I had a vendors compete for our copier leasing contract. We were unable
with our copiers, and we had 1.5 years of unhappiness left in them. So this
gave me an opportunity to seek out new vendors.
People involved in choosing copiers:
- Administrative assistants. They are key in choosing the right copiers for
the schools. They love their jobs and they love copiers that help them do
their jobs well. Never lease a copier without them. If you do lease a
copier without their input, you will regret your decision for the life of
the contract. That is one thing my business manager learned. :)
- Tech Dept. To analyze the specs and the needs of the school
- Business manager. To deal with the contracts and financial aspects.
Over the life span of the new contract, I was able to save my school $18,000
over the span of 3 years and get heavier duty copiers. It's nice when to
have competition to lower their prices, but the lowest price isn't the best
solution since quality of service is also a factor. We stayed with the same
vendor because I was able to acquire a special clause while attaining a
lower price point.
Special Clause:
I was able to add a clause to our contract that says that we are allowed to
cancel our lease anytime during our 3 year contract if we are unsatisfied
with the service of the leasing company. This way, we can hold the
organization responsible for quality service. A common problem is that even
when the copier company do come to fix your copier, the copier can break
again in a few days multiple times (this was our problem). This clause
allowed our vendor to keep our contract while we were able to ensure better
quality of service.
Lowest Bidder Problem with U.S. Mail on Star Routes:
http://www.postalmuseum.si.edu/starroute/sr_12.html
In the 1940s, the Star Route Service again faced issues of bidding.
Competent contractors were underbid by competitors who ultimately failed to
move the mail on time for the contract price. In 1948, Congress passed a
bill permitting the Postmaster General to renew contracts with reliable
carriers rather than re-bid them.
History lesson aside, our school uses a combination of copiers and printers
all throughout the school.
Light Duty Copiers (~50,000 pages/yr):
- Administration
- Library. No other printer in the library.
- Advancement Team (color)
- Lower School
Heavy Duty Copiers (100,000+ pages/yr):
- Upper School Office. Used for school wide communication.
- Faculty Lounge. Used for classroom materials.
Heavy Duty Laser Printers ($1,000+):
- Computer Lab A. HP LaserJet 4250 (Black/white)
- Computer Lab B. Ricoh Aficio SP420DN (color)
Light Duty Laser Printers (<$400):
- Various classrooms (supplies paid by dept budget). These printers must be
networkable.
- Some administrators for privacy issues. Allow staff to print sensitive
printouts without worrying about people down the hall picking it up.
Inkjet color printers:
- Graphics Art lab only. Printer paid by Tech Dept. Supplies paid by Art
dept. budget. Printouts for classroom use only.
Software to manage printouts:
- Papercut NG. We just purchased this product this summer. Support has
been good, but we will see how this works in our school. This will help
eliminate paper wastage which is common in the computer labs and library.
I hope this information helps you out. I have analyzed/thought about my
school's printing needs every year.
Brian Lee
Manlius Pebble Hill School
> From: "Podchaski, Alex" <alex.podchaski@oakknoll.org>
> Reply-To: A forum for independent school educators <ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU>
> Date: Mon, 10 Aug 2009 23:36:00 -0400
> To: <ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU>
> Subject: Printing/Copy Solutions
>
> Our school is currently in the process of evaluating different
> printing/copying options as we face the expiration of leases and increasing
> print cartridge costs. I am looking to eliminate printers on campus and move
> toward networked copiers for most of our printing. We spent far too much on
> ink this year, and have a faculty/staff to printer ratio of that is way too
> low. We are looking into solutions such as eliminating printers, using copiers
> as our main output devices, going to access card readers so that you must
> swipe to print, and much more accounting than has ever been used before.
>
> I will be taking our fiscal case to our Green Team and Tech Committee to
> develop a final plan, but I welcome your thoughts and experiences in this
> matter. I have the data to show that we need to change, and I know where I
> want to go, but would appreciate your feedback on experience with any of these
> ideas and suggestions of devices.
>
> Alex J Podchaski
> Director of Technology
> Oak Knoll School<http://www.oakknoll.org/>
> 44 Blackburn Road
> Summit, NJ 07901
> 908-522-8159
>
>
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