Buying Guide:
Seven Things Every Copier Owner Needs to Know
Getting ready to buy or lease a copier? If you're like the average copier buyer, then you probably have no clue as to what questions to ask. As a general rule, don't be swayed by the "best price" offer. Look at the service organization behind that product. Independent dealers like Complete, have a long history of providing exceptional service. Do your homework. We've put together 5 questions that you should get answered before you sign the dotted line.
1. What is the fair market value of your copier at the end of the lease?
Most buyers never find out what that fair market value is until the end of the lease, but the leasing company knows. You need that information shared, so you can make an educated decision.
2. When negotiationg a lease with your copier dealer, make sure you find out whether the buyout price for your old copier is a buyout to keep or a buyout to return.
A buyout to return can cost you big time, so don't hesitate to ask. Otherwise, you may be paying a lot more on your new lease while your copier dealer keeps your old copier and then resells it, effectively working the system to their benefit.
3. If it's a dollar-out lease, which is one of the most common leases, find out whether your state treats that as an operating lease or a capital lease.
Some states treat a dollar-out lease as an actual purchase agreement rather than a lease, in which case you must take depreciation and can't write the lease payment off as an operating expense.
4. Ask who is responsible for shipping that equipment back to the leasing company or copier vendor at the expiration of the lease.
Are you responsible for shipping it back to the dealer or the leasing company, or are they going to pick it up at no cost, like Complete?
5. Do you have a need or will you have a need over the lifetime of your copier for color copies?
The wave of the future in the copier business is color, and most copier vendors offer a selection of B2C products, devices that output in black and white color. There is a bit of a backlash from customers who have purchased color devices and have seen their printing costs rise as employees start printing out more documents and images in color, some legitimately and some not so, such as personal photos. This may be reason enough for many organizations to stick to a black-and-white device rather than incur those extra costs associated with a color machine.
6. Do you need a scanner? More organizations are scanning documents onto their network using their copier rather than a dedicated scanner.
If converting hard copy documents into electronic form is critical to your organization, scanning is something you'll want to ask about. Note that some black-and-white copiers offer both black-and-white and color scanning, so scanning capability could be a big plus. While you're at it, find out what applications the copier will support (applications that you're currently using as well as those that you're thinking about using). That's important should you need to access those applications through your copier, something that's becoming increasingly common in this age of scanning.
7. Ask if your vendor offers management print services.
Do you wonder if the copiers and printers in your organization are being used to thier maximum advantage? Are some devices underused? What can you do to better control and reduce your copying and printing costs? Those vendors who provide managed print services will be able to answer those questions for you and be able to identify areas within your organization where you can either reduce costs or maximize machine usage to get the most bang for your hardeared dollars. This is the wave of the future in the copier industry and any progressive copier vendor, like Complete, should be offering its customers managed print services.
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