Sometimes when we walk into a copier opportunity, we are walking into an unwinnable situation, or I have yet to acquire the skills to win the copier deal.  We see people sign up for terrible copier deals and there are some common elements we see in these bad deals.

The biggest mistake we see people make when buying a copier is rushing to get a quote rather than taking their time to ensure the quote they are getting is for the correct copier to begin with.

We will get a call with a question like, “Can we get a quote for a Kyocera Copystar 3060 with 3 trays, the fax card, the saddle stitch finisher, the extra 512MB of RAM and the scanning feature?”  If I ask how they arrived at this machine, I often get an answer back that “we know this is the machine we want, so can we just get a quote?”   Basically, what this tells me is that I have no real chance to get the business.  Someone has already approached them with a copier deal, it sounds good to them and now they just want to make sure they are not getting screwed.  Fair enough, but hard to get excited about the opportunity for me because they already trust the other copier dealer enough that they are sure they want to go with his/her recommendation.  They just want to make sure that company doesn’t make much money.

Now, if they would go through the extra 10 minutes of my questions, they may find out that they don’t need tabloid copy capability, or that this is simply too much machine for them, or they may discover this is indeed the best copier for their needs.  It is hard for me to help when these situations come up and as much as I want to sell them their next copier in Denver, I am still not too excited to even quote as my experience has taught me they will just use my quote to lower my competitors pricing.  Rarely will I get a fair chance.  In these situations, I simply shoot a quick E mail with some prices as I don’t want to get too involved in a quote I cannot win.

The second most common copier buying mistake in Denver that I see is getting a color copier when color is totally not needed.

This is a common issue when a competitor offers a free upgrade to color.  Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to print in color if needed?  Of course it would be, but these companies are generally banking on the fact companies that have color and don’t manage it strictly tend to print way more in color than they would like to.

The final most common mistake I see is getting too hung up on one train of thought.

Some common ones out there are just looking at the speed per minute (and not paying attention to warm up times), deciding on stapling when only used once a year, wanting a specific brand like Ricoh, Konica Minolta, Kyocera, Xerox or Toshiba and nothing else, or resolution of a color copier (and not image quality).  All of these are indeed an important consideration, but when they become the ONLY buying factor, they can add thousands of dollars to the ultimate bill.  We recommend taking all the facts about the copier you intend to purchase and then when all these facts are weighed, rewarding the Denver business that gave you the most appealing offer.

If you would like a copier quote here in Denver, please give us a call today!

Copier Lease Rates, Unraveling the Mystery:

If you are in the copier market, and odds are that you are if you are on this page, one common question we hear is a variant of “How do Copier Lease Rates Work?”  It really isn’t that difficult, but we’ll try and keep this as simple to understand as possible.

When selling a copier, leasing companies will give me a “lease rate factor” for a client.  The better the client, the better the rate, essentially this works into the payment calculation.  A common “lease rate factor” for a 3 year return the copier to the lease company lease (also known as a FMV lease or Fair Market Value) is around .029

What happens with this .029?  That is the number we multiply by the dollar amount of the equipment costs, so if a copier would cost $10,000 to buy in cash, the monthly lease payment is $290. This does not include service and supplies yet.

Those are generally added into the lease, but there are 3 potential areas of costs for a lease

• Equipment Costs
• Maintenance Costs (the wrench)
• Supplies Costs (the toners, drums, fusers, etc)

So you may see a payment of $290 for the equipment and say a Supplies and Maintenance plan that is $100 for 5,000 included black and white copies.  You could also see an “all-inclusive” lease payment of $390 which would be for the equipment and 5,000 black and white copies per month.  How it is structured is up to the copier company you are working with.

Now, you come back to the dealer and say that the $390 a month is too high, or they saw on your print assessment that you only spent $365 a month, they will probably show you a five year lease instead so that they could show you savings.  Now the common FMV lease factor for a 5 year lease is about .02 — The same $10,000 copier costs $200 a month for equipment and $100 a month for supplies and maintenance.  Now you have a $65 per month savings!  Isn’t that copier company great!

Leases are another way of getting the money to buy or “rent” a copier.  If you think of it as a loan from a bank rather than the way you have to get a copier, then you will probably make wiser decisions.  The copier company could sell the copier for $10,000 and then do a supplies and maintenance plan for $100 per month.

You don’t have to lease to get a maintenance plan!

Copiers for Rent!

Denver: Copier Rentals

The choice to purchase or rent a copier is, unfortunately, not a simple matter. While obtaining a rental might serve the purposes of the immediate project you have in mind, sometimes you can purchase a copier for only a little more money. This could pay off in the long run if you use the copier even on an occasional basis.

The elements that will help you determine if a purchase will serve you better than a rental are:

• The per-minute speed of the copier
• The print volume expected every month
• The need for advanced features such as tabloid abilities, stapling and color copying

Many businesses underestimate their needs and end up renting a machine more often than necessary. This situation would certainly be intolerable for a business with consistently large or variable monthly printing volumes. Gathering information over time will help you clarify the specifications that will ultimately lead you to the right product. If you need assistance, this information can also be used by our professionals to help you decide.

In order to decide which unit is most appropriate, consider the monthly print volume of your business, the speed of copying and your minimum requirements for any advanced features.

Give us a call for a copier rental quote in Denver today!

Xerox Phaser 8860MFP

Pay just $.049 per Color Print!

If you are looking at a Canon copier and look at your cost per color print, you will notice that you are probably looking at about $.06 to $.08 per color copy.  We have a program for users who are considering purchasing a Canon copier and would like to be under a nickel per color print!

The Xerox Phaser 8860 is a color copier that may be perfect for users who only need to do letter/legal paper and want to keep costs as low as possible.  The machine, brand new, is under $4,000 and the cost per print program is as aggressive as anything in the market.

Before you buy a Canon Copier, call us first!

You really have nothing to lose.  You get a quote from us to see how we compete with the Canon copier quote you are looking to get from one of our competitors such as All Copy.  We work hard to get you the best deals and make sure the copier we quote can save you as much as possible!

Give us a call to get a competitive quote against what you are looking to do with Canon!

If you are here in Denver and have been considering purchasing a color laser printer, there are some cases where a color copier might actually be a better deal.

Color laser printers seem to be a great fit when your print volume is relatively low (say, under 1,000 pages a month.)  Once the volume goes up, copiers become a better and better deal.

For example, we have a customer looking at a Xerox Phaser 7500 color printer and they are looking to do 2,000 color prints per month.  The Xerox website says that the printer costs about $.11 per print for color.  The problem is this is only 20% coverage.  20% coverage is roughly the amount of color on the page that you would see if you folded a standard 8.5 X 11 sheet of paper in half 3 times.  This means, that if the client chooses to purchase this printer, they could wind up paying $.66 per sheet for color or up to $1.28 per sheet for tabloid color (if the prints were full color).

Now, if they got a Xerox WorkCentre 7525, the color is about $.075 per print and it does not matter how much ink is on the page.  It is the same for tabloid printing.  So, if this customer is doing marketing, as this customer is, the difference in monthly supplies cost could be as large as $.075 X 2,000 = $150 for the WorkCentre 7525 to $1.28 X 2,000 = $2,560 for the Phaser 7500.  Of course this is a “worst case” scenario…  but the $4,000 difference is costs can often times be quickly recovered with the right supplies and service plan.

If you are looking for a color laser printer or a color copier in Denver, please give us a call right away!

Defining Needs Helps Get the Right Denver Copier!

If you are in Denver and looking for a copier rental, just be aware there are some key factors you should know about as you search for a used copier.

Many companies looking for a short term copier rental would do just as well buying a copier for their limited use.  For example, if a customer wants to have a 30 page per minute copier, a Lexmark X264 can be purchased for under $400 and would work well for up to 3,000 pages a month.  Why spend a ton for a rental when you could have a copier to use for the next office opening or that is available if the project happens to last a little longer?

There are situations where a larger copier is needed, especially when more advanced features such as stapling, copying or tabloid capability.

Give us a call and we’ll help you determine if a copier rental or a copier sale makes more sense in your scenario!

Don't Get Exposed by a Copier Company

If you are in the copier purchasing process, it is a challenge knowing which Denver copier company to choose.  We are Pahoda Image Products, and obviously we hope you will choose us, but we are not for everyone.  Like any business we all have our specialties and it is important to have a great fit.  In this article I wanted to go over when you may want to choose Pahoda Image Products, when Lewan would be a good fit and when you may want to consider All Copy.

Independence –

Pahoda and All Copy will be a good fit for you if this is a concern.  Both are independently owned here in Denver.

Manufacturer Backing –

Lewan is the strongest here since they are owned by Xerox.  Pahoda and All Copy are in dealer programs and can take care of you, but they are not owned by a manufacturer.  Having this ownership does give Lewan a few advantages.

Cost –

All three can be competitive.  It will depend mainly on the rep and how you work with them.  Feel free to Email if you are worried about costs and we can send you a free guide on how not to get ripped off when buying a copier called the Copier Vampire.

Local Technicians –

Pahoda would be the worst of the 3 here as all of our technicians are Xerox technicians, which Lewan also has access to, but Lewan also has their own technicians.  So, I hate to admit it, but Lewan and All Copy are stronger in the maintenance of copiers than we are.  We do have next business day guaranteed response, but if you had to have someone there in an hour, Lewan and All Copy could send someone.  We’d have to offer a loaner.  Obviously, we work hard to ensure you are always up, but our goal is always to be fair and honest with our assessments.

Other Services -

Lewan offers a lot of the Xerox business process offerings and All Copy dabbles in managed networking as well.

Desire for Your Business –

I cannot speak to the level of desire Lewan and All Copy may have to earn your business, after all, I am not an employee of theirs.  I hope that you give us an opportunity to quote your next printer or copier here in Denver and we can show you that we’d love a chance to earn your business.  Lewan and All Copy in general are pretty reputable companies (I wish I could say awful things about them!), but we do hope that we would be a superior copier company for your company’s needs!

Don't Get Exposed with Extra Copier Costs

A copier involves a variety of charges and costs to be kept in mind. Typically, Denver copier services offer a “click charge”, which is basically the general cost calculated per single side printed page. However, there are many costs that should be considered that might or might not be included in the “click charge”, depending on the company you are dealing with. It is worth investigating many of these costs individually to ensure you know what your Denver copier is costing you per click:

1) Labor costs – in terms of installing, maintaining, and using the machine
2) Equipment costs – purchase of initial and replacement equipment
3) Accessory costs – purchase of additional components, including additional RAM, networking cards, and networking equipment
4) Consumable costs – ink/toner, paper, and special paper (eg. transparencies)
5) Simplex or duplex costs – duplex prints incur additional costs (printing on both sides of the paper)
6) Color Copy Costs – the addition of color, increase costs

Knowing the variety of factors that influence the initial and ongoing cost of running your copier is essential to keeping your expenses consistent and manageable. There are service plans that can include all these cost centers, but it is good for your Denver company to understand where copier costs are coming from!

Our company can get you a new copier in about 2 weeks on average, but it if it is critical, we can often find you a loaner copier until the new copier arrives.  We have color copiers and used copiers for sale in Denver and the surrounding areas like Lakewood, Arvada, Centennial, Golden, Boulder, and Louisville.

Give us a call for a free copier quote today!