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QUALITY
COPY COMPANY VS. THE "MEGA" STORES
Customers often ask about the less expensive copiers
available through the mail or from an office superstore. These
machines, meant for home or very small office use, are inexpensive
to purchase but expensive to maintain. The toner and drum cartridges
can run anywhere from $120.00 to $200.00, and only produce a few
thousand images. Supplies for a low-end commercial copier will
cost about two-thirds as much and last one third longer.
Compare
copier prices
To illustrate, let’s compare a Sharp AL-1642CS
(about $500) and the low-end commercial model Kyocera Mita FS-1016
(about $700). Both have similar features and, for our purposes,
it is a fairly good comparison. The toner cartridge for the Sharp
personal copier sells for approximately $140.00 and produces 6,000
copies. The Kyocera Mita toner sells for $95.00 and produces 9,000
copies.
Now let’s look at the other supply item,
the Drum. The Sharp Drum needs replacement every 18,000 copies,
at a cost of $140.00. The Kyocera Mita Drum needs replacement
every 100,000 copies (!), at a cost of $295.00.
The combined Toner/Drum cost savings per year
would be $80.00; multiply that by the number of years of anticipated
use, and you can see that the savings add up fairly quickly.
| Item |
Kyocera
Mita FS-1016 |
Sharp
AL-1642CS |
| Unit
Price |
$700.00 |
$500.00 |
|
Toner
(Cost Per Cartridge) |
$95.00 |
$125.00 |
| Drum
(Cost Per Cartridge) |
$295.00 |
$140.00 |
|
Copies
Per Toner Cartridge |
9,000 |
6,000 |
| Copies
Per Drum Cartridge |
100,000 |
18,000 |
|
Cost
Per Copy |
.0134
cents |
.02825
cents |
| Cost
Per 6,000 copies
(Cost Per Copy x 6,000) |
$80.40 |
$169.50 |
|
Total
Cost Over 5 Years
(Toner
+ Unit Price)
|
$402.00 |
$847.50 |
Total
Savings
when
buying the Kyocera Mita FS-1016 vs. Sharp AL-1642CS |
$445.50
over 5 years |
Even after deducting the difference in price of
the two machines ($200.00), you would still save $245.00, or $49.00
per year. As you can see, the additional initial investment will
pay for itself over time, and actually SAVE you money. (By the
way, the same holds true for fax machines.)
Compare
fax prices
The cost per image of a large fax machine can
be as much as one-third less than that of a small film ribbon
or inkjet machine. You will pay more for a large fax machine,
but the difference in price will be recovered over time in supply-cost
savings.
For example, a small film ribbon cartridge may
cost $30.00 and yield about 500 images, for a cost-per-image of
6 cents (.06) each. On a larger fax machine, the toner cartridge
may cost $100.00 and yield about 5,000 images, for a cost-per-image
of 2 cents (.02) each. That is a 200% difference!
More impressive features of the high-end units
are the scan and transmission speeds: 1 second per page scanning
and 2 seconds per page transmission. A small unit will scan each
page in about 4 to 6 seconds, and take approximately 10 seconds
per page to transmit. In a busy office, a faster fax machine will
save a great amount of time. One large fax machine can easily
do the job of two smaller, slower ones, while saving 200% in supply
costs.
The heavy-duty fax machines we offer will provide
your office with years of reliable service. The larger units may
cost more than the smaller machines, but the cost per image is
significantly lower ~ and you don't have to worry about durability.
Today's business class faxes all utilize the fast 33.6 kbps modem,
and all have at least 8 MB of memory. This increased memory allows
you to send 70 to 80 pages at one time, and receive 70 to 80 pages
in memory, even if the paper supply runs out. Even though modern
copiers offer a fax option, ma ny customers are more comfortable
with a separate, stand-alone fax machine, especially in a busy
office environment. |
