A Basic Overview Of How Copier Leasing For Small Business

Courtney Carlson of IOT (located in Eagan, MN) breaks down the basics of small business copier leasing. People often ask, how does a copier lease work? There are a few basic segments in the process; research, feature identification, usage estimation, and budget. It’s important to understand what you need, and what you don’t need, so you can get the best copier lease for the lowest price.

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YOU’LL LEARN

How does a copier lease work and what you should expect
The first step in the process it to discuss what your copier needs are
Copiers can range quite a bit for options and pricing
It’s important to identify the features you do need, and the features you do not need
It takes about 10-15 minutes of discussion to review the features on your device
You want to choose the device that is the right fit for your business
You will need to complete a credit application to apply for copier leasing
Approval for the copier lease takes a couple hours to a couple days
After approval, the copier is scheduled for delivery
You make a monthly lease payment on the copier
Usually service agreements or maintenance agreements are separate from the lease
Most service agreements will be about one cent per page for black and white
Color cost per page is usually between 7 to 10 cents per page
Rough estimate would be about $100 per month for the copier plus the maintenance

How Does A Copier Lease Work;

Jesse: Hey everyone Jesse Doll here with Courtney Carlson. Doing a little IOT tech talk with you here today. Today we’re going to talk about how does a copy lease work. Here with Courtney, our resident copier expert, and he’s going to kind of help us break down what to expect. Court, will just kind of position it like this, if I just started with a business. I got a couple of employees, and I’m deciding I need a copier to do all of that copying and printing here. I don’t have one, so I’m going to go online and I’m going to just search for somebody to get a lease. How does that work? What should I expect?

Courtney: We’ll sure, I guess the first step in the process is making sure we meet together and discuss what your needs are for the copier. They can range quite a bit in options, and price, and features.

Jesse: For the copier itself?

Courtney: Typically, that takes 10 to 15 minutes. We can determine exactly what you need and what you don’t need. Make sure you’re not getting something that is overkill for what you need, but also making sure that we have the right device that’s going to be the right fit for what you need. After that point, we’re going to look at a credit application for your business. We work with a third party financing company that does all of our copier leasing, Great America Financial. Pretty simple process, kind of a standard loan application, we’ll get approval for a copier. From that point it’s a matter of scheduling delivery and doing the installation and training on the copier for you.

Jesse: Okay. From my end, again, as a business owner, I’m just basically cutting the monthly payments to you at that point, right?

Courtney: Typically, it’s a to a monthly payment for the copier lease. That’s based on term, so that could be 24 months or 36 months. Then outside of that you have a service agreement. Typically, all of our service agreements are billed out quarterly. We do a quarterly maintenance check, come out, do a preventative maintenance on the copier, record the meter count, and then you’re billed per page for your actual usage within that term. Most rates as far as the service rates go, you’re typically in a penny to two cents per page for black and white. Color can range anywhere from seven to ten cents depending on the copier model, the specific copier model that you’re looking for.
Jesse: On most of the businesses that we work with here in the Twin Cities, what would be a typical monthly lease amount that they’re going to pay on just a regular office copier? What would their monthly or quarterly usage cost be for the service contract? Just as a rough estimate for everybody.

Courtney: Probably rough estimate, just somewhere in the $100 range for the machine itself. Then really service agreement varies so much, but like I said, most rates are around a penny, a penny and a half per page, and somewhere between seven and ten cents for color. It really varies by customer, because everyone’s printing needs vary so much.

Jesse: Sorry to interrupt you, but everybody’s out there, a ream of paper is what 500 sheets?

Courtney: 500 sheets.

Jesse: If anybody wants to kind of try to figure that out themselves. Just how many reams of paper do you go through in a month? Kind of break it down maybe.

Courtney: Yeah. That’s something I discuss with you when we first meet and look at your copier needs. A lot of people have no idea how much they print or copy. That’s one thing that we try and do is sit down and figure out exactly what your usage levels are, or what you anticipate using within that lease term, and really try and dial that in. It is important in picking the right copier, or making sure we have the right equipment for your needs.

Jesse: Makes sense. Well, if you guys are looking for a good deal, Court knows copiers inside and out. I like what you’re saying too, about not getting something that’s overkill, just loading a bunch of features on, and bringing that price way up. How can folks get ahold of you if they want to learn more?

Courtney: Call us here at the main line at the office. Phone number is 651-452-5630. You can also email me CourtneyCarlson@iotsolutions.com.

Jesse: Thanks, Court.

Courtney: Thank you.

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