This week Dan Tero, president of Image Works of Oklahoma in Oklahoma City shares what’s hot and what’s not in his market.
What’s hot?
Tero: People scaling back from larger machines and going to A4s. We’re putting three or four of these 40-ppm machines like we saw at the Kyocera dealer meeting instead of one big 65- or 75-ppm copier. People are spending less money and getting what they need with the same volume. Actually volumes are going up because they have more printers.
We’re also seeing a big increase in color the last two to three years, especially with Kyocera’s new product. And we’re starting to see more inkjet whether Riso or high-speed Memjet.
What’s not?
Tero: Margins. As an independent dealer I would like to see the manufacturers, branches, Xerox, Global, Konica’s, hold their margins better on service and maintenance. I was talking to a sales rep this morning and somebody was quoting .004 on a B&W machine and they’re only doing 20,000 copies a month, and they’re going to include staples! I want to pay my people a fair wage, give them health insurance, and give them a retirement plan. I understand IKONs of the world need to get boxes out there, and they’re publicly traded, that’s the biggest thing, but keep the margins up. [I want to see] a fair price. I don’t want to charge them 4 cents for a black & white click. I get that, but I think a penny or 8 mils is fair. To compete against the 4 mils and 3 ½ mils sometimes it’s not worth our time.
