The Problem of Comparing Copiers

This will be a bit more on the rant side of the fence than the blog side of the fence, and more for detail oriented folks than the big picture types.  So I want to speak a bit today on the topic of comparing copiers.  We all know it is important to compare when you want to get the best deal, but what happens if you compare on the basis of faulty information?

You could be a small company looking into a copier for your office and when you call your specified 3 copier companies, let’s say one shows up in a suit and tie, one calls on the phone and another shows up in a Polo shirt.  All three talk like they really know the business and what is best for your company.  But how do you know what is best?

Do you listen to the rep that says a used copier is the best because it saves the most money up front, or do you listen to the rep who says you need the new copier so you don’t have a lot of problems or the rep that wants you to buy a specific brand because it is so much better than the others?  These are all factors in making an informed copier decision, but how can you decide what weight to place on any specific item?  Do you just trust the reps, trust online reviews, or have some other method to determine what is the best deal for your dollar?

When it comes to purchasing a new copier for your office, you need to keep some things in mind –

Cost – When speaking of cost, you have to consider the equipment costs as a whole.  There is the machine costs, the maintenance costs and the supplies cost.  You can buy a super cheap copier up front and pay through the nose for the copier in toner costs.  You can also pay a ton for a copier and never make up the difference in toner savings.  Let’s look at 2 examples –

Bill needs a copier that will print, scan, copy and fax.  Needs letter/legal and he wants it to be as cheap as possible because he does 2000 flyers a month and that does not seem like too much printing to him.  Being a bit on the cheaper side he is thinking the Xerox WorkCentre 6505 because it is about $650 –

So his costs could look like – $650 initial cost plus $10 per month for maintenance (times 60 months) plus 15 cents a color print times 2000 per month.

An Alternative could be a copier that was $5000 + $10 per month plus 7 cents a click.

Since maintenance costs are the same at $10 per month – you can look at the price differential of $5000-$650=$4350 and the differential in the costs per print – $.15-$.07=$.08

.08 X 2000 = $160/Month more expensive on the print

$4350 difference on a 60 month lease is about $87 more expensive

$160 – $87 = $73 per month more expensive after everything

Times 60 Months is almost $4500 total differential.

Then the question is what is better for your business with the technology.

There are lots of things to consider, this is why it is important to consider all your factors.