Albertans lead the country in photocopier rage, according to a new poll commissioned by Hewlett-Packard (Canada) Ltd.

Nationally, more than one in 10 workers with a photocopier in their workplace admitted in a January Ipsos-Reid phone survey to becoming frustrated enough to hit or kick the offending machine.

Another 30 per cent admitted they “seriously wanted to kick or hit” their photocopier, but ultimately showed restraint.

In Alberta, 51 per cent of workers admitted to experiencing photocopier rage, although the study did not say how many have resorted to abuse.

Ontario was close behind at 49 per cent, while Quebecers showed the most restraint – just 27 per cent admitted getting angry and only 10 per cent said they have taken a run at the office photocopier.

“The poll results suggest that photocopier rage is an issue for millions of Canadians,” noted Jean-Paul Desmarais, category manager for LaserJet Multifunction Printers at HP Canada.

“The results suggest that more than five million Canadian office workers have fought back the urge to kick or hit their office photocopier, while more than two million have actually struck their machine.”

The other findings include:

* Women are more likely than men (48 per cent vs. 37 per cent) to admit that they have wanted to kick or hit a photocopier out of frustration.

* Respondents who felt angry enough to abuse their photocopier are university educated (34 per cent have seriously wanted to kick/hit their photocopier, while 13 per cent have done so).

* Of respondents with higher-income jobs, 35 per cent have seriously wanted to kick/hit their photocopier, while 14 per cent have actually done so.

* Canadians walk an average of more than 40 kilometres over the course of a year to use the office photocopier and printer. The average round trip for photocopies is 21 metres (made an average of 21 times a week), while the average round trip to the printer is 10 metres (averaging 51 visits to the printer each week).

Ipsos-Reid surveyed a random sample of 1,000 Canadian adults for the survey.