In an effort to ultimately cut costs, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing is paying government employees to return government printers, the Washington Post reported.
More than 500 employees have individual printers to protect against documents falling into the wrong hands, but in order to save paper, ink and electricity costs, the government is buying them back at $75 a pop.
Employees losing the printers will use network printers instead.
"Personal printers in BEP cost significantly more to use, operate and maintain than network printers," said to a flyer distributed at the bureau's offices in Washington and Fort Worth, Texas. The flyer, designed like an old-school Western "Wanted" poster, includes the image of a cowboy with a lasso riding a horse chasing after a printer.
The flyer suggests the BEP is sharing the savings with cooperative employees by giving them $75 gift cards, which of course have the added bonus of putting that money into the economy rather than the employees' bank accounts. Clever!
An upset employee told the Post that the incentive contradicts the idea of saving money and unfairly benefits only the government officials important enough to have the personal printers.
