As a growing business, the type of equipment you buy can make a world of difference in supporting day-to-day office productivity, while keeping expenses to a minimum. For example, if a small business continues to use a copy machine intended for home use, it could cost them more in the long run than if they had invested in a commercial machine in the first place.
The reason? A home copier isn't designed to support medium to large copy volume output. If a business continues to use a subpar copier that isn't intended for a commercial setting, expenses will rise significantly for routine maintenance, repair needs, additional ink and toner, and much more. Commercial copiers are designed to support robust printing tasks at faster speeds. Any business with a size of 30+ employees that prints volumes of copies from 20,000 to 100,000+ should go for a commercial copier. Verticals such as education, government, retail, legal, SMBs and large enterprises fall into this category.
Commercial Copier Specs
Commercial Copiers #1
| Brand | HP | Epson | Canon | Brother | Lexmark | Xerox | Toshiba |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Model | HP LaserJet Enterprise 700 color MFP M775z | Epson WorkForce Pro WF-8590 Network Multifunction Color Printer | imageRUNNER ADVANCE C5240 | MFC-L9550CDW | Lexmark CS748de Color laser printer | WC7535 | e-STUDIO5560C |
| PPM (Black) | 30 | 34 | 40 | 32 | 35 | 35 | 55 |
| PPM (Color) | 30 | 34 | 35 | 32 | 35 | 35 | 55 |
| Monthly Duty Cycle | 120,000 | 75,000 | 150,000 | 75,000 | 100,000 | 110,000 | 275,000 |
| Price | $7,363 | $7014 | $799 | $2468 | $14,998 | $27,656 |
Commercial Copiers #2
| Brand | HP | Epson | Canon | Brother | Lexmark | Xerox | Toshiba |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Model |
HP Color LaserJet Enterprise flow MFP M880z (A2W75A) |
Epson WorkForce Pro WF-8090 Network Color Printer w/ PCL/Postscript | imageRUNNER ADVANCE C9065S PRO | MFC-L8850CDW | Lexmark XS955DHE Color MFP | WC5890 | e-STUDIO6570C |
| PPM (Black) | 45 | 34 | 65 | 32 | 55 | 75 | |
| PPM (Color) | 45 | 34 | 65 | 32 | 55 | 65 | |
| Monthly Duty Cycle | 200,000 | 75,000 | 300,000 | 60,000 | 30,000 | 400,000 | 275,000 |
| Price | $10,436 | $50,000 | $599 | $43,495 | $36056 |
Benefits of Commercial Copiers
Commercial copiers come with multifunction features such as printing, scanning and faxing. With multiple options incorporated into a single machine, you save office space. Expenses related to maintenance and office supplies are reduced as well. They offer a convenient way to perform a range of office tasks with efficiency and ease. The main benefit is the robust performance of these copiers that provide operational efficiency to your office tasks while optimizing costs.
Recommended commercial copier for an office size of 30+
For an office size of 30+, Xerox WorkCentre WC7500series multifunction copiers are a perfect choice. The Xerox WorkCentre WC7535 is an especially good buy. Whether you want to produce high quality images or quickly print office documents, this machine serves a good purpose. With 1200x2400 dpi, this machine offers excellent image quality. The print speed of 35 ppm for color and black is decent. The important feature of this commercial copier is its monthly duty cycle of 110,000 pages. The maximum paper capacity of 4,180 sheets ensures that employees don’t have to refill trays often. This workhorse comes with regular MFC features. Security is highly prioritized here. Overall, this high-end color copier combines speed and performance to deliver more production value to your business. The price is $15,998.
Buy the right commercial copier for your business size
As with any business purchase, a company can make a sound financial decision by buying the right equipment to support the size and volume of their office. In order to determine which commercial copy machine is the best fit for your company, you should consider the following guidelines before making a purchase:
What is your overall budget?
The funds that you have available will determine the size and quality of the commercial copy machine that you purchase for your office. If your business is strapped for cash, you may do well by purchasing a refurbished commercial machine as opposed to a brand-new model; this will provide you with the advanced features that you need to support a larger copy volume without the higher price tag. Normally, a commercial color printer that delivers 100,000 monthly duty cycle would fall into the range $15,000-$25,000. For instance, Xerox WorkCentre WC7835 offers 110,000 monthly duty cycle and is priced at $16,648. WC7855 produces 300,000 copies per month and is priced at $24,854.
Do you need to buy other office equipment?
Many businesses are pleased to find that today's digital copiers have a number of all-in-one functions to include scanning, printing and faxing capabilities. This is what is known as a multifunction copier, which will allow a business to save money by purchasing a versatile machine instead of several pieces of expensive equipment.
What is your copier volume?
This is a significant question since copier volume dictates the overall cost of a machine. If you have a small copy volume output at less than 2,000 pages per month and purchase a machine with a volume of over 20,000 pages, you won't use the copier to its fullest potential. As a result, you may waste thousands of dollars on a high-powered machine that you can't put to use. To get an estimate of the monthly print volume, it is recommended to review the past 12 months copy history. When you get an approximate print volume for the 12 months, you can derive an average monthly print volume. If you are already using a copier, you can check the counter or built-in meter that tells you how many copies have been delivered. These numbers give you an estimate of your print volume.
Do you need duplexing features?
Duplexing is the capability to print on both sides of a page; if your business never duplexes, eliminating this feature completely could save you several thousand dollars in the purchase price. Conversely, if your company commonly duplexes, purchasing a copier without duplexing capabilities could cost you hundreds of dollars in wasted labor as employees manually feed paper into a machine to copy on both sides.
After you do the groundwork to choose the right commercial copy machine for your company, making the decision to buy can provide countless benefits. For starters, buying is much simpler than leasing with significantly less paperwork to deal with; in addition, a business will also be in control of the maintenance of their equipment to keep routine repair and upkeep costs manageable.