“How much is a copy machine?” is a question that can have wildly different answers. Copiers may be the one piece of office equipment with the greatest price fluctuations. The cost of computers and other electronics have a wide range, but none that vary as much as the price of a copier.
You’re asking ‘how much is a copy machine?’ – Well, you can get a copy machine for as little as $30, or at prices that exceed $3,000.
In order to understand that, you have to know what goes into the price of a copier.
What makes one model worth so much more than another? We’ll break it down for you here in this article.
How Much is a Copy Machine: Price of a Copier Explained
Quality of the Machine: Consumer vs. Commercial
Copier machines on the lower end of the pricing spectrum are those sold by big-box stores like Best Buy. Typically, the less expensive a machine is, the more expensive the supplies. Companies sell the machine cheap in order to make their money back by selling supplies at an enormous markup.
On one hand, if you’re only making a few dozen copies a day, a less expensive copier may be able to suit your needs just fine. On the other hand, if you’re making several hundred copies a day, you’ll want to look at copiers in a higher price range.
Low-end machines are cheaper to buy, but they’re more expensive to run. The cost per page ends up being higher in the long run.
Higher-end commercial machines are more expensive up front but are more affordable to run over the long term. Commercial machines are also reliable – they’re built for high volume so you won’t be running into jams or frequent maintenance.
Another factor that will affect how much is a copy machine is specialized parts. We’ll go into that next.
Cost of Specialized Parts
Similar to a car, what you see in the showroom is not always what you have to leave with. There are a wide array of parts that can turn a copier into an efficiency machine.
One of the most popular add-ons lately is heavy duty automatic feeders. More people are scanning than printing, and having a heavy automatic feeder means more pages can be queued up to scan at one time.
Machines that are built for ledger-sized 11×17 paper are in a whole other price range simply because they can work with larger paper.
Other common add-ons that affect the price of a copier include staple finishers, saddle stitch finishers, fold and staple finishers, and so on. You can get add-ons for finishing documents any way you like, but they will all add to the cost.
Price of a Copier: Conclusion
When shopping for a new machine, it’s important to be aware of what goes into the price of a copier.
If the price seems too good to be true, it means you’ll be paying a fortune for toner in no time.
Commercial machines have a higher sticker price but can save in operating costs since they’re more affordable to run.
Learn more about commercial copy machines.