I hate to talk in clichés, but this is the way it is. It affects you, your job and your business. You had better adjust to it. This applies to nearly all technology that I am aware of. A 15-year-old car is worthless if it needs major repairs. Not because it can’t be fixed, but because a much better car is available cheaply, because many people are buying new cars and letting their old ones go for very little $$$. This is good if you’re buying, but feels lousy if you want to repair an old car. Some might argue that new ones are so much better, technologically improved, blah, blah, blah.

Washers and dryers don’t seem that much different than they were in the past. Lots of moving parts and environmental problems (dust, moisture, vibration, doing laundry for 4 kids who play soccer, etc.) They have gone through the same situation. I was speaking to an appliance shop owner who was retiring. He used to have 10 technicians. Now, he just goes out himself occasionally. The repair business just isn’t there. Discount houses sell new machines close to cost. It is hard to get people to OK $250 repairs when they can get a new unit for $400.00.

If you are my age or so, you may remember the TV repairman of the 50s. He was a regular at your house. (I’m not being sexist. In those days, it was a he, and the language reflected that.) Probably needed about once a year. TVs lasted about 5 years and cost lots of money in those days.

Now, you buy a 27" color TV for about $250.00. After 6-10 years, something goes wrong with it and you throw it away. Most of the old time TV shops are gone. They thought they would get work from VCRs, which were rather service intensive. But of course, cheap VCRs now sell for under $100.00, and people are not willing to pay even a $20.00 estimate fee. If the thing breaks, it gets tossed.

I grew up with socks being darned and patches sewed into the knees of my pants. Nowadays, if a shirt loses a button, it probably gets thrown away before someone ever gets around to finding the lost skill of sewing on a button. Actually, that one is kind of personal. In the army (1968-70), you had to replace buttons. I would do it, and every time the shirt came back from the laundry, the same button would be gone. Something about knotting it when you are done. I avoid that problem by wearing T-shirts these days.

Lets start with the price of laser printers. Customer brings in an HP3 or 4. Two of the best units ever made. It needs a thorough cleaning and a fuser unit. You quote $300.00, so that you can make some money. It is a fair price. Customer buys an inkjet for $250.00. Sure, that may not fit their needs. That doesn’t do you any good.

Notice I said survive. I did not say anything about getting rich. I get very annoyed by the articles I see in the trade publications. I make a living at service, as do many people I know. However, according to articles I often see written, other people are getting incredibly rich by repairing ink jet machines, typewriters, etc.

Sorry to sound like a whiner, but I tend to think that they are exaggerating their financial results. I have no argument with their techniques and ability to do certain things with a modicum of success. I just do not think any of these things add all that much to their revenues. However, I am not saying that you should not take their advice and do this work. If you are capable of doing work that someone wants it done, just do it (swoosh! ).

I honestly feel that many people in this industry are constantly trying to impress their peers. When they write something for publication, they have to claim that they are incredibly successful. Maybe I’m just not as smart as they are, or maybe I’m a little more realistic.

Used laser printers are next to worthless. Even those people who might buy one, typically go out and buy a new one without ever looking around to see what is available. In some cases, it is the urgency of the situation. Due to the reliability that they are used to, they cannot go even a day or two without their printer.

Supplying a used laser printer as a loaner is not as practical as it sounds. Networks, newer software, A/B switches are sometimes problems with older printers (such as HP2P, Panasonic 4410.) They might be able to be made to work, but you wind up on the phone or on site, reprogramming, changing defaults, etc. The time you put into support may actually destroy the profit on the repair.

A basic repair on the easiest machine on earth. HP2 or 3. Needs a fuser unit. You can get a rebuilt unit for about $45.00 including freight. You install this, and spend 45 minutes cleaning the machine. This should be about $250.00 repair. Not likely to be approved. With this particular unit, you will occasionally find a customer who wants this particular box because they know what a workhorse it is, but that doesn’t apply to most of the others. Anybody’s inkjet machine is just about never worth fixing, including HP. If you save them for parts, you will find that you need more shelf space. I have no advice to offer on the Real Estate business.

A customer can go into Staples or Office Max and buy a small personal copier for around $300.00. Brand new. Reduction, enlargement, digital. If they want to go nuts, they can get a mini full system for about $1000. Well, not quite. No sorter, but dual cassette and document feeder are available at this price.

Obviously, this kind of kills the used machine business in that particular market. It used to be that a low-end commercial copier, such as a Mita 1415 or Minolta 2120 could be sold for $500 or so to a 200 copy a month customer. Now, that only happens if they live in a cave. Sometimes you get lucky. You find someone who needs to run 1500 copies per month, and you get to unload your Toshiba 1340 or whatever for $500.00.

For the most part, I have given up on selling small machines. I used to love selling used Canon PC6re copiers for $350 or so. Now, if we wind up with one, I just sell the parts to dealers.

As long as I can remember, dealers have been complaining that the used machine market is dying, due to the low prices of personal copiers. It has been getting worse and worse since 1982 (when the Canon PC10 first came out.) I honestly don’t think it can get much worse than now. Over the counter machines will get cheaper and cheaper, but I don’t think it matters to us at this point. It is already too difficult to compete. If someone doesn’t know about superstore prices, you might make a killing, if you don’t mind looking like a crook when they do find out. You can be sure they will eventually. Then you have lost a customer, and very possibly their trust.

It doesn’t matter to the customer that you rebuilt the machine, gave them a 90 day warranty, and maybe only netted $75.00 on the whole deal (if it doesn’t break down.) You charged them $300 for a 10-year-old used machine. They could get a brand new one with a 3-year replacement warranty for $350.00.

In 1999, I saw the Xerox digital (XD100 I think) for about $550, with 3 year warranty, reduction, enlargement, etc. I decided right then and there to try and get rid of any small used copiers I had. I quickly sold whatever I had. Mita 111, Canon 6RE, Sharp Z85, Canon PC740. Price range was $175 to $275. Each one killed me. If I hadn’t, they would still be sitting here, depreciating even more.

This happens with larger machines, though not quite on the same scale. A 30cpm machine is 4 years old and has 200K on it. A shop overhaul would be a nice moneymaker for you, and would probably give 2-3 more years out of the machine.

To do it right and make money, you would have to charge about $2000.00. Only problem is the customer can replace the machine for about $3000.00 from any dealer. To the customer this means that, in effect, for $1000.00 they get a brand new machine (the difference in price between new and overhaul.) If you bought a new car every 4 years for $20K, would you be willing to spend $14K every two years to overhaul the old one instead? Not likely.

When you get above 40-cpm machines or so, the rules change. I choose not to be in that market, because I have enough to do with other things and don’t feel like having a staff of field technicians anymore. Many dealers whose opinions I respect, do well with this. There are several things that you need to be capable of.

1. You need to be able to find customers.
2. You need to be able to locate the correct machines.
3. You must have the technical expertise to properly rebuild these machines.
4. You must be prepared to service them in the field, for about a 3-5 year period.
5. If you are wholesaling them, you must be prepared to deal with people who are lacking in the qualities described in numbers 3 & 4.

Many times components have similar prices attached to them. You attempt to rebuild a fuser unit on a laser printer. The parts cost you about as much as a complete fuser unit. So, of course, you throw away the old unit and install a new one. There is no point in saving the old one, because next time you will do the same thing.

There are circuit board repair facilities. In many cases, dealers do not have access to new boards, so they send old ones in for repair. In those cases where they can buy new ones, the price of a new one is sometimes extremely close to the repair price of the old one.

Some after-market suppliers offered refurbished drum units. In many cases, these are only about 20% cheaper than brand new OEM units. I like giving the after-market people some business, but that doesn't make enough sense to me. Even a 10% or so failure rate will make this a bad deal.

You have to adapt. You have to be on your toes. When a customer comes in with a cheap machine, needing major repairs, think about it before you commit anything. Maybe, rather than buying a cheap new machine elsewhere, you can do a cheap repair instead.

A worn fuser unit might not cause a problem for another 6 months or so. Today's shorted transfer corona has the machine completely down. You tell them the machine is fixed and working. The bill is $140.00. If they complain that there is a mark from the worn fuser rollers (which was there before the transfer corona failed anyway) you have to deal with that. You can tell them that it was there and you assumed they didn't mind it, or they would have brought the machine in sooner (not the way to endear them, but sometimes you have to stand up for yourself.)

This statement was true, but they don't want to admit it. You're right, but you are likely to lose the customer. Not a great option, but this a customer who you are not likely to have again anyway) You can tell them that the machine is done and working, ready to be picked up. That "ready to be picked up" is often the most important item. For $140.00 they can make copies or print today. That is the deciding factor many times. They may wish they had bought a new machine before they called you, but that was their decision.

Same rules apply. I am not saying you should carry extra car stock. Be as prepared as possible. If you go to a machine and you can get it running quickly, that will usually get you paid.

Sometimes, after a repair on a machine that is a dog, I tell them "The service call is $110.00. That has to be paid, even if you decide not to repair the machine. I can remove the parts, and you won't have to pay for them, but you will then have paid $110.00 for bad news."

I know some dealers who fax new customers a form before they even show up, guaranteeing payment, regardless of the outcome.

OK so it is a throwaway world. We can't change that. We also cannot make troubleshooting easier. We cannot reduce travel time. We cannot change new machine prices (unless we are the seller and there is no competition.) We have to adapt, using psychology, human nature, expertise, reading customer's minds, knowing what their options are, knowing what their needs are.

Hang in there.

Jim Intravia