According to a study released by Lexmark International, $440.4 million of the annual $1.3 billion spent on government printing costs is wasteful.As descriptions of government spending increasingly mention “trillion,” a mere $440 million seems trivial. However, unlike controversial spending such as TARP money, stimulus packages or auto bailouts, this waste is indefensible even to federal employees. According to the study, 92 percent admit they do not need all of the documents they print in a day. Furthermore, employees discard 35 percent of printed pages in the same day.
Clearly, this lack of individual accountability leads to lack of restraint. Over 60 percent of employees admitted to printing “significantly more” while working in the office compared to working at home.
While elevating accountability standards constitutes a first step, the study reveals a more complex technological challenge. Employees continue to prefer paper to digital copies - and we aren't just talking about your old-school boss who just never got the hang of the computer. Negligible differences were found among the Baby Boom, Gen X, and Gen Y age groups.
Over two-thirds of those surveyed acknowledged a heavy reliance on paper trails, and 41 percent preferred hard copy to on-screen editing. In addition to increased accountability, a conscious effort to introduce digital editing and storage needs to be made. Programs such as GoogleDocs or WebNotes need to be explored and efficiently used.
If the government truly intends to go green, agency and department heads must not dismiss these findings, but interpret them as a mandate for innovation.
Luckily, Lexmark has made its insightful study available online.
Read the full post at Oh My Gov (HatTip ;-).