The Hidden Issues with Refurbished Printer Rentals

Businesses interested in refurbished printer rentals usually want to reduce office expenses. These features are often appealing to small teams or temporary offices because of the low monthly fees. Once you have the machine set up in a busy office, however, that is when the real test occurs. In addition to the rental cost, companies need to look at all aspects of the machine’s use including; downtime, maintenance, printing quality, security, support, and long-term reliability.

Reasons for Using Refurbished Printer Rentals

There are many legitimate reasons that companies consider renting refurbished printers for use in their workplaces. Often they may be ideal for short-term projects, temporary offices or low-volume printing and for large budget constraints. Renting also avoids the initial expense associated with purchasing a new machine. The issue isn’t that refurbished printers aren’t good choices. The biggest refurbished printer risk occurs when a company expects an antique to continue being able to provide good quality, volume print jobs and professional documents on demand.

In Australian businesses, what are some of the most common printer rental problems?

Some of the printer rental problems in Australia are torn rollers or other worn components, slow printing speed, paper jams, inconsistent colours and defective parts within the printer. Occasionally these types of issues occur with printers that no longer contain appropriate components such as obsolete features, short warranty period, or toner compatibility.

Office printer reliability issues are difficult to solve, especially when used by multiple teams. A printer that has functioned well with low-volume production will struggle to function when it is converted to be the only print device for the workplace.

What additional downtime is created by refurbished or second-hand printers?

Refurbished printers are used and have been stored, meaning their internal components will show signs of use due to the previous owner. Therefore, they experience paper jams, multiple prints, error messages, and additional calls to the technician for repairs.

All the downtime issues that office printers create for the office manager and employees do not only pertain towards the printer itself; there may also be employees that will be waiting on reports, bills, and contracts to be printed, labels to have printed for deliveries, and meeting materials to have printed, which could create delays that will be based on the total workloads of the employees until one of their printers has experienced a minor failure that would delay their entire workday.

Hidden Costs Businesses Often Miss

Lower costs don’t always equal better value. There may be hidden costs for things such as repair fees, emergency service calls, replacement of parts, wasted toner due to poor printing quality and missed deadlines.

Staff time is also a cost. If employees are having to wait for the device to restart, reprint faded pages or repeatedly call the vendor for support, they will not feel like they are getting a benefit because of the amount of time spent waiting for those activities to occur.

Refurbished vs New Printer Rental in Australia

When comparing refurbished vs new printer rental Australia options, the right answer depends on print volume, budget and tolerance for downtime. Refurbished rentals may be suitable for light or temporary use.

New printer rentals may offer stronger reliability, updated features, faster output, better security, lower maintenance needs and more predictable support. For businesses that print daily, those benefits can matter more than the lower monthly cost.

Security Risks with Refurbished Printers

Newer printers are capable of storing the following information: scan history, print history, network settings, and user account credentials. If your used printer has not been thoroughly wiped from all information, up-to-date on the firmware version and hardened before you rent it, you could be putting your business’ privacy and security at risk.

Conclusion

When considering a refurbished printer rental, the initial low cost may seem appealing, however businesses need to think about the overall cost of poor reliability, downtime, expensive repairs, and poor security before committing to one. A high-quality printer rental should complement your daily business activities not disrupt them.