One of the most important assets for any business is its employees. Highly skilled and experienced employees have the ability to take a mediocre business and turn it into a superstar in a very short time. However, even the best employees can’t amount to much without the right tools. One of the tools that good employees need to excel in their given assignments is a high quality printer.
However, it has to be the right kind of printer. Entry level, basic printers are not good enough to handle the workload and quality requirements of an ambitious business. However, as is the case with most expensive office equipment, the modern printer or copier can be acquired in two ways i.e. lease and direct purchase. It is because of this that most businesses have to face the dilemma of leasing a printer vs. buying a printer sooner or later in their growth trajectory.
Why The Big Fuss About Leasing A Printer Vs. Buying A Printer?
Let’s approach this question in a structured and step by step basis. The printer is an important piece of machine irrespective of which industry the business works in.
The printer or copier has the capability of making the office more efficient because printing is a much faster process than typing or even visiting the local store.
That establishes the fact that the printer is important. Now, let’s consider the financial side of things.
A successful business would not settle for an entry level printer because it will not provide the same kind of features and versatility that more advanced models will offer. Unfortunately, the more advanced printer models cost a good deal of money.
This cost vs. functionality dilemma is the real cause behind businesses thinking twice before deciding on leasing a printer or buying a printer. Since we are here to resolve this dilemma for you, here are pros and cons of both leasing a printer and buying a printer.
The Advantages of Leasing a Printer
The problem with any kind of technology is that it becomes obsolete very quickly. Computers, tablets, smartphones, and printers all have a very short lifespan not in terms of durability but instead in terms of technological relevance.
Therefore, if you buy a printer tomorrow, then two years down the line, you may find yourself stuck with out of date technology. This problem, however, won’t exist in the case of leasing a printer. When you lease a printer, you sign a lease for a certain period of time. Once that lease expires, you can simply not renew the lease and instead lease a new printer.
Leasing a printer also brings expensive technology within your business’s reach. For instance, small to medium scale businesses often have to think twice before buying an expensive piece of equipment because the required investment is so high. Such businesses can simply choose to lease that expensive printer because monthly payments are smaller and more manageable than huge acquisition costs.
Another benefit of leasing a printer is that it usually doesn’t require any kind of down payment. Moreover, leasing a printer also means that your business will know precisely how much money it will be required to pay every month. This absence of down payments and predictability of monthly payments make leasing a printer one of the most financially stable elements for a business to rely on.
The Disadvantages of Leasing a Printer
While the benefits of leasing a printer are quite substantial, the process has its fair share of flaws as well. The biggest flaw of leasing a printer is that, in the long run, your business will end up paying more than what the printer was actually worth at the time of purchase.
For instance, if you want a printer worth $5,000 today and choose to lease it at $175 per month for a period of three years, then by the end of the lease period you would have paid a sum of $6,300. This means that you will end up paying about $1,300 more than you would have had to if you had purchased the printer outright.
Another downside of leasing a printer is that certain lease contracts have lock-in periods. The lock-in period means that you have no option to discontinue the lease if your needs change. In fact, you would be required to pay for the lease period, irrespective of whether you’re using the leased printer or not.
The Advantages of Buying a Printer
Now that you’ve understood the pros and cons of leasing a printer, you need to consider the same for buying a printer to make the right choice. First and foremost, you should know that buying a printer has a financial benefit as well.
This is the fact that the printer becomes a deductible for your business when it comes to paying your taxes. This means that you can reduce the full cost of the printer you’re buying from your business’s taxable income. If your printer is expensive, then this can turn out to be a significant deduction.
Another advantage of buying a printer over leasing a printer is that you decide how to maintain your printer. This is an advantage because many printer lease contracts have stipulations concerning the frequency with which the printer needs to be maintained.
These stipulations are usually on the safer side which means that you’ll be required to have your leased printer service more often than it actually needs. Since servicing a printer has its own costs, this increases your total printer upkeep.
Finally, the simple fact is that buying a printer is far easier than leasing a printer. If you want to buy a printer, then you simply do the research, make the decision, and pull the trigger.
In contrast, leasing a printer involves a lot of paperwork. You’ll also have to study the lease contract or get legal counsel to do this for you before you can the printer will be delivered to your office premises. This can become quite a hassle because it will take you away from business tasks that are far more important.
The Disadvantages of Buying a Printer
There are two flaws of buying a printer, which could be significant or insignificant for your business, depending upon your specific requirements and your financial capabilities.
The first flaw of buying a printer that is the direct opposite of leasing a printer is that you will, sooner or later, find yourself stuck with a piece of obsolete technology.
It is inevitable that your business’s hi – tech printer of today will become yesterday’s news a few years down the line. Combine this fact with the depreciating value of the out of date technology and you end up with a piece of scrap five years in the future.
The other disadvantage of buying a printer is that it requires a significant down payment. If your business is small or your finances tight, then this down payment may seem too much, especially if the future of your industry is uncertain.
As you can see there are benefits and flaws of both, leasing a printer and buying a printer. Therefore, the best way to decide between these two dilemmas is to balance these advantages and disadvantages with your specific business situation in mind.
Both are ideal leasing or buying, it all depends on your requirements. If your organization is big leasing is preferable, you will have the feasibility to upgrade, no maintenance charges, quick assistance etc.