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Started By
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14 yr old middle school student discovers way for Gov't to save $370M a yr
Posted on 3/28/14 at 3:44 pm
Posted on 3/28/14 at 3:44 pm
quote:
A Pennsylvania middle school student figured out a way for federal and state governments to cut $370 million dollars from their combined budgets annually with one simple fix: changing the font on every single document they print.
quote:
After analyzing the most commonly used letters across four different typefaces and figuring out how much ink each used, Mirchandani found that by switching the school’s font exclusively to Garamond, it could reduce printer ink consumption by 24 percent and save $21,000 in printing costs every year.
quote:
After pulling sample pages and running the same test on documents from the Government Printing Office website, Mirchandani came up with the same result — switch to a font like Garamond with its thinner character strokes, and the federal government could cut almost 30 percent, or $136 million, from an annual $467 million spent on ink. If state governments adopted the same practice, another $234 million could be saved.
Government Printing Office Media and Public Relations Manager Gary Somerset described the student’s findings as ”remarkable,” but was unsure if the government would adopt the change, as the focus on saving printing costs has shifted to publishing documents exclusively online.
LINK
This post was edited on 3/28/14 at 3:46 pm
Posted on 3/28/14 at 3:51 pm to Alahunter
Kid better watch out for the printer ink mafia.
Posted on 3/28/14 at 3:53 pm to Helo
It seems the head of THAT particular cartel is the Government Printing Office Media and Public Relations Manager
Posted on 3/28/14 at 3:54 pm to Alahunter
saw this story earlier. great story. I prefer Garamond to all others when I write as well. Just is sharper looking. and I'll be saving ink now. win win.
Posted on 3/28/14 at 3:59 pm to Alahunter
quote:
Government Printing Office Media and Public Relations Manager Gary Somerset described the student’s findings as ”remarkable,” but was unsure if the government would adopt the change
Or they'll make the change and find a way to spend the same amount of money on ink.
Posted on 3/28/14 at 3:59 pm to Mr. Katanga
If I had the authority, I'd make sure all Gov't offices made the switch over, and award the kid $3.7 million, one percent of the savings. Well worth it.
Posted on 3/28/14 at 4:04 pm to Alahunter
Garamond is harder to read for the elderly and visually impaired.
Why does this kid hate the blind and the old? I bet he is racist too. He should be charged with a hate crime and reeducated.
Why does this kid hate the blind and the old? I bet he is racist too. He should be charged with a hate crime and reeducated.
Posted on 3/28/14 at 4:10 pm to Alahunter
quote:
14 yr old middle school student
Not my
Smart kid. Funny how they have managers who attempt to save money and some squirrly kid comes up with the cost saving measures.
$467M ink budget? That is nuts! I wonder if it's gone down over the years due to email etc.
Posted on 3/28/14 at 4:14 pm to Alahunter
For anyone that doesn't think the gov't is too damn big: they spend $500 million annually on printer ink. Holy frick.
Posted on 3/28/14 at 4:14 pm to Alahunter
I RA'd chicken for a tigerdroppings font change. He could save enough to keep the coaching change board up all year long.
Posted on 3/28/14 at 4:22 pm to Aubie Spr96
quote:
they spend $500 million annually on printer ink. Holy frick.
No kidding. They should just do what I do, when my printer cartridge runs out of ink, I just buy a new printer - it's cheaper that way.
Posted on 3/28/14 at 4:30 pm to idlewatcher
quote:
budget
quote:
Gov't
quote:
gone down
Posted on 3/28/14 at 4:40 pm to Alahunter
quote:
unsure if the government would adopt the change, as the focus on saving printing costs has shifted to publishing documents exclusively online.
Documents online, maybe so, but what about the unnecessary letters and notices they send out monthly to individuals? And the cost of the paper/mailing them?
My mother, from Medicare, gets a monthly 6 or 7 page statement of her medical expenses.
A friend gets a statement every month telling him he owes $X for Medicare (Part B?), and that it will be taken out of his checking account, since he signed up for auto withdrawal. Duh.
Social Security sends summary booklets out every few months to let people know how many quarters they've accrued.
Multiply just those by the # of people on Medicare/Social Security and those still paying in to Social Security. Astronomical.
eta: removed erroneous statement
This post was edited on 3/29/14 at 8:24 am
Posted on 3/28/14 at 4:59 pm to Alahunter
The government literally "misplaces" way more than that every year.
Posted on 3/28/14 at 6:06 pm to TigerTattle
quote:
Those already getting SS get a letter every month that's kind of like a check stub for the amount they receive.
In 3.5 years, I have never once received such a monthly letter. All I get is a once-a-year written notice of what the benefit will be for the coming year.
Posted on 3/28/14 at 9:26 pm to TigerTattle
quote:
Those already getting SS get a letter every month that's kind of like a check stub for the amount they receive.
Not a chance. And no e-mail notification either. I have to remember to add the amount to my account on the 21st of every month.
Posted on 3/29/14 at 8:22 am to NHTIGER
quote:
In 3.5 years, I have never once received such a monthly letter.
My mistake. I know that's once a year, don't know why the old brain was telling me once a month.
Fixed the post.
Posted on 3/29/14 at 8:51 am to TigerTattle
I wonder if my 4 year old wrote a letter about legalizing marijuana saving billions from the prison system would get the same attention from CNN. Or simplifying the tax code and firing 80% of the IRS to save billions. This font story is so dumb.
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