Lexmark International together with O’Keefe & Co, recently released the results of a survey that suggest that more than $1 million is wasted every day in the US federal government on printing. And Lexmark is trying to find solutions to curb the government’s overspending with digital systems and employee card readers.
One online commentator asked “What does Lexmark get out of a massive reduction in government printing when that company supplies a large number of printers, and presumably printing supplies, to the government? Are they moving out of printers and into the electronic document management systems arena?”
According to the study, survey and Lexmark’s proprietary printing data, the government annually spends nearly $1.3 billion, of which nearly $450 million is deemed wasteful. This is huge company spend on printing and probably contributes quite a bit to Lexmark’s bottom line. However, President Obama, has asked government agency chiefs to cut spending. And the number of wasted pages is more than four times the amount Obama has asked agencies to eliminate, the report said.
It was reported that 7,200 pages are printed annually by the average federal employee and 35 percent of those pages are thrown away the same day they were printed. These numbers span all pay grades and age groups.
More and more OEMs have turned to the green theme and have promoted solutions for companies’ green goals. But, if said companies reduce the amount of pages printed, how will OEMs make money, especially in a time where almost every OEM has recorded decreased business in fiscal years 2008 and 2009.
It leaves many wondering if these OEM green initiatives are promoting eco-friendliness for positive publicity. If consumers believe one OEM is greener than another and they have green goals, will they be more likely to go with an OEM with a marketing campaign that says, “Decrease printing; save the world.”
Or are OEMs onto consumer concerns and about to do a 360 in their core business to managed print services, which the industry has heard a lot of in 2009 from OEMs and remanufacturers, or possibly electronic document management solutions. Either way, it is significant for the aftermarket industry. It will be interesting to see Lexmark’s financials come second quarter 2009.