The cost-copy rental allows you to have a support service available to have consumables in the form of a supply
Companies have the main objective of maximizing profits and this is achieved also and above all by reducing costs. Among the relevant items of expenses to be faced, there are those relating to the purchase and management of multifunction printers.
Several realities consider the possibility of proceeding with the rental of multifunction printers, thus avoiding investing a significant amount for their purchase. Then there are other situations that could prove advantageous such as the rental of a printer in cost-copy mode.
It must be said that the best approach does not exist but only the most suitable one with respect to the characteristics of the office and of the company in general. Let’s see what are the elements you need to evaluate in order to better decide whether to focus on the classic rental of printers, on the one in cost-copy mode or whether to think about buying the devices.
Features and benefits of printer rental
Printer operating lease is a way of providing a multifunction printer to be used for a specific period of time in exchange for paying a monthly fee. Usually, the service also includes installation of the printer and staff training on its correct use to avoid problems of various kinds.
It might appear as a not very useful solution but in reality there is to consider not only the advantage of avoiding the purchase of the printer with the relative financial outlay, but also the fact that multifunction printers in a short time find themselves dealing with structural and operational obsolescence. Technical innovation goes fast and there are new applications and software that allow you to carry out increasingly sophisticated and useful operations for the company’s business. Constantly buying new printers is certainly a heavy cost to manage. On the other hand, with rental you always have state-of-the-art products and there is a fixed cost over time.
Rent or purchase: the 5 key points
There are indisputable advantages in choosing the rental of multifunction printers. First of all, constant technical support is available for product maintenance and updating. Furthermore, the comparison between the fixed costs that a company must pay monthly for the rental of the devices and the economic outlay necessary for the purchase must be considered. Below are the 5 main factors to evaluate in order to choose the best formula for your needs.
The number of printers
The higher the number of multifunction printers you need for your company, the more convenient it is to choose the rental formula. In this evaluation you must also take into account the number of prints made daily on average. Basically you have to understand the amount of expense you can amortize and if this amount remains constant over time. In general, if you have an office with many employees there is obviously a need to have 7/8 printers, so you should consider renting to have multifunctional devices that allow you to scan documents but also to have maximum sharing between all employees to improve workflows.
The maintenance
Printers are reliable devices but the fact remains that over time they can present problems that require maintenance. If you proceed with the purchase, you will have to pay the maintenance separately, while usually with the rental it is already included in the monthly fee. However, the advice we can give you is to agree on the number of maintenance operations planned over a period of time in order to avoid extra costs should there be persistent problems.
Performance
A further point in favor of the multifunction printer rental service concerns performance. By agreeing on the fee for maintenance interventions, you are sure of having reliable and efficient printers practically always. Evidently this does not happen if the printers are your property because you will have to take care of the maintenance yourself and wait for the timing of a technician. This entails potential waste of time and money for your business, which must be taken into account when evaluating expenses.
The depreciation constraint
Getting into more economic matters, when you proceed with the purchase of a printer, you are developing an amortization plan for which you will have to keep it for a certain period of time to dispose of the expenses. This puts you in difficulty because you are unable to update the hardware you have in your office and it could be a problem in managing the innovative services requested by your client.
Replacement with more innovative model
The interesting aspect of renting a printer is that at the end of the agreed period you can easily replace it with a more technologically advanced model that offers you more services.
The comparison between renting and buying
It is difficult to choose a priori between the rental service or the purchase of a printer. According to the above, the choice of renting should be indisputable but in reality you have to evaluate your specific situation and the points in favor of buying. In fact, in the latter case you incur a one-off cost and you do not have any kind of bond relating to a long-term contract or you are not subject to an additional cost in the event of withdrawal. However, consider that the purchase of the printer must be depreciated as a company asset, while with the rental the fee is deductible. As for the management of the printer in case of purchase, you will have to take care of the supply of consumables, the disposal procedure and maintenance whenever there is a need. Instead with the rental all these services are already included in the fee.
Costs
It’s okay to consider the peculiarities of the rental and the strengths of the purchase but you also need to keep costs under control. The final decision is often taken precisely on the basis of this aspect which is fundamental for any company. If you have a large office, you need more performing printers and the purchase cost exceeds 2,000 euros, while the monthly fee is around 40 euros.
In this situation, it is better to opt for a rental which is usually fixed for a duration of 5 years. If your office is medium-sized, a multifunction printer with costs starting at 800 euros could be fine, while the rental fee is around 16 euros per month. Finally, in the case of a small office or a freelancer, you can easily buy the printer at a price of 200 euros and renting it makes practically no sense also because you are free from contractual obligations.
The cost-copy rental
If you are looking for something different, you might also consider the cost-of-copy formula. It is an additional service to the operational rental through which you take care of all the management aspects of your business and the use of the printer. The amount of the service is quantified according to the number of prints you expect to make in a given period of time. You basically pay a certain amount for each copy printed. The service always includes installation, configuration, technical support for assistance and maintenance with the supply of consumables. You could agree on a maximum number of monthly copies within which you pay a certain amount. You have to evaluate whether you want to limit yourself to black and white prints or you need to also include color prints which obviously have a higher cost. Although you are the owner of your business, it will be difficult for you to quantify the number of copies you usually make in a month, but you can easily remedy this problem by relying on the experience of the interlocutor who offers you the service.
Establishing the number of copies: how to do it
An essential aspect to make the most of the potential of cost-copy rental is to be able to establish the number of copies that are made in the space of a month. Fortunately, technology can help you in this case as well, making the most of the so-called MPS system. It’s an application that literally counts the copies you make in a period. You can customize it as you see fit, also to take into account the copies made for certain jobs and for any other category of your interest.
The advantages of cost-of-copy rental
The cost-copy rental allows you to have a support service available to have consumables in the form of a supply. You can activate this opportunity both in the case of renting the printer and if you have purchased it and therefore you will not have to deal with buying toner, paper and so on every month but everything will be available automatically. You pay a monthly fee and the supply will be correctly sized in relation to the copies usually made during the month.