The presses never sleep in a busy print shop. And neither do the costs. This wasn’t a problem for us until we hit a tight spot during a dry summer. We needed to cut expenses, fast. The solution? packs of six. Not the kind you’re thinking of, either. These were ink packs that unexpectedly became our lifeline.
No one tells you about print shops is the quiet killer of profits: ink inventory. It creeps up on you. One order here, an off-brand pack there. Suddenly you’re juggling 12 different brands, each with its own quirks. Happened to us, too. Then we discovered these little packs of six cartridges from Dab O Ink through dab o ink packs. We came for the price and stayed for the simplicity.
Six Packs Solved Two Problems at Once
The math was easy, but the payoff was huge. Bundling cartridges into sets meant we stopped overbuying on 18 different models. Each pack gave us consistent quality with fewer headaches getting the right color match.
The real surprise came with our waste bins. Those random ink cartridges used to sit half-empty while we waited for the right job to use them up. The packs forced us to work with what we had, in consistent volumes. It didn’t just cut costs—it cut clutter.
What We Didn’t Expect: Happier Employees
No one likes balancing a dozen different inventory lists when they need ink now. Our crew used to waste hours tracking down that one cartridge that matched our latest order specifications or switching between brands mid-job when colors weren’t consistent enough from one supplier to another.
Those tasks vanished once we standardized on six-pack cartridges that all fit our most common machines. Faster printers mean faster jobs which means happier clients which means more repeat work.
Why These Packs Worked When Bulk Didn’t
Bulk ink seemed like the obvious solution at first – you can get discounts by buying larger quantities, right? But our storage space has limits, and often those large orders just sat idle because they contained colors for printers we used less frequently.
Six-cartridge packs hit that sweet spot – enough volume to save money, but not so much that ink expires before we use it. Packs also forced us to focus only on what would sell instead of stocking rare colors that looked good in catalog tables but gathered dust in our inventory.
“You can’t cut costs without knowing exactly what’s coming in and going out.”— Our bookkeeper, after tracking down three months of lost inventory receipts left over from the ‘random cartridge’ days
The change was small, but the ripple effects were massive. If your shop struggles with ink logistics, consider starting small like we did. Sometimes fewer choices make better business sense than trying to cover every base and ending up buried under it all.