Printing Policy

1  Introduction

Whether in the conduct of instruction or research, paper is an important input into the production of almost every economist. Indeed, measured by the amount of paper we use, the collective productivity of ARE is extremely impressive. Over the period of November 25th to December 11 of 2000, the total number of pages printed was 253 per user. If the average length of an article is 20 pages, that suggests a rate of about 23 papers per month per person!

One important caveat to these productivity estimates should be noted. Anyone who frequents the statlab cannot help but be aware that the department collectively wastes tremendous amounts of paper. Often the printer churns out, not novel research output or important instructional material, but reams of printouts from some website or another. A remarkable amount of output appears to be simply abandoned-we refill a large barrel with uncollected output every month.

In one sense, this behavior isn't a surprise, of course. The marginal cost an individual faces in putting ink on paper in the department is very close to zero, and so people print even when the marginal benefit of doing so is also nearly zero. However, in another sense this is both a surpise and an embarrassment. We're a department of people interested in the allocation of resources; schooled in the ins and outs of externalities and public goods; interested in the design of mechanisms to rationally allocate scarce resources. Nonetheless, when it comes to paper, we have failed abysmally in the design of mechanisms to govern our own collectively wasteful behavior.

This proposal represents an attempt to correct this failure. The logic behind the proposal will be familiar to every economist. Possible shortcomings will no doubt also be obvious. Please feel free to point these out; I expect this policy to evolve over time, and don't expect to get policy exactly right the first time.

2  Policy

At the present rate, our main department printer in room 237 will churn out over a quarter million printed pages this year. We don't know how much of this is waste, but certainly it amounts for a considerable expense.

Our basic plan is to charge for all printing on the department printer in room 237. We have instituted the accounting procedures necessary to keep track of the number of pages printed by each user on this printer, regardless of whether the print job comes from machines in the statlab or elsewhere in ARE. Accordingly, for every page printed, we will charge that user a small fee.

2.1  Frequently Asked Questions

  1. Q
    What's a page exactly?
    A
    A ``page" is a side of printing on a sheet of paper, so a sheet of paper with printing on both sides (duplex) counts as 2 pages.

  2. Q
    What will the per page charge be?
    A
    We will be using a sort of peak-load pricing system. The peak usage period will be between the hours of 9am and 6pm. The charge during this period for black and white will be $0.05 per page. The charge in the off-peak for black and white period will be $0.025 per page. The charge for color printing is $0.10 per page.

  3. Q
    Efficiency is all well and good, but doesn't this uncompensated price increase reduce the welfare of students?
    A
    Each student user will be given an allowance of $100 per academic year.

  4. Q
    Cool! This must mean that if I print less than $100 pages, then I can cash out at the end of the year!
    A
    No. Resources allocated to your printing account will not be refunded.

  5. Q
    If I don't exhaust my quota this year, will the extra roll over to next year?
    A
    No. Resources allocated to your printing account will expire at the end of the academic year (June 30th).

  6. Q
    Different users will differ in the value they place on printing. Couldn't we achieve a more efficient outcome if we were able to trade printing rights?
    A
    Sure, if you don't count the time of our programmers as a cost.

  7. Q
    Suppose I use up my $100 quota. Does that mean I won't be able to print anymore?
    A
    No, it means you have to give us money.

  8. Q
    How do I know how much of my quota I've used up?
    A
    You can check your usage on the department web site. See http://are.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/pacct_user.cgi, or follow the links from the main page under the ``Computing'' subheading.

  9. Q
    I was curious about what information was in this file I found called core, so I typed lpr core. The printer spewed out 1000 pages of garbage. Can I get credit for these bogus pages?
    A
    The reason for this system is to control costs and reduce paper usage. That means there won't be credits for pages that you printed but don't want, or pages that printed incorrectly because of error. Take care that you only print what you really need, that your document is properly formatted, and that you are using the proper software tools before you print the document.

  10. Q
    What kinds of files are printable?
    A
    Basically postscript files or plain ASCII text. Other files need to be converted to one of these formats before being sent to the printer.

  11. Q
    How can I tell if a file is printable or not?
    A
    On our unix machines, there's a handy command called file. For example,
    are1:~> file /etc/motd
    /etc/motd: English text
    or
    are1:~> file calendar.ps
    calendar.ps: PostScript document text conforming at level 2.0 - type EPS
    are both printable.
    are1:~> file /vmlinuz
    /vmlinuz: Linux kernel x86 boot executable bzImage, version 2.2.13 (root@bruin) #1 Sat Nov , RO-rootFS, root_dev=0x802, Normal VGA
    isn't.

  12. Q
    I sent a printable file to the printer, and it blinked for awhile, but nothing came out. From the accounting information available on the web, it looks like I was charged anyway! I want a refund!
    A
    Problems like these do occasionally crop up. You have our sympathy, but don't expect any credit.

    On the other hand, if something along these lines happens, please report it to our programmers so they can try to fix the problem. The more detail you can provide, the better. Unfortunately, we are not equipped to provide credit for messed up jobs, even if it's not your fault; this is an additional possible cost you bear when using the facilities we make available.

  13. Q
    I have a printer in my office. Is it okay for me to just take paper from the department to use there?
    A
    No. Printer paper is for departmental use only. You must purchase your own paper for personal office use.

  14. Q
    Oh yeah? Who's going to stop me if I just take some paper from the printer?
    A
    Nobody. There are lots of things you could steal from the department if you chose to. We expect department members to behave honorably.

  15. Q
    How long does the Quota period last?
    A
    The Quota lasts for one academic year (July 1st - June 30th).

  16. Q
    Much of my printing is GSR related, do I still have to pay?
    A
    If you owe money, and some of your printing is GSR related, let Bessie know how much of your printing is GSR related, and who should be billed for it. It is your responsibility to keep track of your GSR printing.

  17. Q
    How long do I have to pay my bill?
    A
    When you exceed your quota you will receive an E-mail telling you how much you owe. Then you have two weeks to pay. If you do not pay your bill, printing from your account will be disabled.
Updated 11/30/2007 -WG