Ink Suppliers May Suffer from Ink Reduction by Font Change

According to Seeking Alpha, an investment research corporation, ink suppliers and manufacturers will be threatened if the US government reduces ink usage by changing its document font from Times New Roman to Garamond.

A few days ago, it was reported a 14-year-old school boy calculated that by simply changing font, state and federal governments could save a combined $400 million. Seeking Alpha believes the savings will impact many companies.

Office Depot will be the most immediate sufferer, as it is the only company to supply ink and toner cartridges to the U.S. Government. In its 3Q2013 report, Office Depot states ink and toner sales comprise a “large part” of their technology sales, and the supplies account for over 44% of Office Depot’s annual earnings. Also, Seeking Alpha predicted, “Once the government utilizes this cash-saver, schools and offices wouldn’t be far behind, further hurting Office Depot.”

In addition, it will impact ink manufacturers such as HP and Canon. “HP leads the worldwide, hardcopy peripheral market (printing and ink) with a market share of 40.5%. Sales by the printer and ink division also contributes to more than 40% of HP’s operating profit,” explained Seeking Alpha.

What’s more, Seeking Alpha noted manufacturers, suppliers and retailers of inkjet printer ink will be hit by the enormous reduction of ink usage, if institutions and corporations follow the government’s model.