How is Printer Ownership Like Pool Ownership?
Doc Jams
Every once in a while we get thrown for a little printer loop. This time we were prepared because we had our trusty new printer selection algorithm to help us. The loop in question was that often the needs of a customer do not equate with the dollar amount that a customer is willing or able to spend.
Naturally not everyone considers a new office machine to be an investment. I would counter that if you are looking to replace a machine that has lasted 10 years with little issue than it may be possible to look toward investing in another machine with a similar lifespan. That machine will likely cost half of what your original decade old printer did. However, that machine will cost much more than your grandma’s desktop printer.
Your grandma does not rely on her printer for her business to succeed. Presumably.
My point is that the general perception towards many printers is that they are throwaway castoffs in our toss-what-you-don’t-use society. But with that same perception is that the machine should be flawless until it hits the landfill. That even includes low priced consumables such as toner and ink. Basically this perception wants a cheap printer to last a few years and have cheap ink to go with it. After that 3 year span it can take a nose dive into the trash. During the course of those 3 or so years many people will even try and beat the system by purchasing the cheapest toner or ink they can possibly find.
Adding to the chaos are the people that under buy their machines, than ridicule the manufacturer for selling them such a piece of trash. Guess what, you knew you bought a piece of trash, you simply expected it to do something before you threw it away.
My friend reality and I were talking over tea the other day and we came across this point: stuff isn’t free. Stuff that is free initially or even cheap is typically offered because it costs you to own it. Anybody with a pool will verify that.
With that said I have included our simple algorithm for you to use at your leisure for deciding what you want in a replacement machine:
A: How much do you print per month in pages?
B: How much do you spend on ink/toner per month in dollars?
C: How much time does it cost you to run out of toner/ink in hours?
D: If your printer broke today, would your business lose any productivity? Yes = 5 No = 10
E: How much productivity would be lost in total employee hours?
F: What is your average employee’s hourly salary?
G: If you were offered a printer that lasted longer, was faster and had less expensive consumables than your current office machine, would you be interested? Yes = 2000 No =1000
Take all of your answers and enter them into this equation:
(A x B x C x D x E x F) G
That is generally approximately close to possibly what you should almost spend on a new office printer.
This is not fool proof. It is barely tested. It is simply a tool, much like a printer.
Guest Blog Provided by Doc Jams
Related Posts
