The Single Biggest Copier Buying Mistake Georgia Businesses Make
They buy the wrong size machine. Either they underbuy — picking a light-duty printer for a high-volume office — and end up with constant jams and early failure. Or they overbuy — spending $10,000 on a production copier for an office that prints 500 pages a month.
The right copier is the one that matches your actual print volume and workflows.
Step 1: Calculate Your Monthly Print Volume
Before anything else, count your pages. Check your existing toner usage, your printer logs, or estimate by number of employees × average daily prints.
| Business Size | Estimated Monthly Volume | Recommended Class | |---|---|---| | 1–5 employees | Under 1,000 pages | Desktop MFP (Ricoh IM 2000 series) | | 5–20 employees | 1,000–5,000 pages | Mid-volume workgroup (Ricoh IM 4000 / KM bizhub 300i) | | 20–50 employees | 5,000–15,000 pages | High-volume workgroup (Ricoh IM 7000 / KM bizhub 450i) | | 50+ employees | 15,000+ pages | Production class copier |
Step 2: Identify Your Features
Beyond volume, consider what your office actually needs:
- Color or black-and-white? Color adds 30–60% to cost. If you rarely print color, a mono copier with a separate small color printer often makes more sense.
- Scan to email / scan to cloud? Nearly all modern MFPs include this, but verify it integrates with your workflow (Google Drive, OneDrive, etc.)
- Finishing? Stapling, booklet-making, hole-punch? These add cost but can save significant manual labor in high-volume offices.
- Security? Medical, legal, and financial offices should look for machines with data encryption, secure print, and hard drive wiping.
Step 3: Factor in Total Cost of Ownership
Purchase price is just one number. Your real monthly cost includes toner, maintenance, and cost-per-page. A cheaper machine with expensive toner often costs more over 5 years than a premium machine with efficient cartridges.
Our advisors at Pro-Tec Copier Services will calculate the true 5-year cost of any machine we recommend — so you can compare apples to apples.
Related: Leasing vs. Buying | Preventative Maintenance
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