CNN: Teen to government: Change your typeface, save millions

Can a Teen's Idea to Switch Fonts Save the Government $400 Million?