I admit it. I HATE large hulking multifunction printers with a passion. I've used Konika, Panasonic, Toshiba, and Xerox. I have yet to have one that after it got about a year's use didn't start having problems left and right. The last two machines we've had are averaging having the techs out every 3-4 weeks to fix something.
Meanwhile, I have a Dell 5310n laser monochrome printer that has spit out over 350,000 sheets of paper in it's 7 year life, and has NEVER broken down or jammed. I also have a Brother tabletop MFP that in the 8 months I've had it has spit out over 15,000 sheets of paper without a hiccup.
We now have the Toshiba eStudio 4520, and it's a POS. It's way more machine than what we need, and the extra bulk and ability to add on extra parts just adds complexity that works against reliability. More stuff to go wrong and more rollers and channels that may result in a jam. We pay $209 a month base rate just for it to sit here, and just under 1 cent per page black and 7 cents a page color for usage. In our three years with this company, we've paid out just over $12,000 in lease and usage fees.
My boss (the company owner) is convinced that we just HAVE to have a big machine. He overruled me when we first started up. I was against getting one and into a binding lease, but he insisted that we get one. I'm not so sure he was right. Putting pencil to paper...
For $12,000 I could have bought a new Brother MFC-9970CDW every year ($600 a pop, so $1800) and still had enough money left over to purchase 125 black toner cartridges. That would work out to a new toner cartridge about every 6th working day (way more than what we need), and having a new machine every year, instead of $12,000 for a machine that is steadily getting older, losing value, increasing problems, and being contractually obligated to keep paying at least $209 a month for it for another two years. And that's not considering the hassle and lost productivity and my time spent dicking with a broken machine every few weeks.
Does anyone else feel the same? Can anyone convince me that I'm just deluded? I really think, at least for our situation, my argument has some legs to stand on.