How Much Does It Cost To Rent A Photocopier?

If you’re in the market to purchase or rent a  photocopier or multifunction printer for your business, few factors that determine the cost to lease a photocopier are: Usage, Features, Service, New or Refurbished equipment. Should You Lease a Photocopier or got for managed print services in Sydney.

How Much Does It Cost To Rent A Copier?

If you're in the market to purchase a photocopier or multifunction printer for your business, you will quickly learn there is a huge range of brands and equipment features to choose from. After looking around it can be quite overwhelming to know what is the best way forward especially when it comes to the questions around price.

After Googling ‘how much does a photocopier cost?’, ‘how much does it cost to rent a copier’ or ‘should I buy or rent a photocopier’, you’re probably starting to get frustrated by the lack of pricing or wide range of estimates. This is because the cost of a copier is going to be very specific to your business, usage, needs and budget.

In this article we are going to break down what factors make up the cost a multifunction photocopier, should you buy or lease it and what are the benefits of each.

What Affects the Price When Buying or Renting a Copier

When you buy or lease a photocopier, you want something that is going to make the workplace more efficient yet not break the budget. The cost of a copier consists of five different parts: usage, speed, features, service/maintenance, and whether new or refurbished.

Usage:

The number of b&w and colour pages your businesses prints each month is the greatest contributor to the cost. Whether you purchase or rent a machine, you will have a cost per page for each b&w and colour page printed / copied for service, parts and toner or ink. The more you print and copy the more consumables are used and the greater the cost.

Other usage factors that can also affect the cost are:

• Ratio of b&w to colour printing – typically colour printing costs 10x more than a b&w page.
• Page coverage – printing something like photos covers the page more, meaning you are using more ink/toner and are therefore requiring cartridges more frequently.

Features:

Some common features you will need to decide on that can increase the cost are:

• Print speed – the faster the print engine the more expensive the photocopier / printer
• Scanning – A document feeder which scans both sides of a document in one pass is much faster and more efficient to document feeders which scan one side and flip the page in the machine to scan the other.
• Networking – Most machines have a basic function to scan to email, however if you are wanting to scan to cloud services or further enhance your scanning with document routing and management this will be tailored to your needs and have additional cost.

Service:

Servicing and maintenance of the photocopier is of huge importance because it minimizes the downtime of the photocopier. The two main types of servicing plans are corrective only, and combined preventative and corrective plans.

Copiers serviced regularly under a preventative service schedule may have a slightly higher service cost, however in the long run they are far cheaper because they result in 80% less breakdowns and ensures excellent print quality throughout their effective life

New or Refurbished equipment:

Not everyone needs the newest copier on the market. If your usage is fairly low, a refurbished device can often be a much more cost-effective option. However, be sure to check that the vendor has the full-service history of the machine and that they are an authorised service provider of that brand.

Should You Buy a Copier?

The main benefit to purchasing your multifunction copier is that you are not paying any interest to a third-party renting the photocopier to you.

When purchasing a photocopier be sure to still put the device under a maintenance plan. This ensures the machine is covered by a warranty and the supplier will take care of any breakdowns. Not putting the copier under a maintenance plan is highly risky.

Replacement parts are very expensive as are call out service fees. And without preventative maintenance the print quality will deteriorate and the machine will need to be replaced before the end of its effective life.

There are however, two major drawbacks to purchasing a photocopier outright:

Upfront Capital Cost –Purchasing a copier has a large upfront cost to the business. It is often of more benefit to invest this capital into the business in way that it is going to generate more revenue. For example, the capital could fund a marketing campaign, or sales training, that goes on to earn the business much more than the cost interest to rent the machine.

Progressing Technology – technology is moving at an exponential rate, this is also the case for the print industry. Newer copiers have improved features such as OCR scanning, security and integration with cloud services to name a few.

Newer copiers and printers are more reliable their consumables are more efficient making them cheaper to run. Businesses who purchase their multifunction photocopier / printer outright are more likely to hold it much longer than if rented, thereby missing out on the latest technology and lower running costs.

Should You Lease a Photocopier?

Renting or leasing a copier is much more budget-friendly and allows you to make smaller payments spread out over time. This is really helpful if you have a steady cash flow, but not enough money budgeted to justify the upfront cost of buying a copier.

These plans also give you access to high end machines that would otherwise be out of budget as an upfront cost to the business. If you require the latest technology or a top-of-the-line multifunction copier for your business, managed print service plans may put those options within your budget, and allow you to upgrade when you need to.

These plans are also all inclusive of consumable tracking and delivery, servicing and maintenance, taking the management of printing off your hands and giving more time back to your staff.

Axia offer a range of managed print service plans which each have specific benefits tailored to your business. You can learn more about those plans here.

Axia Office — Managed print service in Sydney, Australia

Are you ready to say goodbye to printing headaches? Axia Office offers affordable solutions to businesses in the Sydney metropolitan area, providing high-quality printers from the top names in the industry, and quick, reliable service when you need it. Contact us to learn more about what we can do for you and your business.