Copier Vending

[mdm]

I must say this is a very informative site on Vending.

I wanted to know if any one has tried (or has any information ) copier or printer vending? I think it is called coin operated machines or coin op for short.

Thanks

mdm

[laki]

I know there is company from Russia producing and exporting copy machines. I think it’s called “Kopirkin”.

[mdm]

Thanks Laki, I will google Kopirkin.

mdm

[laki]

Did you find their web site? What do you think?

I like the part with remote monitoring. Imagine sitting at home and knowing exactly what is going your machine…

Wander what the price is?

[mdm]

Yes I found the site. I found out that the copier used is a Xerox 4118 that is alot less cost than the Kopirkin. However the Kopirkin seems to be built tough to endure the pounding of customers. In my reserach I found that the pounding of customers are the biggest down fall with the coin operated copiers so much so that the cost of repairs eats away the profits.

Anyone knows the cost of the Kopirkin?

mdm

[statik27]

I use to manage a retail shipping/copy-print shop. Couple times a day a machine would jam up and you'd have to find where the the paper was accordianed to get it working again. Not a big deal if your in the building, but it would get annoying and very expensive gas and time wise if you have to drop everything just unjam a copy machine across town or god forbid out of town.

statik

[mdm]

Statik, that is a very good point, have to rethink copier vending.

[BluePlate]

TRM is one the the largest copier vending campanies out there.  They have had nothing but financial problems lately.  About 10 years ago they started playing in the ATM world.  They have changed the ATM division to Access to Money. 

People can buy a All in One laser printer pretty cheap now and prices will continue to drop, I think the market is drying up for "put in 10 cents and get a copy"

[Retired]

Let me tell you a little about Copier and Printer Vending. I have been in the business for 33-years and know its history very well. One of the very first coin-op copiers with the Olivetti and introduced in the US in 1967-68. This was when copiers were only found in large businesses and government. The cost per copy was 10-15 cents. The locations were primarily retail, Post Offices, and a few libraries.

In 1979-80 Savin brought out the Savin 770 plain paper-liquid toner copier, the first affordable plain paper desktop copier. This was followed by Sharp in 1982-83 introducing the first plain paper (bond) coin operated copier, the CN815. This was a very successful unit that was easy for the public to use and was reasonable reliable, and had a large paper capacity. By the mid-to late 1980's the Library and College market really began to open up as the vending copier and now debit card became standard fare. Also, in the late 80's the computer began to infiltrate the Library and College markets and when attached to printers began to seriously erode the copying. Most copying in the Library and Educational markets was from periodicals (magazines and newspapers) and as the internet began to have its effect the number of periodical subscriptions began to shrink, thus the copying revenue also shrank. Today, the copying only amounts to about 30% and printing to 70% of all public/student copying and printing usage. 

Today the environment for vended copies and printing is almost exclusive to the library and educational market with probably less than 10% located in retail stores.

This business is quite different from any regular vending business in the following aspects: 1) a 98-99% up-time is demanded.2) response time is usually specified in the contract as 4-working hours and sometimes less. 3) time is of the essence, particularly in colleges but libraries as well because of pressing assignments, mid-terms, and finals, labs that may be down, etc(remember!).

The investments to get into this business are very similar to those of a full line vendor. A typical copier and coin op mechanism that accepts bills, coins and gives change (CoinCo) will set you back from $3000 B&W to $6000 for color. Just in Copiers one could find 20+ units on a campus. Now add the printing controls and you can have another 10-20 printers plus Print Queue software and necessary hardware.  It is easy to invest upwards of $100,000 per campus just to start for equipment and installations. Many sites easily top $250K - $500K initial investment and typically ties to a contract for 3-5 years with easy escape and cancellation clauses.

The newest thing in this market is the migration away from straight coin/bill-debit card to online accounts---which requires a great deal of computer and software skills and almost a 24-hour/7-days a week manned service center off site where the vending co staff goes online to repair software glitches, ip addresses, install patches and updates to the software, and reset the communications with the copiers and printers. The vendor holds the money collected or deposited into the accounts for both the online and debit cards in an escrow account and money is released from the escrow as either debit card or online account users make prints or copies. The accounting requirements are much much tighter than the typical vending operation and made even more-so when you are responsible for maintaining an escrow account.

PLUS SIDE:

The worse the economy the better the business, large tax write-offs from the equipment purchases, can net up to 30-37.5% bottom line, clean environment and usually safe to place equipment-service and make collections, no outside in-the-weather locations.

MINUS SIDE:

Huge investments, highly trained employees, students and patrons stealing paper, some vandalism, look forward to a lot of travel.

MUST HAVE:

If you are interested in this business and can meet the above descriptions you will still must have, first and foremost, a HUGE SENSE OF URGENCY in addressing service calls and complaints and EMPATHY for the library and college staff who face the injured and irate

students and patrons.

By the way, TRM was primarily in the retail market and post office markets and have not done well; as a result, they have all but abandoned the coinop copier business and placed most of their efforts in expanding their ATM operations.

I hope this answers a lot of questions concerning vending of copiers and printers.

RETIRED

800-551-8471

[caserri]

Great Post Retired. I had to give you "respect" on that one.

[mdm]

Retired, Thanks for the information, copier vending is not as I thought.

It is nice to meet another copier guy. I am currently working as a customer service representative and have been in the business for over twenty years. The Savin 770 was one of my base line training technical course.

Retired, are you also in the vending business?

mdm

[Retired]

As my name indicated, I am actually "semi-retired" and I am another victim of BizOp scams with the bulk vending Mad Dog Buzz Bites venue. I only have about a dozen machines out primarily due to the jamming problems and the fact that the anticipated volume was highly exaggerated, and am gradually selling my units. I must say that I was just a dummy for getting caught up in the scam. However, I still do consulting and marketing for several of my old rivals in the coin-op copier/printing business here in southern California.

Retired