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It has been a longstanding business practice to purchase printers and use them until they die, which can be 10 years or more. But at the same time, copiers and fax machines are being leased and replaced every three years. But now, with the popularity of multifunctional printers (MFPs), we have digital copiers, fax machines, scanners and printers all in one. The reliability of an MFP is simlar to printers, which is to say it can be used for several years. But how long does that really mean?
The answer is in the study
The good news is Lexmark has completed a study to figure out just how often a business should replace its printers or MFPs. Working with a high-volume corporation, they looked at its increasing device failure rates due to heavy use and the wearing out of mechanics compared to the expected increased reliability of new devices with new parts and more reliable designs. They also looked at the cost of user interactions created by device failures and the impact of lower consumables costs from new, higher yield cartridges.
The Financial Tipping Point
What Lexmark ended up finding was that there is a financial tipping point when it makes sense to replace your printers and MFPs. That time is around 48 months, but if you are running at lower volumers, they recommend closer to 60 months. Basically, the study found that it makes sense to replace your printers and MFPs more often that what most offices have typically been doing with printers, but less often than with MFPs.
Leasing for optimal performance
With the need to replace equipment based on optimal performance and lifespan, why buy when you can lease? About two-thirds of requests for proposals with MFPs are for a 36-month term, but why so often? Doesn’t a longer contract of 48 to 60 months make more financial sense? Of course, shorter-term leases may have different financial treatment that longer-term leases, but there are many benefits to extending the contract of your MFPs, like:
- Reduce your monthly depreciation expenses
- Lengthen the functional life of your devices
- Reduced transition management costs (soliciting, evaluating, purchasing, installing, training and old device disposal) and general business disruption with users
- Less environmental impact through extension of the functional life of equipment
Now that MFPs are prevalent in today’s offices, there is no reason to have multiple devices with varying lifespans. Who has the time (or the budget for that matter) to be replacing office equipment every year? One year your printer, the next your copier. It just makes sense to invest in leasing one machine that can do it all, giving you the piece of mind that as its lifetime comes to an end, your contract does too, allowing to upgrade with ease.
