Top 5 Ways Nonprofit Organizations Can Save Money

It doesn't matter whether the economy is booming or busting - nonprofit organizations are always interested in saving money.  Of course, "saving money" doesn't necessarily have to mean "cutting corners" or "doing without altogether."  There are plenty of ways nonprofit organizations can save money and still operate effectively and efficiently.

1. Accept Donations

Whether you need a few simple pieces of equipment like telephones and cameras or larger pieces like computers and fax machines, chances are there's a family member, friend, or another business or organization that's already in the market to upgrade and willing to donate old supplies to you.

2. Buy Refurbished Electronics

If you can't find everything you need through donations, consider buying refurbished electronics.  Buying refurbished office equipment like refurbished machines, copiers, printers, fax, telecom systems, computers,  and even cameras is a great way for nonprofit organizations to save money.

After customers return them to the stores (either because they've changed their minds or found some minor problem with the way the electronics functioned), manufacturers inspect the items and make any repairs before certifying they're ready to return to store shelves as "refurbished" items.  The manufacturers can't sell the items at the same prices as they'd sell brand new items, so they sell them at significantly lower costs.  Purchasing refurbished electronics at lower costs than brand new electronics at regular costs helps nonprofit organizations save money.

3. Look for Volunteers

Many nonprofit organizations already acquire much of their own legwork through volunteer efforts, but they can also find volunteers to donate time and skills to things like building and designing websites, creating logos for contact cards and stationary letterheads, and writing copy for websites, newsletters, and fliers.

4. Do It Yourself

While many people have family members or friends (or friends of friends or family members!) who are skilled at tasks like writing and website and graphic design, not everyone will agree to provide these services for free.  If you can't find someone willing to donate his or her services, consider doing the jobs yourself.

There are many free and easy-to-use website templates available; these days, setting up a website, costs a little more than just the price to purchase server space.  If your nonprofit is a local chapter of a national organization, use the national logo and create your own stationary letterhead and contact cards.  If you need to know how to effectively write simple copy for a newsletter, advertisement, or your website, do a little research online for tips on how to keep your words brief yet effective.

5. Find Freebies

Volunteer work is free for you and many do-it-yourself projects are either free or cheap, but keep in mind that there are also tools available that are completely free and in constant supply.

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Printer Usage

Some printers are good for general printing, while others are better at specialized tasks or combine several functions into one machine.

o Photo: If you take lots of pictures, consider getting a photo printer.  Photo printers can be in the form of photo inkjets -- which can print both photos and text; snapshot photo printers -- for outputting small 4x6-inch prints; or professional photo printers -- for large, tabloid-size photos and often including network connections to enable printer sharing.  Most consumer and professional photo printers use inkjet technology, while most snapshot photo printers that print 4x6-inch prints rely on dye-sublimation technology.  Regardless of the type or technology that is used, the most important thing to look for in a photo printer is photo realistic quality.  Everything else is secondary.

o General Purpose: As the name implies, general purpose printers can be used for printing almost anything, including text and photos.  Choose a general printer with a laser format if you print more text than photos; and choose an inkjet format if you print more photos than text.

o Multi-function: Multi-function printers (MFPs) combine in one device several functions such as printing, scanning, faxing, and copying. MFPs cost less than buying separate stand-alone devices and cut down on the hassle of setting up individual machines.  If you are strapped for budget or space, consider these all-in-one devices.  Take note, however, that a malfunction with one component takes down the whole device, and individual components may not be upgradeable.  MFPs are available with either laser printers to emphasize speedy text printing and the occasional graphics output; or they are available with inkjet printers for vibrant photo printing.

Environment and Applications

When deciding on a printer, think about where and how you plan to use it.  The home user will have different printing needs from that of the office worker, photographer, or traveler.

o General/Basic home use: Versatile, affordable printers are the best choices here, and inkjets usually satisfy the printing needs of most home users looking to output photos from their digital camera or for other light printing needs.  Ink cartridges can be expensive, so look for inkjets with separate cartridges for each color.  This way, you need not throw out entire cartridges -- simply because one color has been used up ahead of the others -- but replace only the ones that run out.

o Home office: An MFP may be a great device to have in your home office, especially if it comes with an automatic document feeder that can process multi page documents unattended.  Extra onboard memory increases efficiency and allows for processing of larger graphics and documents with ease.  If scanning and photocopying are important to you, get an MFP with a higher resolution.

o Photography: Photo printers are the obvious choice if printing photos is your main thing.  Choose either the smaller, snapshot photo printer that produces 4x6-inch prints; or choose larger-sized, professional photo printers that are capable of delivering tabloid-size 11x17-inch prints -- even up to full-bleed 13x19-inch prints that include a border to allow room for registration marks.

o Text printing: If printing large amounts of text is what you'll be doing most, monochrome standard laser printers are your best bet -- as they can turn out page after page of crisp text fairly rapidly.  These printers are ideal for printing black-and-white text and simple graphics, so you may need to get a separate inkjet or photo printer in order to print color photos - unless you wish to invest in the more expensive color lasers that can print both black-and-white and color documents.

o Small network: A workgroup laser printer can be what you need if your home office or small office is built around a network.  Workgroup lasers pack faster print speeds and have more memory to handle multiple print jobs.  They also offer more advanced handling capabilities such as larger trays, and may offer duplex (double-sided) printing, sorting, and stapling.  More expensive than standard laser printers, the majority of workgroup lasers are monochrome -- designed for printing text and simple graphics.

o Traveler: For the businessperson on the go and looking to print, portable printers provide the solution with their compact size (small enough to fit into a briefcase), light weight (less than 5 lbs.), and handy power (operates on batteries or with a car charger).  Newer models can print wirelessly -- making it a non-issue if you forget your USB cable at home.  Some portables offer great extras such as a sheet feeder for automatic page feeding, are able to handle transparencies and envelopes, and even support an optional scanner cartridge that replaces the ink cartridge and turns the printer into a scanner. Portable printers are more expensive and print more slowly than standard printers, but convenience is what you're paying for.

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Printers - A Practical Buyers Guide

Buying a printer can be a complicated business, there are more shapes, sizes and types of printers available to the home and small business user than ever before. Printers have also become specialized for their intended purpose.

It is no longer a case of "a printer is a printer".  Printers are now designed to be good in a particular area rather than a "Jack-of-all trades", which will do everything.

An often overlooked issue, is the very serious consideration of cost of ownership, which is all about of how much it will cost to keep your printer running (see below).  So making that decision on which printer to go for, can be a seriously arduous task, especially if you are keen to buy a printer that is not only affordable to buy, but also cheap to run.

So here is the information that you need to know and consider, that no one tells you about!  We have not expanded on which printer is the best at any given time, because models constantly change and you can find that information in any current glossary PC magazine off the shelf.  Instead, here you will find the good, bad and ugly bits from the different types of printers available so you can make an informed decision yourself.

Laser Printers

Laser printers work in a similar way to photocopiers, except they use a laser instead of a bright light to scan with.  They work by creating an electrostatic image of the page onto a charged photo-receptor, which in turn attracts toner in the shape of an electrostatic charge.  Toner is the material used to make the image (as ink is in an inkjet printer) and is a very fine powder, so laser printers use toner cartridges instead of ink cartridges.

Laser Printers have traditionally been the best printing solution for heavy office users as they produce a very high quality black text finish and offer relatively low running costs.  However, laser printers have advanced a great deal recently and their prices have steadily dropped, as a result there are now compact laser printers, multi-function and color laser printers all at very affordable prices.  Laser printers make sense if you need to do a lot of high quality black or color prints, not photos.  The great thing about a color laser printer is that they can print a very good quality color image on standard copier paper, so you do not need to use expensive photo paper for large jobs.  Do check the prices of the consumables before you buy the printer as these can be very expensive for color laser printers.

Laser printers are the best solution for people who are printing in large volumes, that is, in 100's of pages at a time or 1000's of pages per month.  Color lasers also take quite a while to warm up, so are not ideal for printing single pages.

Solid Ink Printers

Solid ink printers use solid wax ink sticks in a "phase-change" process, they work by liquefying wax ink sticks into reservoirs and then squirting the ink onto a transfer drum from where it is cold-fused onto the paper in a single pass.  Solid ink printers are marketed almost exclusively by Tektronix / Xerox and are aimed at larger businesses and high volume color printing.

Solid ink printers used to be cheaper to purchase than similarly specified color lasers and fairly economical to run owing to a low component usage, today it is not necessarily any cheaper than a color laser printer.  Output quality is good but generally not as good as the best color lasers for text and graphics or the best inkjets for photographs.  Print speeds are not as fast as most color lasers.

Dye-Sublimation Printers

Dye-Sublimation printers use heat and solid color dyes to produce lab-quality photographic images. Dye-Sub printers contain a roll of transparent film made up of page-sized panels of color, with cyan, magenta, yellow, and black dye embedded in the film. Print head heating elements vaporize the inks, which adhere to a specially coated paper, as the ink cools it re-solidifies on the paper. Color intensity is controlled by precise variations in temperature.

Dye-sublimation printers lay down color in continuous tones one color at a time instead of dots of ink like an inkjet, because the color is absorbed into the paper rather than sitting on the surface, the output is more photo-realistic, more durable and less vulnerable to fading than other ink technologies.

The downside of Dye-Sub printers is that they are generally more expensive to buy and run, usually limited to photo sized prints only and can only print onto one type of specialized paper as well as being quite slow to print.

Dye-Sublimation printers are best for those who want to link up their digital camera to a purpose built printer and print out the finest quality photos at home without fuss.

Dot Matrix Printers

Dot matrix printers are relatively old fashioned technology today with poor quality print, slow and very noisy output.  This type of printer is no longer used unless you wish to create invoices using the continuous paper with holes on both sides.  The good thing is that they are very cheap to run!

Cost of Ownership

Many printers today are very cheap to buy, but people are sometimes shocked to discover the cost of replacing the consumables (ink or laser cartridges, imaging drums, fuser, oils, specialized papers etc). The cost of replacing the ink can sometimes cost more than the printer itself!  This is one of the most commonly overlooked factors when printers are reviewed and yet one of the most important things to consider before handing over your hard earned cash.  Tests run in 2003 by Which? magazine famously compared the cost of HP's ink with vintage 1985 Dom Perignon.

A Sheffield City Council report aimed at helping schools decide on the best-value printers to buy, calculated total cost of ownership over the lifetime of a printer (not sure how long that is!).  Adding up all the running costs, ink or toner, paper, maintenance and even electricity, SCC worked out that a color inkjet costs approx 38 cents per page to run compared to a color laser which costs approx 7 cents per page. Sheffield City Council advised its schools that if they printed more than three color pages a day (assuming a 40-week academic year) they should buy a laser.

These figures cannot be taken hard and fast due to the many variables involved, but it is generally accepted that the cost per print of a laser printer is cheaper than that of an inkjet, which is in turn cheaper than that of a sub-dye printer.  However, you would have to do a fair amount of color printing to take advantage of the economy cost offered by a laser printer.

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Home Based Printer - A Fast Printing Device

A printer is one of the most important computer accessories that are required by human beings in this tech savvy technology dependent world today.  Previously, printers have not been handy and compact devices, but have been mostly of the larger sizes, which took up more room and much more time in printing jobs.  Today though that is not the case and not so in this current era.

Nowadays, there are various handy light weighted printers that are available, which provides for quick services.  These printers are of extremely importance during the time when urgent printing of a certain number of pages are needed.  The major advantages of these handy printers are they can be used at homes and the cost of ink is not extremely high in comparison to those larger printers that were available during the beginning of the technological era.

Most of the home based handy printers are inkjet printers.  However, cheap laser printers are also now being used at home today.  Keeping an efficient printer at your possession lets you embrace yourself with the facility right by your hand.

Having a printer in your possession at home also lets you afford your printing task to next day printing while taking your time; whereas this sort of thing will not take place, if you have to rush to a nearby printing store for a print job to be done.  If you have lots of materials to get printed, then you may have to wait in the queue for the job to be done and sometimes even the shop can't afford you the time for the printing jobs for reasons being; like shop closing time has been reached, too much rush to print, etc.

Several companies are available in the market for those who manufacture some really high quality fast printing devices not only for home, but also for offices and business purposes.  Most notable companies among them are Hewlett Packard, Canon, Epson, Lexmark, Samsung, Toshiba, etc.

Although it's better to use original cartridges each time the printer runs out of ink, sometimes people tend to look for some cheaper substitutes of the original cartridges in order to save some of their hard earned money.  Among the cheaper substitutes, Ink Refilling is possibly, which is the best alternative option available.  

Refilling is done by injecting ink into the empty ink cartridge that the printer was using and then after refilling the cartridge it is again inserted into the printer to be used once again.  Although it works just fine, sometimes it has been observed that the print quality slightly deteriorates if compared to the print quality available during use of the original non refilled ink cartridges..

Another alternative is to buy compatible cartridges which also are much cheaper in prices. When doing so, sometimes using these compatible cartridges may result in non-printing functions as the printer doesn't recognize the cartridge or poor print quality, etc.

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Can Offices Rely On Toshiba Toner and Printer Products?

Many different people have heard of Toshiba printer and toner products but the question is how reliable are they actually? Owners of businesses and home offices have come back reporting good things about Toshiba. It actually has gotten top reviews according to some office goers. They say it just makes the day go by faster and makes the work-load get done with better quality. Just from this, you can tell that Toshiba is a reliable product to choose.

Finding a printer with good toner products can be a pain. Trusting in a printer company is a big deal. The ability to achieve everything an office needs in one machine is a great achievement that Toshiba was willing to spend the time to do. Toshiba customers have had complete satisfaction in the fact that their printer makes the best looking documents and pictures and doesn't cost them too much to do it. It is also a highly recommended brand because the units last. They aren't constantly jamming and breaking down because the mechanics of the machine are formulated in such a way where the designers were thinking ahead and taking all scenarios into consideration.

There is no false advertising with Toshiba. They are talked about in a good way where everyone can go through their day smiling while using one of their pieces because of the worry-free feeling it creates from being a trusted machine. The toners for one thing, last for a very long time. They print color and black and white with a beautiful sheen that will impress you and your co-workers the first time you see it come out. Just because the printers are small and seem kind of frail doesn't mean there's not a large body builder of a beast inside there.

While you can rely on them to work well, you can rely on them to catch peoples' eyes as well. The designs fit perfectly into the office setting and they all have a nice looking surface. Of course there are many different designs and colors that these pieces come in but there will be the one for your office that just looks like it already belongs in there. Making your office happy is going to make work more pleasurable as well. You can rely on Toshiba to make your entire office a better environment to work in. Your office is your second home. You have to make it the best you can.

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Konica Minolta Printer and Printers

An environment full of professional approach is one thing that every office around the world craves for. Professionalism needs not only to be practiced by the employees, but from the office management as well.  Apart from soft skills like human management, offices need to create an ambiance that promotes and catalyzes professional atmosphere.  Advanced hardware tools like high-tech workstations and facilities for communication and printing add to overall look of an office.  You don't need your office boy/s to run here and there with loads of printing work.

Talking about printers, it is such a necessity in any office these days that one can hardly do away with it. Everyone in the office needs printouts for different purposes like for notices, press releases, projects, training's, designs, slips, schedules, programs, etc.  Hence, having a multi-function printer is always a better option.

Multi-function printers serve not only your printing needs but they also work as a laser printer, copier and scanner.  Loaded with hi-tech features, they give fast print speeds, and up to 200 sheet input capacity.  Some of the added / optional features of a Multi-function printer that will surely be handy in any office are:

•          24 bit color
•          Direct printing from digital camera
•          Receiving digital faxes from a PC
•         Automatic document feeder
•          Up to 96 MB RAM

Available in stylish and professional designs, your investment is sure to give your lasting returns.  Famed for giving complete customer satisfaction with optimal performance, all leading brands are offering these Multi-function printers.  If you wish that professionalism should prevail in your office then buy one for your office.

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The Creation Of The Copier

It hasn't always been so easy to make copies.  We now can just walk up to a photocopier machine and press the print button and we instantly receive perfectly replicated copies of our original.  Just forty seven years ago the copy machine was a pen and some sheets of carbon paper.  Instead of pushing a button you had to write and write and then write some more!  Just before the 60's this was a reality and carbon paper was a big seller.  Chester Carlson, a patent attorney knew how much of a pain it was to continue rewriting everything by hand because Carlson had arthritis.  Carlson had an idea of designing a machine that would automatically make copies, so he didn't have to do all of that copying by hand.

Think about doing your job without a copier.  You probably will have a hard time imagining it.  Did you know that most manufacturers didn't think that a copier would be of much use?  Chester tried for years to get people to catch his vision but nobody was interested.  Between 1939 and 1944, Carlson got the thumbs down by many corporations, including IBM, Kodak, General Electric, and RCA.

In 1937 Chester invented a process called electro-photography.  They renamed it Xerography in 1938. He figured out that if the image of an original document was projected onto a photoconductive surface, current would flow only in the areas where the light shined on it. The first copy was made with a sulfur coating on a zinc plate.  He took a glass microscope slide and wrote on it 10-22-38 ASTORIA with ink.  He then pulled down the shade to darken the room.  He built up an electrostatic charge buy rubbing the sulfur surface with a handkerchief.  Then the slide was placed on the surface and a light was shined on it for few seconds.  He then sprinkled lycopodium powder on the sulfur coating.  Gently blowing on the surface, the loose powder blew off and all that was left was the inscription, 10-22-38 ASTORIA. 10-22-38 is the date that the first photocopy was made.  Astoria was the location.

The Birth of Xerox The company that decided to take a chance on Carlson's dream was the Haloid Company.  Haloid was a photo-paper manufacturer in New York.  Guess what they came to be known as? Yes, the Xerox Corporation.  In 1960 the first office copier was produced.  It was the Xerox model 914.  It was the first office copier that could make copies on plain paper.

Being a copier repairman for over thirty-five years, I have seen the good copiers with the bad copiers.  I began working on copiers in 1975.  The copiers that I began working with were messy and they would not last long in between servicing.  The prices for the machines were very high especially for higher volume copiers.  There were some interesting ways of transporting the paper through the machine like the Sharp SF-740.  It grabbed the paper with two gripper devices that were driven with chains.  This machine fused the toner to the paper with a toaster oven type device.

Some people may even remember having to pour toner into the copier from a bottle.  Today's copiers have a cartridge system that works well.  They keep most of the toner inside the copier, not on you best pair of slacks or your dress.  They have rollers for fusing the toner to the paper and have very sophisticated paper feed and transport systems that help reduce jamming problems.  Digital copiers are now on the market.  Now you can not only copy, but print, scan and even fax with them.  Perhaps the most revolutionary change in the industry is the full color copier.  The sales of full color copiers have really started to explode.  There are a lot of new and exciting products being introduced and the quality is really quite good. We have come a long way from Carlson's '10-22-38 ASTORIA.  I just can't help to think what the future will bring us.  What will the copier of the year 2020 look like?

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Sharp Copiers - One Of The Most Reliable Copiers Around

The Sharp copier is one of the most reliable copiers around.  It is recommendable for its ability to do a multiplicity of printing tasks, yet giving you consistent results each time, but not unless you tamper with the settings.  They come in many different varieties, and it is up to you; to go for the one that is suitable for the kind and amount of work that you have to accomplish; and also one that is pocket friendly to you.

Many factors come into place once you consider buying a copier.  One, you will have to consider the size of the machine depending on how much space you have in the office.  Secondly, you may want to know the types of features that are within the copier, so that you do not miss out on a feature that your kind of work may really need in your office.  On the other hand, you do not want one that is too complicated for simple use. Thirdly, with the ever changing technological advances, you may feel that it may be expensive to replace your Sharp copier every time there is an advanced model of the same in the market.  You may therefore want to consider renting one from the rental shops.  However, this option will require you to know how much the rental stores charge per month and the policy they have in regard to the maintenance and repairs.

More information regarding Sharp copiers may be obtained from the Internet.  You can then collect and verify this information from Sharp copier office stores, authorized dealers, and even independent offices.  Once you have all the details at your finger tips, all that remains is for you to select the copier you want, pay for it, and transfer it to your office and get started putting it to work for you.

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Choosing a Copier for Your Business

Whether you need to make copies for inter-office meetings or create high-quality marketing materials, you can find a supplier in the market that manufactures an office copier that fits your needs.  Modern business copiers combine all functionalities such as; Fax, Copier, Printing, Scanning and/or Document Imaging solutions in one copier machine.  Correct-Tek Copier Service can provide that. 

Copier industry is growing rapidly and the competition among manufacturers drives them to improve the functionality and to provide competitive offers among suppliers/vendors who install and service copier machines.  They can be broadly classified into Analog and Digital.  Analog is dead and today's businesses choose "Digital" for various good reasons.  Most manufacturers have stopped introducing new models in Analog copiers, but they do support/service the existing models.

Why Digital?

Some people are understandably wary of the new digital paradigm; this is usually due to a lack of understanding about the technology.  In analog copiers, copies are produced by transferring the image optically from the original to the copy by means of mirrors.  With today's digital copiers, the information is scanned optically from a piece of paper electronically thru what they call a CCD and a laser unit. Information is then converted into a digitized format and then processed for printing.

In the midst of changing office environment technologies, some things remain the same:

1.        Need to improve efficiency
2.             Need to increase productivity
3.            Need to control cost
4.           Need to maximize investment in technology

Simply stated, Digital copiers make it possible to have a wide range of features at an affordable price.  In fact, some things cannot be accomplished with Analog copiers that can be with Digital copiers.

Following are the various types of copier machines that you can get in the market:

Black-and-white copiers: Black-and-white copiers are a popular choice for schools and for office printouts.  Black toner costs less than color toner, resulting in a lower cost per copy.

Color copiers: Color copiers can help you make a splash with high-impact presentations, brochures, flyers, and more.  For print-quality color reproduction, consider Graphic Color copiers.  Some color copiers also include a designated black-and-white mode.

All-In-One copiers: All-In-One or Multifunction can make copies, fax, scan, and print in black-and-white and color, making them a good choice for offices with limited space.  Many support internal memory upgrades as well as add-on modules for image editing (for example, add watermarks or resize) and stackless duplexing.  If you want to give you staff the ability to print, copy, or fax over the office network, look for network multifunction copiers.

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Finding The Perfect Digital Copier

When companies are trying to secure a big deal, they often have to spend countless hours preparing documents.  You have to double and triple check that the font is correct and the margins are just right. Each of the pictures used to give the report a professional, dynamic look is in its place.  Now all that is left is to make copies of the final report.  You do not want to take the chance with printing off copies with just any old printer.  This project that you worked so hard on should be printed off on the best printer possible.

Nowadays, you can find copiers in call kinds of sizes, shapes, colors, prices points and various different abilities.  The main question you should ask yourself is how do I find a printer that will give me the quality I need for my business?  You can start by looking at the brand name of the printer. For instances, Canon is a great brand along with HP, Brother and others.

Canon has long been known as a reliable manufacturer of quality and durable printers and copiers.  They have taken their good name and brand image into the world of copiers.  In fact, Canon is the leader of the pack.  The company's Digital Copier is the cream of the crop in terms of similar copiers.  There are a few things that you should consider when looking for the best digital copier for your needs.

First off, you have to consider your needs.  Think about how much you are willing to spend as well as additional costs for things like printer toner cartridges.  What is crucial to giving you the professional appearance in documents that your business demands?  How often will you print out your projects and can you afford the toner and printer toner cartridges needed?  Which printer ink or laser toner will provide the most professional look?  Deciding on the right digital copier can make or break any business deal.

Most copiers on the market today can perform a host of things like fax, scan, make calls and print.  The decision boils down to whether you want a copier that serves as a communication hub or just a simple printer/copier combo.

Make sure you read reviews and perform other research before you decide on the right copier for your business.  Visit an electronics store if you want expert advice from someone who can answer any questions you have about a particular copier.  Find out which digital copiers use the most printer toner for copies.  When it comes to owning a printer, the biggest expense is printer toner cartridges, so you need to make sure that you choose a copier that gets the most out of its printer toner cartridges. But the folks at Canon are confident that your research will lead you to their products.  They have been favorites of consumers requiring sharp, clear printouts.  That is what has made their brand a success and what could make your company a success as well.

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Maintenance of a Digital Copier

A digital copier can break down all of a sudden and you require a servicing company that deals with these situations immediately and also has the facility to change the required parts whenever necessary. Thus, it is important you take care of your printers and copiers well enough, and also employ a copier servicing firm like (Correct-Tek Copier Svc.) that will be able to help you out whenever you need them.

Any modern mechanical device needs a well-skilled maintenance and servicing team.  It is important you don't end up wasting too much time in repairs and upkeep.  A good service system makes sure that precious man hours are not wasted.  Though modern copiers are more reliable than analogue or manual copiers, their servicing needs to be done by a skilled maintenance crew and needs special care and attention.

A regular diagnostics check up and servicing will ensure that the copier is rid of any small glitches, even before they start to become big problems.  This way you ensure that even though there are many people using the copier or it is undergoing heavy usage, it can still run smoothly.

Some points to keep in mind about Digital Copiers and their problems

1. One of the most common problems affecting digital copy machines is that the toner in the copier gets fused because of the heat.  You can use cold water to remove the toner from its clothing.

2. There are times when the copying needs to be done with the lid open.  In such cases it is advisable to do so by using Edge Erase if your copier has the option.  In any case it is advisable not to keep the lid open when copying, as then the copier cannot monitor the amount of toner used, which then results in a thick black layer of ink on the paper.

3. When the digital copier is not in use it is advisable to keep all the paper clips, staples and rubber bands away from the machine.  If any of these get jammed into the drum housing area, they can cause some serious damage.

4. Very important is that all the personnel who are going to use the copier must be trained in the proper way of using it.  Many times the copier gets spoiled, because of misuse or overuse.  A major part of the problem will be solved if the copier is used properly.

5. Another problem that occurs is that the paper gets jammed many times and this can be very frustrating and results in a lot of wasted time.  A solution to this problem is that you should use good quality paper.  This will not only give you great printing, but will also reduce the chances of a paper jam. Whenever there is such an occurrence, it is advisable that the paper jam should be cleaned out completely to avoid a recurrence of the jam.

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Comparing Digital Copiers

If you're ready to upgrade to the new models and designs in digital copiers, then you might be surprised at some of the features that are available to you.  It can be very easy to be wooed by the biggest and best copier machines available on the sales floor.  All the different features that they offer can seem amazing and well worth the money spent.  Before you invest that kind of money, you need to look at the way your business works and what your true needs are.  You need to make sure that the one you choose is right for your business.

Look at Extra Features

Today's digital copiers seem to do everything but make coffee and answer the phones.  At least, the high-end digital copiers seem to have features that make the copy machines of yesterday look like Stone Age equipment.  Sorting, stapling, document imaging and even memory storage make today's digital copiers more like computers than ever before.  You need to ask yourself, how many features in a copier machine does your business really need?

Most businesses don't make thousands of copies per month.  In fact most make hundreds of copies rather than thousands.  The vast majority of businesses that use a copy machine on a regular basis make less than 3000 copies each month, while another large portion of businesses make less than 10,000. The true heavy hitters that make tens of thousands of copies per month are going to need a much larger and more substantial copy machine.   Most small and medium-size businesses won't need anything so elaborate.

If your business will use the copier machines as a printer as well as a copier, you may need a more substantial machine because that does add to the wear and tear, and you may also want to consider a machine that can scan and fax.  These add to the cost, but make the one machine much more efficient and can save space by eliminating other office equipment.

There's also a cost discrepancy between black and white copiers and color copiers.  If you're going to use the copier as a printer a great deal of the time, you should look at some of the color digital copiers.  If you're only going to need color printing occasionally, you may wish to invest in an inexpensive color printer and choose a black-and-white digital copier instead.  Digital copiers cost more when they can print in color, and you might not find the price difference is worth it if you rarely need that feature.  You may also choose a faster copier that costs more if you want to be able to print pages much more quickly.

Keep Security in Mind

Digital copiers today are computers with chips and memory inside them.  That means that sensitive documents that are scanned and copied are stored within the copier.  If your business regularly handles very sensitive information, you'll want to consider the risk that a digital copier poses and take steps to make sure that no one can access the memory.  Talk to the salesperson about the type of memory your copier has and steps that can be taken to protect the information.

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Multifunctional Copier For Your Business

Investing in a powerful, multi-functional copier for your business is one of the best investments you can make for the productivity of your office.  That said, there are several factors you'll need to consider when looking for the right copier, the most important being how often will the copier be used.  When working out how many copies are made per day or month, you will be better able to determine whether you will need a color or black and white copier, the size of the copier as well as its tray's capacity.  The second aspect to ensure about your copier is that it has a duplex option.  This will allow for double, and single sided printing and copying, with the option of making one or the other the default.  This will save plenty of paper.  There should be an option to use single sided printing as well, but ensure this feature should only be used when absolutely necessary.

Ensure that the copier chosen uses a tiny amount of standby power, and that it automatically switches between standby and active mode when not in use.  Plenty of the newer copiers automatically enter into standby mode the moment they are not being used and have awfully fast start up times.  A comparison of some new copiers shows that they only consume 3w of energy as opposed to 690w for some older copiers.  Yet another aspect to consider before deciding on a copier, is whether a multi-functional copier will be a worthwhile investment.  These copiers are able to take on the workload of a scanner, printer, and copier and even fax machines, all in one.  It can also save you a lot of space, if you are running a small office, and will save you money in running and servicing costs should you need to utilize each of these machines for your business.

The resolution of the copier establishes the clarity of each page such as the crispness and clarity of an image, which may be very important depending on the copier's purpose.  Resolution is calculated in dots per inch.  There are copiers equipped with very high resolutions, but save you and require a regular amount of prints with exceptionally clear images, this will certainly impact on the running costs of your copier.  Consequently, dramatically high resolution copiers are mostly only worthwhile to designers and printing businesses.  The next aspect to take into consideration is the speed at which you will require your copier to perform.  A copier's speed is measured in pages per minute.  If you and a lot of other people will be using the copier on a regular basis, it is advisable to get a copier that performs at a faster rate in order to aid productivity.  The software available for the copier should be thoroughly researched to see which capabilities it is equipped with, should you need to make use of it in the future.  Some software may be very useful, particularly for larger organizations where you can keep tabs on what is being printed, and instigating departmental quotas on printing.

A copier is a large investment to make, thoroughly research any decision before making it, and only buy from trusted, accredited suppliers.

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Used Copiers - The New Trend

In this day and age, any professional nowadays that have copiers, they have been a staple in almost every white collar job out there. This is for a number of reasons such as documentation, filing or just simply reproduction of data.  Producing copies from copiers are generally cheaper and less time consuming than recreating new versions of them.  The only catch is that, the copiers themselves cost a small fortune, and you would need a few years of using it before you can actually feel the return of investment for these copiers.

A new trend nowadays is buying used copiers rather than brand new ones.  Investing in used copiers can benefit anyone in many ways and that's why many people are shifting to used copiers rather than saving up for brand new ones.

A used copier is very easy on the pocket book.  A quality used copier can cost about one third the price of a brand new one and even one half the price of the latest versions.  This would allow you to spread your investments into other things like another copier or other equipment all as the cost of one brand new copier.

Used copiers although old, can still offer the same quality copies as brand new ones.  Especially if you do not need any high end graphics and details to be copied, used copiers could be more than enough for you.  Any quality used copier can handle and text documents with little or no difference from a brand new one.

Many used copiers in Chicago offer competitive prices for any type of professional.  Whether for work or personal use, you will be sure to find a quality used copier in the Chicagoland area.  Used copiers in Chicago cost much less than used copiers sold elsewhere, so it would be best to take advantage of this offer if you are living in the Chicagoland area and go get your used copier.  You need not worry about having a hard time finding a used copier in Arlington Heights.  You can find a used copier in Chicago at almost any computer hardware store there.  You can also inspect the used copiers if they are up to your caliber In quality.

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Tips to Choosing a Digital Copier

There are many really good copier manufacturers, like Canon, Lanier, Epson, HP, Sharp, Toshiba, Xerox, etc. All you have to do is understand your business or individual requirements and consider a few points so that making the choice won't be a problem. Don't worry, it's not a very daunting task if do your research well enough.

Tips to buy you Digital Copier

Requirements - First, determine the requirements of your business. If you are a large corporation and the use of your copier will be heavy, then you will require a heavy duty copier that has the capacity to produce large numbers of copies at a time and has the durability to do so. A copier used at home would not be the same one used at a publishing house.

Cost - Cost is another factor you should consider. If you are going to buy more than one copier, make sure you are getting the best deal possible. Make a comprehensive cost comparison. But don't be deterred by high prices and opt for a cheaper model if you are going to require the features of the higher priced model.

Volume - Volume means the ability of a copier to make copies as quickly as possible in the least time. If you are going to require a heavy duty copier, then you need a copier that will provide a high volume turnover and speed. The speed of a copier is dependent on the pages per minute. The basic copier today has a monthly volume of 10,000 copies at 15 pages per minute. The higher end copier can go up to 100ppm and 60,000 copies monthly. Of course, you will have to spend a little more on the high-end copiers, but it will be balanced out by your requirements.

Colour - If you require only a black and white copier, there is no point in investing in a color copier. Although, if you later want to upgrade to a color copier, it will make you pay at least 20-30% more than the black and white one.

Network Card - A copier with a network card is a better solution if you require heavy usage. You can even install a printer mode along with the network card to make your copier a laser printer, thus allowing you to sit at your desk and make copies somewhere else.

Scanners - Scanners are used to scan documents and once that is done, everything can be sorted in the copy machine itself, after which you can let the copier to do its job, leaving you free to get on with your job. Scanning can be done with software called OCR, which stands for Optical Character Recognition, which converts your copier into a scanner. This turns the scanned document into an electronic file, which you can edit and save on your computer.

Fax Machines - Some copiers today come with facilities to both send and receive faxes so that when you receive a fax, it will be directly printed. This saves you the headache of buying a separate fax machine. You can send or receive even multi-page faxes. If you are connected with a network card, then you can even send a fax from your desk.

Editing - Some copiers even come with editing facility. This means that you can even number your pages or add a watermark. You can even add dates to your documents and some copiers even allow you to rotate images. This means the copier recognizes the paper and restyles the content to fit the paper, thus reducing the loss of paper.

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A Closer Look At Xerox Printers And Copiers

Xerox was founded in 1906 and has grown ever since.  Their first copier was big and bulky, and only copied one side.  The company was then known as The Haloid Photographic Company and by the sixties, was simply Xerox.  By the late 1960s, it had made over sixty million in profits, making it one of the most popular types of copiers.

Since then, office equipment has not been the same.  With growing technologies, Xerox has created some of the most advanced products in the world.  These are some of the most valuable assets to most companies that rely on producing quality prints.

Their machines are known to be user friendly, easy to operate and most of them are multi-functional. There are many different styles and sizes to choose from, each coming with its own features and benefits.  They are known to be fast and efficient, making them a priceless addition to each office.

One of the advantages of using a Xerox copier is that they require less maintenance than most of the other copiers on the market today.  Xerox has worked hard to improve each and every feature offered by their machines and in the meantime, making advances in their products.

Xerox is the first company to come up with a product that works in combining two copiers that are in different places.  They could connect the printers so that one copier would copy a document and the other one would print it.  This was the beginning of what we now refer to as the fax machine.

There are many different copiers to choose from that come in different sizes.  There are those that are freestanding and some that fit nicely on a desk top.  There is also the option of printing in color or in black and white.  With every choice of Xerox copiers comes with the peace of mind that comes with owning one of the finest pieces of office equipment today.

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Xerox Copier Supplies

From a Xerox Copier Supplies Company, you can buy many different types of copier hardware and software items to make your office work function better.  Before buying a copier, do a little research on what activities are carried out in your office or department.  This way you'll know your office and copier needs.  After this, schedule a visit to your local office supplies store with a list of the needed items.

To buy all of the copier supplies on your list, verify from the internet that all of the various supplies on your list are available and the different prices for these many items.  You will also be able to identify the genuine Xerox supplies from those less expensive reproductions that are also available.

You can also buy your Xerox Copier supplies online.  If you choose to select the various supplies in person, look at the many promotional offers that you might find in these stores.  Sometimes you will be able to find coupons on the internet for the supplies with which you will find great bargains that will save you some money.  Some of these supplies could be a little difficult to locate, and as such, just  ask the store personnel who have been trained to find various items that are useful in offices for help.

With a well-written list, you can buy many copier supplies first and know what the total price is for each of these supplies, you can then see about choosing the other office supplies that you may need when you reach the office supply store.   Once there, you should hunt for the supplies that you need very carefully.  This way you can be sure that you will have all the correct supplies needed, that will promote efficient work and make your various documents look great.

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How to Buy the Right Copier

Definitions

Business class copiers-Not sold in office club stores.  Sold by knowledgeable and reputable dealers. Designed for higher volumes and dependability.

Office club copiers & personal copiers -Sold in office club stores i.e. Office Depot, Office Max and Costco... For personal and low volume customers.

Cost of Equipment

The cost of a copier can be quite expensive.  Just shopping for price and buying one on cost alone can be misleading and can end up being more expensive in the long run.  This is especially true if you make thousands of copies per month.  You could be paying three times the amount of the price of the copier in toner and supply costs.  It doesn't matter if you are buying one for a business or for personal use.  The first thing you should do is research the cost per copy.

Volume and Cost per Copy

When purchasing a copier you must first research your monthly copy volume.  This is the first step in choosing which copier is right for you.  One easy way to determine this is to think of how many reams of paper you use per month.  Each ream is 500 sheets of paper.  Just multiply that by the amount of reams that you use and you have a fairly accurate assessment of your "copies per month."  The reason you must know this is because it helps you determine you're "cost per copy."  This is how much it will cost you every time you press the copy button.  Now, you take the price of the toner and divide that into the estimated yield and you have your cost per copy.  Example: The toner cost is $100.00 and the yield is 10,000 copies.  Your cost per copy is.01 cents per copy.  Office club type copier supplies are almost always more expensive than a business class type copier.

Service and Repair, Service contracts

Most copier service companies, (not affiliated with office clubs) will not provide you an onsite service contract on an office club copier.  This is because they don't sell them.  Office club stores will normally offer extended warranties but coverage may not be complete.  For example, they might not cover the toner or they won't cover on-site service.  I have had customers call me and tell me that they had to ship the machine off to have it repaired and that they didn't even get the same machine back afterwards. They received a replacement machine.

Many times a business class copier service contract that covers parts, service, and toner and supplies (everything except paper) is less expensive than the toner costs on a personal copier.

Automatic Document Feeder and Feed Systems

Document Feeders

An automatic document feeder is the feeder that automatically feeds your original documents one at a time, so you don't have to stand there and lift the lid each time you have a stack of originals to be copied.  Not all document feeders are created equally.  There are many different mechanisms that feed, separate and eject the originals on all of the makes and models of copiers.  Business type copiers have much better mechanisms than personal type copiers.  When you are in business and you make lots of copies and sets of copies it is frustrating when you can not count on this feature to work dependably.

The most common problems are multi-feeding and jamming problems.  Multi-feeding is when the feeder pulls in more than one original at a time.  Most of the time the copier will not let you know this happened.  It will not show a jam and you may not realize it did this, until you are in the middle of your very important meeting and you have some missing pages.  Paper jamming is another problem where it doesn't pull the paper through correctly and jams.  This is also very frustrating.

Feed Systems

Feed systems are the rollers and mechanisms that pull in your copy paper to make copies.  Paper jams are the most frustrating thing that a person can have with a copier.  Office club type copiers have inferior systems that feed the paper in and as you make larger copier runs the dependability is much less than a business type copier.  I am speaking of my experience of over thirty years in the industry with copiers on both document feeders and feed systems, but there are exceptions and some personal copiers work just fine.

Quality and Longevity

Quality of the copies being made has really improved over the years especially since the digital evolution.  There really is not much difference in copy quality.  I have seen personal copiers that have just as good resolution and copy quality as a very expensive business copier.  That said, when it comes to the quality of manufacturing, sturdiness and just plain quality of the equipment you can see a big difference.

Business type copiers are built to last.  It really depends on your copy volume as to how long each machine will last.  Business copiers are built to last the monthly duty cycles that the manufacturer has designated.  Though sometimes, I feel that they over estimate these amounts.  There are applications where a personal copier will need to be replaced in only one year next to a business type copier that will last seven to ten years, really!

Conclusion

Buying a copier can be expensive, but buying the wrong copier can be a waste of money.  By doing your research ahead of time you can save money and use your copier for many years with fewer problems. Finding a dependable company to service your machine is just as important as buying the right machine.

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Solving Some Troubleshooting for Ricoh Copiers

Ricoh is one famous brand name manufacturer of copier machines that you can choose as the best optional choices of equipment for your offices and also personal needs.  These copier machines are available in various choices of sizes, functions and also abilities.  It is one professional choice of copier products that will need a complicated treatment than any other choices of machine you will ever have. In the daily operation, you will need to deal with some common troubleshooting technique's that you need to solve.

It would be better if you can solve the troubleshooting problem by yourself instead of calling the professional assistant to repair it for you.  Generally, in some cases, you can resolve it by using some simple tools such as a cotton cloth, along with some common glass cleaner.  If you have a problem with your machine where you can't clear an error code or message on the display, you can try to just turn off the machine by holding the power button or switching off the power supply.  If that does not work for your machine, you can sometimes on some machines, try to just unplug the power plug and give it a few moments; before powering it back up.  Instead of those steps above, you may also try to resolve it by, restarting your copier machine and leave it for a moment.

If you have a paper jam problem, you sometimes could have either a beep sound, flashing light, or error code indication on the control panel, when you're trying to restart your machine.  In some of the cases  the Ricoh copier series models, you'll have a screen that will show you the exact location of the paper jamming area.  In which case, you can sometimes try to use, if supplied with; the supplied  paper duster to clean your paper rollers.  In addition to that, you can also try to keep your glass, feeder and scanner parts clean and free from all kinds of dirt.  This type of troubleshooting is also used to solve problems by the error codes that are displayed on the control panel screen.  If all the steps above do not work very well, you can always begin to  just call for the nearest Ricoh copier repair service; to get a professional involved, to get the problems resolved for you.

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