It has always amazed me the number of businesses and government agencies that just think about “NOW” when selecting replacement printer, copiers and fax machines. How do you purchase your company’s copier printers or laser printers?

“It’s a buyers beware – the manufacturers are going to get you!”

Have you notice a change? The US dollar is dropping in value. gold is skyrocketing and Lexmark, HP, Xerox and other equipment manufactures announced big price increases on their supplies.

Just when you are trying to cut costs, they raised your cost on supplies! But, did the copiers scanner or hp laser printers actual equipment go up in price?

NO.  Why?

Because they are out to get you!  It’s the old game of getting you with inexpensive laser printers, desktop copiers and all in one equipment and then socking it to you with higher supply costs.

Are you one of those people who fail to think about the future costs of operating the equipment when you buy copier printers or printer scanners all in one?  93% of the companies in America spend more money on supplies than they do on the actual laser printer, digital copier over the like of the equipment

5 Things You Should Know

Before You Buy

#1: What toner supplies do the laser printer or digital copier use? What the cost of each supply item? Toner cartridge? Drum?  Developer?

#2: What is the estimated number of pages you will get from each toner cartridge supply item? Now calculate your cost per page.

#3: FACT! The lower the cost of the copier printer, HP laser printer or fax the more it cost per page to operate!

#4: What is the DUTY cycle of the laser printer– NOT print speed?  The print speed has nothing to do with the durability. The duty cycle is the key. the higher the duty cycle the more durable is the laser printer or copier scanner all in one.

Now, take the duty cycle and multiply it by .20 (20%) and you should not average over this number of pages per month.

#5: Get a higher end slightly used copier or laser printer for the save or less than a low end used printer scanner. They will outlast and cost less to operate over the long run.

The catch here is getting a used one in good condition. We get calls every week from people buying used copiers and laser printers  cheap just to find out in a month that the equipment needs major work.

Consider Dealer Select fully warranted machines. If you are looking for quality used equipment call us. It does not cost you a single cent to ask.

If you have may questions please feel free to contact us.  See our website for additional information. Feel free to call us or request help through our blog or go ahead to our website or call us for a quick response.

Quality copier printer scanners are designed for 7 to 10 years of life just like your car. I know one client that have many HP laser printer 4+, 5 and 4000’s 8 to 12 years old. They refuse to get rid of them because that HP model laser printer is built like a rock. In fact, they keep ask for refurbished use HP printers!

Does a quality car only have 3 years of life? The average car on the road is over 5 years old. You use a car to get from point A to B. You use a printer, copier and MFD to produce pages with text and graphics. Who says that a new $8,875 copier printer is any better than an off lease recent model (2..3 years old) well maintained used printer copier?  How old is your HP laser printer? Is it still doing the job?

Then why not consider a high quality, select off lease lightly used copier printer that saves you thousands of dollars?

Or do you always need the newest gadget that costs the most and depreciates the fastest?

I’m not talking about the small desktop units. The copier printers discussed are mid to high MFD all in ones that are extremely durable machines with years of life left in them.

Best of all you can grab one for as much as 67% or more off their original price! The trick is knowing which machine to select. Just like the used car business, some used copier printers companies will take you for a real ride!

Off Lease Do’s and Don’ts

First: Know the print or copier company. Have you done business with copier printer service company in the past? Do they offer service or a flat per page, including copier printer repair, parts and supplies? Will used copier company provide client referrals?

Second: How old is the equipment? Stick to equipment no more than 3 years old. You do not want used copiers or printers that have hard to fine parts. The best (most durable and easy to get parts) used copiers are Kyocera, Copystar, Ricoh, Lanier, Gestetner and Savin brands

Third: Check the page count. Just like a used car you want low mileage (low page count). Try to stick to used copiers or refurbished printers with 2 months of duty cycle usage or less. Ask about a maintenance program for the used printer scanner copier.

Fourth: What is the monthly duty cycle? Most companies print less than 19% of the maximum monthly duty cycle. Take the total duty cycle of the used copier and divide it by 5. Your monthly copier usage should be lower than this amount.

Fifth: Know the brand. Not all models and brands are equal. In fact some of the best known brands are the worse to get used. Some will last many years while others are problematic. Call and ask questions.

Example of a Dealer Select and the information discussed:

Mita-Kyocera 4035

Network Copier / Printer / Fax / Scanner / Duplex / Cabinet

Duty Cycle 200,000 per month

Fast 40PPM

Equipment value new with above features: $9,987

2 years old with stand

Current page count 184,743

Maintenance cycle 300,000 pages – this is huge. Most brands have a             80k to 150K maintenance cycle. They machine rocks!

This used copier printer scanner all in one machine has many years of life left.

If you have may questions please feel free to contact us.  See our website for additional information. Feel free to call us or request help through our blog or go ahead to our website or call us for a quick response.

I hope this article was helpful.

You’re Friends

Advanced Business Computers, Inc.

©2008 Advanced Business Computers All rights reserved.

(And More Tricks Copier Printer MFD Companies Pay to Legally Steal from You!)

Part I

First, if you are looking to lease a new or used photocopier, digital printer copier or laser printer office equipment you need to know a few facts before you sign on the dotted line.

Important questions to ask leasing companies for laser printers and digital copiers beyond the monthly payment amount before you sign on the line:

1. Look to the future:  What is the buy-out amount?  What does the buy-out clause say on your copier lease maintenance agreement?  If you do not see a buy-out clause then do not sign on the dotted line!  The copier lease should say either $1 or FMV (fair market value).

If your lease agreement says FVM then have them write in an actual dollar AMOUNT.  If they say the can not because they do not know then they are full of it or trying to keep you in the dark to get you when the lease is over!

Printer and copier amortize the cost of the hardware over the lease period of the copier. It is not like a car lease where the car still has a high value.  They know the value at the end of the copier lease and it’s usually 10% or less than the original cost. If they refuse to put in a value then tell them you want a $1 buy-out copier printer lease instead of FMV office equipment lease. If you have a 3 or 5 year lease then monthly amount between FMV and $1 copier lease buyout is very small!

2. Are your copier printer leasing company and the maintenance company the same?  Be careful with this one it could cost you BIG time!  Recently, several new clients had this problem. They lease a copier printer from Ricoh Lanier copiers, Toshiba copier printers, Sharp Copiers or other big name company who actually are the service providers not the actual finance company.

This is not a big problem until one company is bought out and the new service company refuses to service the equipment but the client still has to keep paying the copier lease monthly amount. The equipment copier printer leasing finance company says talk to the copier or printer service company. The bought out copier printer service company says they are no longer obligated to service the equipment. So the client is stuck in the middle with a broken machine and still has to pay the copier leasing company money!

Make sure everything is under one company! You pay the copier lease monthly amount to one company and the contract says that the company you are paying is responsible for the service and the finance for the office copier printer.

Whoops: I need to get this post out so look for part II soon. I need to go to a meeting!  If you need to know faster how to prevent getting hooked into an expensive lease and ticks copier leasing companies play contact me now  through our blog or go ahead to our website for a quick response. I hope this article was helpful.

Sincerely,

Your Friends at Advanced Business Computers Inc.

http://www.abctechsolutions.com