4 Reasons Preowned Wide Format Printers Make Sense
Preowned wide format printers make sense, I want to share a recent buying experience.
The last car I financed was a two year old Chrysler 200 and that was four years ago. The financing term was for five years, thus in 12 months I’ll own my Chrysler 200. Four years ago the 200 had about 19,000 miles on it, today the mileage is somewhere around 80,000. It’s a cool car because it’s a hardtop convertible and it was maxed with all of the options. The end result is that we saved about $14k from buying a new one.
Preowned cars are a dime a dozen, you can go to any lot and have the pick of the litter. However when it comes to wide format printers it’s a horse of a different color because more businesses opt to own their wide format printers after the lease has termed. But every now and then we’ll have the chance to get back a two or three year old wide format printer in trade.
Savings
The number one reason why many of our clients opt for preowned wide format is because of the savings. Considering that many of the new wide format printers have an MSRP of $20K, your savings can be up-to 60%!
Life Cycle of Wide Format Printers
It’s not uncommon especially with the Ricoh brand to have them in the field after 16 years. Today I had chat with a client that’s an Electrical Contractor. They bought their Ricoh 240W in 2004 and because of the age of the printer they are interested in acquiring a newer wide format.
Maintenance with Wide Format Printers
If someone asked me what was the percentage of clients that pay for a maintenance agreement vs break and fix. I would say it’s about 35/70, meaning that 70% don’t pay for a maintenance agreement. The reason they don’t anti up is because wide format printers are extremely reliable. The reason they’re so reliable is because they don’t have as many moving parts as a regular office copier/printer/scanner. It’s makes better sense to pay for service, supplies and parts as needed.
Technology with Wide Format Printers
Not much as changed with wide format printer technology in the last ten years. All wide format printers will scan color, print (black or color available) and have copy features. All wide format printers can only scan one document at a time and that’s because no one has perfected a feeder for originals. In addition not much will change with wide format printers in the next ten years. The only change I see coming is that all wide format printers will print in color in the near future.
Summary
Why pay full price when there are other options especially if the wide format printer is for convenience. Convenience means that you’ll be printing maybe 500-1,500 square feet a month. In addition buying or leasing a preowned wide format can give you 10 years of reliable service with a low cost per square foot.
What many buyers forget about is the acquisition cost of the printer. Let’s say your lease is $380 per month and your print volume is 1,500 square feet. That means your cost per square foot to print before you pay for supplies, parts and labor is 25 cents per square foot.
A preowned wide format that leases for $165 per month and your print volume is 1,500 square feet. Your cost per square foot lowers to 11 cents before you pay for supplies, parts and labor.
If you’re interested in learning more or would like to help with figuring out what is best please email me apost@p4photel.com
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