was the subject about a machine last month. An Ohio printer wrote. "In late 1999, I installed a Canon iR 600. At the time, we were quoted .009 for service and supplies, which was competitive with many other quotes reported at the time.
At the end of the year, to my horror, my dealer increased my service pricing to .0099 per copy. now, they're indicating that they will be increasing it agin next month by 10%. This will take my cost to .0109. If this keeps up, by thend of my five year lease, my service and supply pricing will be over .013 per copy. This is outrageous when I see new buyers being quoted .006 per copy. This puts me at a tremendous disadvantage. Is there anything I can do?
Comments: As mentioned many times the cost for service and supplies continues to decline. When digital copiers first came out, no one expected the cost to operate these machines to be as low as it is today.
Most vendors started out at .01 per copy, or somewhat higher, as a reasonable cost. Then, as these models began to perform in the field, the dealers realized that service requirements were much less than expected.
With competition for placements very intense, dealers lowered their price for service and supplies in order to get more business. This was great for new buyers, but bad for anyone who had already purchased a copier with no restrictions on price increases.
The best solution is to negotiate the level of service costs over the life of the contract. While this generally carries a slightly higher cost in year one, itis more than made up for by a lower cost in future years. With a good cost today of .006 per copy for service and supplies ( and no restrictions on cost increases), it is not uncommon to see quotes of .0065 or so with the price frozen for three years. If you can get a price freeze on service costs and only pay a slight premium, I would recommend doing this.
Another possible scenario is tho search out another dealer in your area who would like to have your service business. Assuming you are able to change service providers, this can create the competition necesssary to get you a good price from either the new dealer or your existing provider.
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