The bottom line is this: there is simply no more expensive or inefficient method of distributing product than stacking it up in a climate controlled big box, brick and mortar store, then paying people to put it out, dust it and guard it while it sits on a shelf, and ultimately waiting and hoping for someone to come in, pick it up and buy it.  The shopping mall and big box outlets are a dying retail anachronism that provide an unsustainable business model in an era when cyber-shopping is beginning to dominate the consumer landscape.

Personally,  I won’t miss the big box resellers….good riddance.

Big Box Mart by Jib Jab

Commercial Grade vs. Consumer Grade

Office machines, including printers, fax machines, copiers and multifunction devices generally break down into two major categories: consumer grade and commercial grade.  A rough guideline is that any piece of equipment selling for less than $750 to $800 is going to be consumer grade equipment.  Many office machine manufacturers offer both commercial and consumer grade products, but some companies concentrate on one market or the other.  So what’s the difference?  In short, quality of components and construction…the consumer market is driven by price and manufacturers do everything they can, including sacrificing product quality, to achieve a certain price point.  Commercial equipment is intended for office type use and is more durable and capable than it’s consumer counterpart.  Another guideline is that if your monthly print volume is 500 pages or more, then you might want to consider buying commercial grade equipment.

Also keep in mind that consumer grade equipment is disposable…meaning that if it fails out of warranty, and you can’t fix it yourself,  you might as well throw it away because the cost of repair will be prohibitive.  Commercial grade equipment has longer warranties, you can normally buy service agreements. If your office equipment is mission critical then don’t even consider consumer grade unless you plan on keeping a back-up unit on site at all times.

Color vs. monochrome (black print only).

In consumer grade equipment, if you don’t absolutely need color output, then don’t get it.  Regardless of the underlying print engine technology (laser or inkjet), color capability will cost you more, both in initial equipment cost and ongoing supply costs.  In fact, depending on your requirements, it might make sense to buy a monochrome laser printer for general office output (invoices, statements, checks, etc.) and an additional small inkjet printer for the occasions when color is necessary.  In high volume commercial grade equipment the cost advantages of monochrome are not as great, but in the lower end it certainly is.

Inkjet vs. Laser.

This comparison can get complicated, but in general laser is almost always better than inkjet technology, the exception being photo printing.  For office use, my recommendation would be to not even consider inkjet because of the dramatic difference in the cost of consumables, but again depending on your particular application that might not apply.  A cheap inkjet printer, using high grade photographic paper will produce a better photo than a much more expensive color laser printer, but on cheap everyday paper the laser will win…go figure.

Multifunction vs. dedicated equipment.

When considering consumer grade equipment, the only place for multifunction is in a low volume home office application.  Multifunction devices do a number of things alright, but they don’t do anything very well, and in an office environment if it fails then you’re in trouble because you can’t print, copy or fax.  Remember that if you’re evaluating multifunction equipment that you’re buying 2,3 or 4 seperate devices that share a common case and components and you have to make sure that it does what you need in each category.  If you’re looking at commercial multifunction, I would suggest that you rely on a professional salesperson to advise you.  Bottom line: consumer grade multifunction devices are fine for home office use, but NOT mission critical office application, unless you have a viable backup plan.

Consumable Pricing

You can’t compare the cost of toner or ink cartridges without knowing the capacity (or estimated page count) and then dividing the cost by the capacity to come up with a “cost per page” figure.  What makes this more difficult is that manufacturers use different and sometimes deceiving estimated capacity figures.  There is a lot of information on the web regarding cost per page comparison.   In general, the lower the initial cost of the equipment, the higher the cost per page…so again, don’t even consider this type equipment for high volume applications.

The fallacy of falling prices.

When HP introduced the LaserJet II in 1987 it sold for about $2700.00.  Today you can buy a laser printer for about $100.00…so prices have really come down, right. Wrong!  To purchase a printer of equivalent quality to the LaserJet II today, you would pay roughly the same amount, but you would get a much faster, more fully featured printer.  What happens over time with new technology is that manufacturers come out with lower and lower priced versions of the original, but the quality drops right along with the price.

Any inkjet printer or multifunction device that sells for under $100.00 will be a piece of junk…I would rather do without a printer than mess with one of those.

Which brand equipment is best?

Below is my opinion only, and remember your opinion is as valid as mine.

Hewlett Packard:  HP equipment is generally pretty good once you get out of the lower end products.  Their game is to knock your head off on consumables.  They also tend to push photo features because they love to see you burn through their high priced ink printing out photographs. Their drivers and software are also very good. Summary: if you do your homework and buy the correct equipment to match your task, then it’s hard to go wrong with HP.

Brother:  What I like about Brother equipment is that it’s targeted at the small/mid office user and their consumables pricing is very competitive.  The knock against them is that some of their equipment can be pretty “jickey”…meaning that is has a lightweight plastic feel, but given reasonable care it’s fine.  Their better higher end equipment has less of the jickey factor.

Epson: Epson has abandoned the laser market and for a long time virtually every inkjet product they offered was a “photo” printer.  Well, people finally figured out that they can have their digital photos developed professionally for less than it costs them to print them on their own printer, so…Epson is finally getting the message an offering some products other than photo printers.

Summary.

The consumer vs. commercial decision is probably the most important in terms of your day-to-day satisfaction with a product and if your application demands it and your budget allows it, then get the product you need.  If your volume is light, your equipment is not mission critical and/or your budget demands it, then consumer grade equipment is fine.  One last (and probably worst) option if you have a mid to heavy volume office is to buy consumer grade equipment an treat it as disposable, which it essentially is.

Fig. 1

Beware of Unassembled Storage Cabinets!!!

Most items can be assembled relatively easily with the proper tools and adequate time, but an exception to that rule are metal storage cabinets.  It has been our experience that this particular product can be extremely difficult and time consuming to assemble and get the doors to align properly.  HON and Alera both offer metal cabinets that come fully assembled.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions regarding product assembly and/or pricing and don’t forget to verify assembly requirements prior to ordering.  Thanks!

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Well, Epson has now joined their partners in crime (HP and Lexmark) and they have put a halt to the manufacture/import of all new compatible ink cartridges for Epson printers by filing lawsuits against the manufacturers and distributors of these items. Before long all you will be able to buy in the US are either genuine Epson brand ink cartridges or remanufactured cartridges (just like HP and Lexmark). Remanufactured cartridges are fine as long as you deal with a reputable supplier, but the failure rate is still slightly higher than new cartridges.

Oh well….

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had a senior citizen tell me that their kids/grandkids/stepkids/billythekids/whatever bought a new computer and gave the old one to them. The scenario is usually that the official presentation of the marvelous computer gift is made, maybe it’s even hooked up and turned on, then the kids eat, wave goodbye and leave the folks totally on their own. It is, of course, not long before Grandpa and/or Grandma are wandering from place to place, begging for information and any help they can find to get the new/old computer to do something useful to them. By this time the kids are either long gone or too busy working with their new computers to be of any help.

Here is the brutal truth:

The kids would not have given you the computer if it were still useful to them. They pawned it off on you for a reason, and that reason is normally that it needs a serious upgrade to run current software and/or access the web, etc. Maybe they just couldn’t bring themselves to trash something that they paid a thousand dollars or more for five years ago, and they feel better just seeing it sitting on your dining room table.

Here is my advice:

Wait until next Christmas: box up the computer that the kids gave you and give it back to them as their Christmas present, then tell them that you went out and bought a real computer with the money you saved by not buying them a Christmas gift. Ho,ho,ho….you’ll be frustrated no ‘mo.

The fact is that the majority of our sales are to commercial business, government offices and school districts, and walk-in retail customers are really a fairly small part of what we do. While we most certainly appreciate our retail customers, the truth is that walk-in retail is not our core business. In addition, a large portion of our business is done outside of Hood County in areas where big-box retail stores have been in place for years. Most business’ and government/school offices long ago realized that sending employees on a shopping expedition to a big-box retail outlet is without doubt the most expensive way that there is to purchase office products. Not only is the employees productive time lost, but there are many other hidden costs (not counting the business liability for accidents or injury) that greatly offset any perceived potential savings.

We intend to utilize any additional time we gain by losing some walk-in business to better serve our commercial customers and transform our retail operation into more of a commercial sales organization. Also, the internet offers many new and exciting opportunities and we have invested heavily in new technology to better serve our commercial customers. Visit our new web site at: www.mosdirect.com.

Actually, the whole concept of “retail” that has been around for, oh, let’s say about 1,000 years, is dying a slow but certain death. Look at almost every business category and you see the rapidly growing impact of internet commerce: banking and finance, computers and related products, books, music, toys, photo processing, clothing, real estate, used merchandise (eBay), office products, news content….the list is endless. In essence, there is not much need to physically move your body to where some product sits on a shelf when you can make the product come to you. Granted, there are a few product catagories where the size and weight of shipping prohibit the product “coming to you”, but overall the trend is clear and inevitable. And of course, boutique and specialty retail remains viable since ultimately they are selling the shopping experience itself, and not distributing commodity or utilitarian products.

What we intend to do is leverage the internet and combine it with our superior product knowledge and low overhead to offer our commercial customers a program that not only competes, but beats the big boys from Boston. So, while we do appreciate your concern, don’t start writing our obituary just yet.

Wonder who the next idiot will be to rent that high-priced space when Staples pulls out?

Open Source Software

Without going into too much depth, suffice to say that tons of great software is available for free, or for a very minimal amount. Of course, as with most things on the web, caution must be excercised, but if you do just a little legwork and research you can save literally hundreds of dollars and find high quality software that is often as good or better than the name brand equivalent.

Check out: OpenOffice.org a free, open source replacement for Microsoft Office for an example.

Just try and get the idea out of your head that it’s necessary to walk into a store and buy a box of software. That’s the most costly, time consuming and wasteful way to acquire software.

Remember….this is a blog, it’s just an opinion so feel free to disagree.