If you're sick of having to call a repairman down to your office for every little paper jam, there's something you can do about it. While proper maintenance makes a major difference in the amount of repair calls needed for a copier, you can't put the cart before the horse. Meaning, choosing a low maintenance copier in the first place can save you a serious headache by reducing overall copier repair needs.
Cut down on maintenance by hand-picking the right copier for your office
Here are 3 guidelines to consider when selecting a long-lasting copier for your office:
- Look for features that match your business. This step alone can reduce an unnecessary workload on a copier that could result in future maintenance issues. For example, a digital color copier may not be necessary if your business primarily prints in black and white. However, if your company prints detailed graphics regularly, you'll need to splurge on a high-end color copier with better volume and speed ratings to live up to the task.
- Always consider capacity. The only way to go into a copier purchase with both eyes open is to focus on capacity, or the average amount of copies you make in a month. You may be familiar with your copier capacity if you already own or lease a machine, or you can count your copy volume over a set period of time to determine monthly capacity. Buying below capacity to save money will shortchange you in the long run since it will result in even more maintenance issues.
- Don't forget about speed. Yes, speed is different from capacity when it comes to copier ratings. Copier speed is measured in CPM, copies per minute, or PPM, pages per minute. A low-speed copier won't be able to perform high-speed jobs, plain and simple. You can easily run a cheap, low-speed copier into the ground if it is overused day in and day out.
If you take careful consideration in choosing the right features, capacity, and speed in a copier, you can use the machine as intended to cut down on preventable maintenance issues. Most copier repair requests can be avoided altogether by adjusting expectations and using a machine correctly.
How to find a low maintenance copier
Now that you know what to look for, you can seek out highly rated copiers with low maintenance needs, confirmed by users. This is the perfect time to scour customer reviews and ratings and read the fine print to determine how a copier will hold up in your specific business environment.
As you delve into copier reviews, consider more than the 5 star rating to shed light on potential copier maintenance issues - think of the bigger picture. A machine that is highly rated for small business use won't stand up in a large business environment, and vice versa. Compare copier ratings based on the features, speed, and volume your business requires to locate a high performing photocopier with low maintenance needs.