Save Paper? Go Digital?

December 10, 2009 8:54 AM

Help! My job requires me to interview people. Lots and lots of people. I've been printing out my (standardized) questions, and the cost is getting out of hand. How can I mitigate the wallet damage?

One aspect of my job is doing quite a few interviews each week. The questions for these interviews are legally standardized, but vary just a little depending on the situation... So basically I assess what sort of situation the person is in, then print out one of three different interview forms. These forms are for my own personal use - they don't get turned in to anyone, but the information is important for writing reports and analyzing the data. The answers people are giving are largely narrative, so I'm writing a lot of stuff down in the interview. Oh, and I'm not allowed to record anything at these interviews, either.

The paper and ink cost is getting a little out of hand. I print at the lowest draft I can read and double-sided to save paper, but I'm still tearing through ink cartridges like crazy! So I was hoping the fine community could help me come up with a better way of doing this thing. I've come up with three ideas myself:

1. Get a tablet PC and write on there. The problem is that the cheap versions of these things (like the T91) are still $500, and I'm not even sure how well these cheapies would work. Don't get me wrong, it would pay for itself pretty quickly, but I don't want to buy one and end up deciding it's too clunky to use.

2. Get a laser printer. Yeah, I'm still using just as much paper, but the toner is supposed to last a hell of a lot longer. Still, I've heard that the lower-end home laser printers chew through toner just as fast as an ink-jet using ink. If that's true, then I would need to drop a thousand bucks before seeing a benefit!

3. Get an old PDA. I seem to remember being pretty quick on the old handwriting things these suckers had, but I might be remembering wrong. I thought PDAs were basically dinosaurs and I could get one for super cheap on Ebay. Nope, they're just as expensive as they were six years ago. If it would work, I wouldn't mind paying for one, but it rubs me the wrong way to pay a premium for ancient technology, especially if I don't even know if using one is a viable option.

So those are my ideas -

posted by Willie0248 to Work & Money (24 answers total)

How about typing the answers into a netbook? They're small and unobtrusive. If you can touch type, you'll still be able to look at your interviewee while you record his/her answers. Netbooks are also not too expensive.
posted by syzygy at 8:57 AM on December 10, 2009

Is there a reason your employer isn't paying the cost of your work related supplies?

I would approach my employer and outline the quality of job I can do without the basic supplies needed as compared to the quality of the finished product WITH the basic supplies. Then leave it up to them which they prefer..
posted by HuronBob at 9:00 AM on December 10, 2009

Can't you just print out the three interview formats, laminate them for durability if that's an issue, and reuse them? Then you can take your notes on a legal pad or wherever. This seems like such an obvious solution, though, so I must be missing something.
posted by DrGail at 9:01 AM on December 10, 2009 [2 favorites]

For #2, a Brother HL-2140 is $70 at Amazon. It's $30 for a 1500 page cartridge, and $45 for a 2500 page one. That's a lot of interview forms.

Option #4 would be to go to Kinkos and make copies.
posted by smackfu at 9:03 AM on December 10, 2009

This is seriously what copy machines are for. You only have 3 kinds of forms.
posted by beerbajay at 9:05 AM on December 10, 2009 [1 favorite]

I was going to suggest a combo of what DrGail and syzygy suggested - triage the interviewee, get out laminated form 1, 2, or 3, and type up as you're interviewing. My netbook (Asus eee) was about $250 on sale and would have been awesome if I'd had it back when I did fieldwork.
posted by cobaltnine at 9:06 AM on December 10, 2009

I used a laser printer during my final year of university, and I found that i got a lot more printing for my buck with it during the endless rounds of paper revisions. We have a Lexmark E120 at home which costs around $150, and it works really well for us - it's just a basic black and white laser printer, nothing more, nothing less!
posted by ukdanae at 9:10 AM on December 10, 2009

Or, go with the lamination option - that's a great idea!
posted by ukdanae at 9:11 AM on December 10, 2009

Are the interviews face to face? If they are, using a netbook to record answers might alienate some of the people you interview.
posted by mareli at 9:17 AM on December 10, 2009

Can't you just print out the three interview formats, laminate them for durability if that's an issue, and reuse them?

You could even laminate them and then write on them with water-soluble but quick-drying ink (like a dry erase marker). Then you can type up the answers at your leisure, or just take a digital picture.
posted by googly at 9:20 AM on December 10, 2009

Response by poster: @ syzygy:

Yes, that is a good idea! It wouldn't work in all situations (I'm standing for a few of these), but for most that would be fine. I will take a look!

@ HuronBob

I am *kinda* compensated for the supplies - I receive a fixed amount specifically for supplies, phone, etc each month. It's another line item on my pay stub. However, it is the exact same amount whether I use it or not, so if I save money then the money goes into my pocket instead.

@ DrGail

Yes, I should have mentioned that I need to keep the information from the interviews for around two years. Ha, I guess that's an important detail!

@ smackfu

Wow, I don't know how I overlooked that one... The ones I was looking at were around $300-500. At the $70 price point, that would be an awesome option! Do you happen to know how well the 2500 page cartridge lives up to the number it claims?

@ beerbajay

I would just use a copy machine, but the Kinkos charges enough per page to defeat any savings. It would definitely be more convenient, though.
posted by Willie0248 at 9:21 AM on December 10, 2009

You can get refill ink from staples or online. Drill a hole in your cartridge, squirt some ink in and your good to go. If your printer works with this.

But yeah, copy machines?
posted by sully75 at 9:24 AM on December 10, 2009

your=you're

recording interviews sucks because you have to go back and transcribe them=2x or more the time.
posted by sully75 at 9:25 AM on December 10, 2009

one option you may want to check out is Livescribe. You can download and save digital version of your notes. Also has optional OCR software if you want to convert to text to be imported into Word etc.

Earlier you needed special paper but no I understand they have made available a pdf that you can print yourself if you have access to high res printer.
posted by shr1n1 at 9:27 AM on December 10, 2009

(a) Average price per page of laser vs. inkjet will vary, but I think you're talking about in the range of $.02/page for laser vs. $.08/page for inkjet. Whether switching printers would make a difference will depend on your printout volume.

(b) Seconding shr1n1's thought of considering a digital pen. Bonus points for environmental friendliness.
posted by drlith at 9:50 AM on December 10, 2009

Get an iPod touch and use a WiFi connection access digital forms, e.g. from SurveyMonkey.
posted by oxit at 9:51 AM on December 10, 2009

I have an older Brother model (HL-1440) and the first cartridge I bought lasted me all the way through law school. THROUGH LAW SCHOOL. If you can get your hands on a low-end laser printer, it will absolutely be way, way, way cheaper than cranking through ink jet cartridges. Of course it won't save paper, as you noted.
posted by rkent at 10:07 AM on December 10, 2009

Take the forms, go to Staples, get 3 pads of paper made using those forms. It should be fairly cheap.
posted by blue_beetle at 10:10 AM on December 10, 2009 [3 favorites]

The little desktop laser printers they make these days are a far cry from the hunkers of yore.
posted by radioamy at 10:25 AM on December 10, 2009

I was going to suggest just getting 500 copies of each set of form. The bulk price will be really cheap. But I like blue_beetle's idea better.
posted by PercussivePaul at 11:52 AM on December 10, 2009

Even though you have to save the info, you could still use the lamination method by photographing the document after you've marked it up, then converting your photo to a pdf.
posted by coolguymichael at 12:45 PM on December 10, 2009

I still don't see how Dr Gail's solution won't work with keeping the answers for two years. You're still writing it down but under a number or similar referring to the standardised question rather than under the question itself. Assuming the questions don't change, or if they do it's rarely enough to be tracked via a reference system, then you can use (and store) one copy of the questions for several answer sheets. Also this way you only use as much space for each question as it needs rather than have a pre-printed gap which you may or may not fill, so there's a paper saving there too.

Or does the actual question have to be right there on the sheet with the answer? In that case yeah, a better printer will really help.
posted by shelleycat at 1:30 PM on December 10, 2009

After a certain quantity--maybe 500 pcs?--offset printing is cheaper than photocopying. So call around for estimates. Also known as quick printers.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 2:02 PM on December 10, 2009

I may be misunderstanding this question, but why don't you just have one copy of the questions and reuse it? When you're taking your notes during the interview, you can number the answers to correspond with the questions. Then your only cost is a pen and a notebook.
posted by Lucie at 12:44 PM on December 16, 2009