IT guys, printer help needed

[Plain Lucky]

Anyone know of an online company that sells printers and offers great tech support???

Our office consists of about 15 workstations and it seems there is always a computer, printer, or scanner issue of some sort. We are too small to justify an in house IT person and our outside computer company can't keep up with the computer business that they have, so they aren't really a good source for printer help.

All of our workstations have multifunction machines that print, scan, and copy. We have primarily used Brother for over 15 years with good luck. But even they don't make things like they used to so we have recently ventured out and tried a few Samsung and Lexmark machines with mixed results.

Long story short, there aren't any local options for support so we would like to be able to purchase mid range, $300 - $600 printers online from a company that can help with installation and troubleshooting when problems arise. In this day and age, surely there is a company out there providing this service?

[DeadEyeB]

kind of doubt it man.. Printers are so cheap now days and by and large businesses are going paperless so there isn't money in them like there use to be.

Best bet is to find a cheapish multi function printer that has networking capability and every few years throw it out and get the upgraded model or maybe just the same model. The software in most cases will automatically pick it up.

Cannon has top notch software and support for various operating systems including drivers for linux and mac.

[blacksunshine]

how many copies/prints do you go through in a month? (cases of paper)

[kmitchl]

I have two Brother printers. They have always been good with customer support. Every now and again one will take a dump and disconnect from the network and will require some help to get it back on tram.

[Plain Lucky]

kind of doubt it man.. Printers are so cheap now days and by and large businesses are going paperless so there isn't money in them like there use to be.

Best bet is to find a cheapish multi function printer that has networking capability and every few years throw it out and get the upgraded model or maybe just the same model. The software in most cases will automatically pick it up.

Cannon has top notch software and support for various operating systems including drivers for linux and mac.

Thanks - that's pretty much the model that we've been on as far as buying fairly cheap and tossing after 2-3 years. 5-15 years ago we were getting 4-6 years out of them and now it seems like 2 years is typically about it.

That's great to know on Cannon, will check them out. Have you had any experience with their multifunction machines?

how many copies/prints do you go through in a month? (cases of paper)

I would estimated 600,000 per year, spread out over 15 printers.

I have two Brother printers. They have always been good with customer support. Every now and again one will take a dump and disconnect from the network and will require some help to get it back on tram.

Thanks - We've been happy with Brother, just seems like they don't last like the used to. That's good to know on their support. I may try calling them the next time we have an issue rather than calling our IT company.

[Charles]

Why does each workstation have their own MFM?

Most organizations have a commercial MFM that is high volume that is shared. Than a couple of lower end MFM scattered around.

I just switch to a Cannon and hate it. Used to have a Samsung.

[ren087]

My recommendation is along the lines above. Get one or two high quality MFP's and connect everyone to those on a network. No issues with support after connected and everyone can print, fax, scan to all printers. No reason to have multiple cheap printers and waste money on that. I have used a local business equipment company for most places I have worked. They provide the printers on a lease basis and cover support and supplies (toner, etc). You provide paper. They charge per sheet and if color or b&w. Konica Minolta is my #1 choice.

[Tex1986]

You need to look into a copier/printer company for multiple reasons. One being tech support but another is you’ve got to be spending a fortune each month on supplies. All machines you’ve mentioned will have a cost of operation of 3 to 4 cents per page and you’re printing 50k a month. Commercial equipment will be about a penny per copy maybe less.

Read your contract closely when you sign an agreement if you lease equipment.

I was in this line of work for 10 years and just got out in December. My dad has been in it for over 35 years. Pm me if you want more info.

I’ve had experience with canon, Sharp, Kyocera and Konica Minolta.




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[Plain Lucky]

Why does each workstation have their own MFM?

Most organizations have a commercial MFM that is high volume that is shared. Than a couple of lower end MFM scattered around.

I just switch to a Cannon and hate it. Used to have a Samsung.

My recommendation is along the lines above. Get one or two high quality MFP's and connect everyone to those on a network. No issues with support after connected and everyone can print, fax, scan to all printers. No reason to have multiple cheap printers and waste money on that. I have used a local business equipment company for most places I have worked. They provide the printers on a lease basis and cover support and supplies (toner, etc). You provide paper. They charge per sheet and if color or b&w. Konica Minolta is my #1 choice.

We are an accounting firm and it's far more efficient for our staff not to have to get up from their desk to go scan or pick up a document. Each employee probably prints or scans 20+times per day, with each time being anywhere from 1 to 25 pages.

We do have a centralized scanner for our high volume, more standardized jobs such as tax returns but a shared printer or scanner for other work has just not worked well for our daily needs. I would love to look into a contract like you mentioned where the printer company provides all of the support, just not having much luck finding anyone in our area.

[Plain Lucky]

You need to look into a copier/printer company for multiple reasons. One being tech support but another is you’ve got to be spending a fortune each month on supplies. All machines you’ve mentioned will have a cost of operation of 3 to 4 cents per page and you’re printing 50k a month. Commercial equipment will be about a penny per copy maybe less.

Read your contract closely when you sign an agreement if you lease equipment.

I was in this line of work for 10 years and just got out in December. My dad has been in it for over 35 years. Pm me if you want more info.

I’ve had experience with canon, Sharp, Kyocera and Konica Minolta.




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Thank you sir - I will do a little more research on our costs and follow up with you. One of our staff did a fairly extensive analysis a couple of years ago and our toner costs are 1.044 cents per page using Brother multifunction printers. The Xerox, HP, and Lexmark machines that we looked at during that time were 1.6 cents to 2.07 cents per page just for toner. I'm checking with our supplier regarding our paper cost per page.

[Plain Lucky]

ttt - any more suggestions?

[jlp04c]

I hear a ton of people have great luck with Xerox, and I know they are very cutting edge with equipment etc. .. I think locally it's administered by a company called Benchmark office solutions.. But i'm not sure of their territory. If you want to shoot me a pm with your location, I can ask.