New Ricoh 4410SPF "brainshark" review

One of the slides shows a Dell that is obviously the same Lexmark box only the cost per page is lower.

yest but $27 drum???

The math is there so it must be right.
Toner - $299 with an 18K Yield = $0.0166
Drum - $27 with a 30K yield = $0.0009
Total CPP - $0.0175

If the drum info is incorrect then the total CPP info would have to be wrong as well.

I haven't looked at it yet, but through the Lexmark BSD program, the street CPP is $.020-$.023. This is a great little unit that is capable of running 10k/month. The only drawback is the somewhat high CPP, but it's in line with the comparable Ricoh OEM model that is slow and lacks a touch screen.

quote:

Originally posted by Old Glory:
The math is there so it must be right.
Toner - $299 with an 18K Yield = $0.0166
Drum - $27 with a 30K yield = $0.0009
Total CPP - $0.0175

If the drum info is incorrect then the total CPP info would have to be wrong as well.

WoW! I'm thinking this is a mistake, and the drum should have been $127, maybe someone can check the dealer supply price schedule on this!

quote:

Originally posted by txeagle24:
I haven't looked at it yet, but through the Lexmark BSD program, the street CPP is $.020-$.023. This is a great little unit that is capable of running 10k/month. The only drawback is the somewhat high CPP, but it's in line with the comparable Ricoh OEM model that is slow and lacks a touch screen.

What is the cost for the Lexmark drum?

MSRP is $30. The yield on the toner cartridge is actually closer to 14,000.

I've actually played with some of these lexmark machines and they are extremely user friendly compared with Ricoh or Kyocera tabletop machines.

Do you have personal experience with this enough to say that the toner yield is 14K rather than 18K?

Yes. When Lexmark reduced pricing on their cartridges last year, they reduced the published yield from 18k to 14k. Upon further analysis, we realized this was very close to the yield we were seeing on the 100+ machines we had in the field. Machines under contract at $.0200 were running at 25-30% margin.

What volume is the 2 cents based on?

Has anyone thought qbout using these as replacments for the backordered MP201SPF?

Also with the new SP4410SPF, think you'll ever sell another MP201spf?


Art

Just did a quote for the 4410, customer can't wait for the 920

I'm gonna have to do the same, how are the margins??

What margin??? I think the spread between dealer cost and MSRP is about $400.

For me to be comfortable giving the customer the level of support I give them on an MFP after the sale I would need to walk away with at least $350 in my commission check on the deal. That means I would need to charge at least $2,100 for the sale and installation of this product. That's why I don't pay much attention to small machines. Just can't make enough on them. I wind up giving more support after the sale on these small machines are worth. I quote high and it is what it is on tabletops.

quote:

Originally posted by Kitz:
What volume is the 2 cents based on?

We go with a straight CPP for these systems versus varying the CPP by volume band, but I typically see 1,500-5,000 per month on them.

quote:

Originally posted by fisher:
What margin??? I think the spread between dealer cost and MSRP is about $400.

For me to be comfortable giving the customer the level of support I give them on an MFP after the sale I would need to walk away with at least $350 in my commission check on the deal. That means I would need to charge at least $2,100 for the sale and installation of this product. That's why I don't pay much attention to small machines. Just can't make enough on them. I wind up giving more support after the sale on these small machines are worth. I quote high and it is what it is on tabletops.

These require significantly less service/support than the Ricoh table-top machines. The opportunity to make money on these is by selling them to replace printers as part of an MPS engagement & making your money on the aftermarket. Also, if you're replacing an MP2000 machine, and the customer doesn't need 11 x 17, they would be thrilled with this machine, and you could make solid margin because of the price spread between the MP2000 and this unit. I'll be curious to see how the Ricoh Aficio League points pay out on these. Lexmark pays $50 per unit.

Obviously competition in areas varies and often dictates what we can or can't charge. However, I think the day is rapidly approaching where there won't be enough opportunities at decent commission to make a living there. My level of support is often times predicated on the size (and therefore profit) of the deal. I say deal because if a deal has the potential of a dozen SP 4410's, it may be worth top level support. When I started 30+ years ago, 100% of the copiers sold were sold by people like me and paid a decent commission to somebody. I don't know what the percentage would be now but it is less, significantly less...maybe 50%. Whatever that number is, it continues to dwindell and may reach a point someday where only production level units require our expertise.

quote:

Originally posted by Old Glory:

Whatever that number is, it continues to dwindell and may reach a point someday where only production level units require our expertise.

I feel that we are already there as far as table top units go. Sement 2 or above is the only way left to make money. Just finished doing commissions and am feeling a little depressed. Its to the point where I can't even make a decent commission on a 25ppm A3 Color machine.