What really puts a drain on the Watchtower resources are all the Bethelites who run the presses, research, and write that the Watchtower has to feed, house, provide limited medical care to, a small stipend for clothing/miscellaneous expenses, etc. I'm sure there's a lot more supporting expenses that add up. New machinery and technology help them to do more with less, but printing still puts a major drain on their resources no matter how low they can bring the cost down per page.
Cutting printing helps them in so many ways. With all the Bethel cut backs that have been reported on, there's a good number of people they can cut from printing because they're reducing they're public magazine load by half. They're pushing stronger for the R&F to download, so there's a few less things needing to be printed and a few more people to be cut. Less people printing means less people that will be needed to support that staff for cleaning, feeding, laundry, deliveries, etc. It's all one big chain reaction that lets them continue to cut, cut, cut to reduce costs and maximize gains from whatever money they are still getting.
Before long, Jehovah's Witnesses will resemble more of an e-religion that just so happens to have congregations of people meeting in your local area.
There's a lot more thought that has to go into determining the cost of printing a magazine that just the cost of printing a magazine. It seems cheap, but it's really not. Otherwise, the Watchtower wouldn't be downsizing so much.