How money is made in copier biz?

[Copier Mechanic]

I am a copier tech and I never understood how business made money off customers who mainly lease our equipment and only pay a small monthly contract fee of like for example, $130 per months including Labor, Toner and parts. The other small fee would be for copies/prints which we charge $.018 per page!!

90% of our customers lease our machines so how the heck do our bosses make money and is able to afford us technicians and other overhead/business operating expenses??

[tsbservice]

Re: How money is made in copier biz?

It's a matter of numbers. Outcome should be positive or by-by job. In fact it's working quite good unless someone isn't too low on pricing.

[BillyCarpenter]

Re: How money is made in copier biz?

Money is made in the copier business the same way it's made in any other business. First, you need to know your cost. Second, you need to charge enough to make a profit. There's plenty of profit in the copier business. One mistake I see from smaller copier businesses is that they panic when competing with the competition and they drop their price too low thus the margins aren't enough to sustain the business long term.

[copiertec]

Re: How money is made in copier biz?

Dealers do not pay msrp for their products, but dealers can lease equipment at msrp or higher. DICKS Imaging is a prime example, I have seen clients pay 2 to 3 times msrp on a copier in a 63 month lease and still have to pay a huge buyout to purchase or send back equipment. Also, the client needs to call the leasing company to let them know they want out of the lease because if they don't the machine will be charged indefinitely unless the sales person keeps up to date with it. Clients just look at monthly payments, I often ask why they are leasing a copier for 3 months longer than 5 years, 63 months, instead of a 60 months or 36 instead of a 39 for a three year lease. Now factor in all the hidden charges, $10-$12 month toner delivery fee (even though toner is not being delivered every month), monitoring fees, etc. Remote service is not free with your lease or contract so for 10 mins of time remotely you can bank some money as well... there is money to be made. Kyocera used to have a three year warranty on their pm items on new machines so if you were to lease that copier for three years, most of the time you just paid for toner if you were lucky, I'm not sure if it's three years anymore, but boy you sure needed it because a lot of the PM items never made it to PM.

[Copier Mechanic]

Re: How money is made in copier biz?

Dealers do not pay msrp for their products, but dealers can lease equipment at msrp or higher. DICKS Imaging is a prime example, I have seen clients pay 2 to 3 times msrp on a copier in a 63 month lease and still have to pay a huge buyout to purchase or send back equipment. Also, the client needs to call the leasing company to let them know they want out of the lease because if they don't the machine will be charged indefinitely unless the sales person keeps up to date with it. Clients just look at monthly payments, I often ask why they are leasing a copier for 3 months longer than 5 years, 63 months, instead of a 60 months or 36 instead of a 39 for a three year lease. Now factor in all the hidden charges, $10-$12 month toner delivery fee (even though toner is not being delivered every month), monitoring fees, etc. Remote service is not free with your lease or contract so for 10 mins of time remotely you can bank some money as well... there is money to be made. Kyocera used to have a three year warranty on their pm items on new machines so if you were to lease that copier for three years, most of the time you just paid for toner if you were lucky, I'm not sure if it's three years anymore, but boy you sure needed it because a lot of the PM items never made it to PM.

Interesting information. So if we are slow at work ans we only do 1 or 2 calls a day and sit down the rest of the day, is my boss losing money on paying us for not doing much at work?

Shouldn't the company still be making money from monthly contracts they have out in the field? The reason I asked this question is because my boss cut my hours due to being too slow at work. He doesn't like to pay us doing nothing. And yet, they still save money on gas and parts since we aren't driving or installing parts right????

[bsm2]

Re: How money is made in copier biz?

Sales AKA leasing and service contract IT work color printing and billable customers with overage charges


Also really really smart companies take advantage of warranty returns AKA hidden money as companies pay for the part as a business expensive but not sure it they claim the warranty returns in the books one of my old companies NEVER NEVER EVER showed the warranty claims in the P&L monthly reports only the parts usage

[copiertec]

Re: How money is made in copier biz?

Interesting information. So if we are slow at work ans we only do 1 or 2 calls a day and sit down the rest of the day, is my boss losing money on paying us for not doing much at work?

Shouldn't the company still be making money from monthly contracts they have out in the field? The reason I asked this question is because my boss cut my hours due to being too slow at work. He doesn't like to pay us doing nothing. And yet, they still save money on gas and parts since we aren't driving or installing parts right????

Interesting, there is always something to do, training, are you a dealer? Techs can always do their online training and gain certifications. Does your company pay for your network training and certs (CompTIA, etc.)? It a perfect time for that when your slow and have the time to focus. I do not know what brands you service but there is always rebuilds at slow times, fusers, drive units, drum units, used machines that can be updated for a sale, etc. And, there is always the old stock in the warehouse or cars that need to be cleaned out and updated. When things were slow I always had techs run flyers with copier specials to businesses that were next to their calls just let them know who we are and what we did and how we will do it better. Any new client a technician brings in they get 10% of the sale in cash, tech are always the best sales person once trained properly. Summer is usually slow for most companies, it's just the cycle, at least that's the way it's always been in our neck of the woods.

[Copier Mechanic]

Re: How money is made in copier biz?

Interesting, there is always something to do, training, are you a dealer? Techs can always do their online training and gain certifications. Does your company pay for your network training and certs (CompTIA, etc.)? It a perfect time for that when your slow and have the time to focus. I do not know what brands you service but there is always rebuilds at slow times, fusers, drive units, drum units, used machines that can be updated for a sale, etc. And, there is always the old stock in the warehouse or cars that need to be cleaned out and updated. When things were slow I always had techs run flyers with copier specials to businesses that were next to their calls just let them know who we are and what we did and how we will do it better. Any new client a technician brings in they get 10% of the sale in cash, tech are always the best sales person once trained properly. Summer is usually slow for most companies, it's just the cycle, at least that's the way it's always been in our neck of the woods.

We are not an authorized kyocera dealer. We are a mom & pops small business and we sell used and new machines. We literally don't do any refurbishment at all. We rarely clean machines like every 3 months or so. I don't have my Tech ID for online training as we aren't authorized. Today I sat down all day and got one service call for paper jam which only took me 5 minutes to clear out that hidden paper jam ans that was it. My boss is rarely at the office as he works from home 95% of the time. His wife is the one who answers all of the incoming calls and dispatch the service calls to us and also she does all the toners ordering and etc.. I'm starting to feel unsecured about my job.

[bsm2]

Re: How money is made in copier biz?

We are not an authorized kyocera dealer. We are a mom & pops small business and we sell used and new machines. We literally don't do any refurbishment at all. We rarely clean machines like every 3 months or so. I don't have my Tech ID for online training as we aren't authorized. Today I sat down all day and got one service call for paper jam which only took me 5 minutes to clear out that hidden paper jam ans that was it. My boss is rarely at the office as he works from home 95% of the time. His wife is the one who answers all of the incoming calls and dispatch the service calls to us and also she does all the toners ordering and etc.. I'm starting to feel unsecured about my job.

enjoy the slow times do you also do the IT work on installs connect etc..?

[Copier Mechanic]

Re: How money is made in copier biz?

enjoy the slow times do you also do the IT work on installs connect etc..?

We set up scan to email at the shop and once we deliver it at customer, we set up scan to folder via SMB if customer requests it. And of course we also do print driver installs. Whenever we have issues with scan to folder, we can make changes in the firewall settings. That's about it.

[copiertec]

Re: How money is made in copier biz?

We are not an authorized kyocera dealer. We are a mom & pops small business and we sell used and new machines. We literally don't do any refurbishment at all. We rarely clean machines like every 3 months or so. I don't have my Tech ID for online training as we aren't authorized. Today I sat down all day and got one service call for paper jam which only took me 5 minutes to clear out that hidden paper jam ans that was it. My boss is rarely at the office as he works from home 95% of the time. His wife is the one who answers all of the incoming calls and dispatch the service calls to us and also she does all the toners ordering and etc.. I'm starting to feel unsecured about my job.

It sounds like the company you work for is a sinking ship, the owner should be more involved than anyone in that company. I see plenty of places here to get your CompTIA certifications...get them, because you will need them for your next employer hopefully sooner then later, you owe the owner NOTHING, don't let him waste your time anymore. Always look for the top tech, salesperson, manager at whatever company you get employed by and learn from them, that's how you become the best, but never overshadow them with ego it's a waste of your time as well as theirs.
I worked for a company like the one you are currently employed by briefly in my career years back...do yourself a favor and move on...fast.

[Copier Mechanic]

Re: How money is made in copier biz?

It sounds like the company you work for is a sinking ship, the owner should be more involved than anyone in that company. I see plenty of places here to get your CompTIA certifications...get them, because you will need them for your next employer hopefully sooner then later, you owe the owner NOTHING, don't let him waste your time anymore. Always look for the top tech, salesperson, manager at whatever company you get employed by and learn from them, that's how you become the best, but never overshadow them with ego it's a waste of your time as well as theirs.
I worked for a company like the one you are currently employed by briefly in my career years back...do yourself a favor and move on...fast.

Thanks for hearing me out and giving me an advice. I think I will look for another job soon.

[allan]

Re: How money is made in copier biz?

Thanks for hearing me out and giving me an advice. I think I will look for another job soon.

Do an exercise were you use a spreadsheet. Take an easy machine and list all the maintenance parts costs, consumables and yields then work out what a page will cost.
Than will give you an idea of the machines running cost. I believe all techs should know part value and what it mean to run under or over yield. What hurts the most is if you are running higher than 5% coverage, 20% costs you 4 x more on consumables.

$0.18c is that for B/W?

[allan]

Re: How money is made in copier biz?

Thanks for hearing me out and giving me an advice. I think I will look for another job soon.

There is money in selling these machines. I wish I had more time in the office and less in the field. I only market online and do sell some refurbished units with contracts for time to time.

[Copier Mechanic]

Re: How money is made in copier biz?

Do an exercise were you use a spreadsheet. Take an easy machine and list all the maintenance parts costs, consumables and yields then work out what a page will cost.
Than will give you an idea of the machines running cost. I believe all techs should know part value and what it mean to run under or over yield. What hurts the most is if you are running higher than 5% coverage, 20% costs you 4 x more on consumables.

$0.18c is that for B/W?

$0.018 B/W