I love getting emails, in fact I never opt out from anyone. I'll do a quick glance, see if anything is interesting, if so, I'm gonna click an if not, I'm gonna move on. People get so upset about receiving emails, geesh get a grip!
Case in point, I received a BTA update and one of the headlines read "Stolen Konica Minolta MFPs". Yes, I clicked through and I'll betcha a lot of others did also. Seems a container (64) KonicaMinolta Bizhubs 601's were hijacked back in 2012.
Seems that some of these systems have been found in the marketplace. Hmmm, wonder if they were hijacked out of Jersey?
But, the story of the swiped copiers brings back memories from my early days in the copier industry. Back in the eighties, we were not authorized for any brand of copiers. When we first started the dealership, we would truck on up to Scotch Plains, NJ and buy Minolta copiers from an Authorized Dealership. Back then the term "skating machines", meant that a non authorized dealer was buying from an Authorized Dealer and that was a BiG NO NO!
The dealer that we bought the copiers from stripped the serial number from the outside plastic cover and then ground away the serial number that was located on the inside of the copier. Thus, the "skated" copier could never be tracked back to the dealer. We were also informed that we could never ever ask for manufacturers support, the dealer we bought the systems from would help out, but would never escalate a severe issue to the manufacturer.
All of this makes me wonder how these systems were found. Did someone forget to rid the system of the serial numbers? Did someone not think that someday some other dealer or direct branch may be called to service the system? Maybe they just plain forgot about the serial number that's in the software of the system?
I also wonder if the thieves actually knew they had stolen a container of copy machines. Can you imagine when they opened the container and found out they had copy machines? Oh to be a fly on the wall.
I'm sure the culprits will be caught, hoping to hear more about this in the near future. Here's the link for the BTA story
-=Good Selling=-
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