Common Questions on Copiers

If you’re like most Colorado Springs business, church, or office personnel doing copier research, you are trying to do two things.  First, you’re looking for actual product information and second, you’re making sure you’re doing due diligence to assure you’re not getting a bad deal.

This post is designed to help you with the second concern.  There are great product reviews boards out there (a friend of mine has The Laser Printer Center site), which can help you get product information.

Here are some basic ways your new copier contract can be good…or taking you to the cleaners:

First, if you include equipment, supplies and maintenance: paying $.02 or less combined per print is AWESOME.  Paying $.03 is fairly average, and paying $.04 or more is too much.  How can you determine this if you already have a contract?  Take your payments, say $380 a month for 15,000 included prints and you’s be able to see this example would be $.0253 per print.  This would be in the “Good” range.  Aim for being under $.03 with the equipment included (very important!).   If you’re over this, you are probably getting taken for a ride.

What are some other ways to guage your copier contract?

If you don’t do tabloid paper (11 X 17), not to be confused with Legal paper (8.5 X 14)…  you should not spend more than $5,000 on a copier or $150 a month on a 3 year FMV lease (equipment only).  There are excellent options in the $2,500 range.  Sales reps who tell you nothing under $5,000 will work for your 3,000 pages a month are more concerned about their commissions than your needs.   Tell them to take a hike!   Here’s a basic guide to cost per print:

$.01 or better is excellent, $.02 or worse is bad, $.013 is about average for most customers (including the cost of supplies and maintenance–equipment is separate.)

With speeds, everyone’s need is different, however here are two basic guidelines for determining your needs:

1.) 40 Pages or higher for B&W is good; less than 40 pages a minute can be suitable for low volume applications.

2.) Higher than 60 pages a minute is a bit of an overkill for customers doing less than 20,000 pages a month.

For your color copiers, here are some general ranges for your Letter/Legal needs:

A great deal is $.06 or less,

An average price is $.08,

$.10 or more per print should only happen in 1 of 2 cases…  super high end color (graphic designers, for instance on tabloid paper) or if you have very low volume (500 pages per month or less).

Give me a call with your copier questions and needs here in Colorado Springs.