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Mandel looks at the pros and cons of buying new or used printing equipment in his interviews with well-known industry experts.
By Rick Mandel
What experts say about new equipment
Buying a new digital printer has the advantage of current technology, a warranty time frame to work out the bugs, and access to techs within the OEM, though hefty service contracts are required on the high-end production devices.
Bill Kujawa, president of BK Marketing, says, “Buying new is a difficult ROI unless you have a client or a contract. Buying new will also make you paranoid because a newer, faster, better presses will soon be in the market.” Therefore, buy new for specific needs of a client or clients. Build it and they will come is a philosophy that’s long gone. Rather, build it when the need is present.
Joe Shondel, past president of SGIA, echoes Bill’s message that relate to high-speed digital presses. “Unless your business is profitable and growing, these types of fees (service contracts) are very difficult to amortize over the course of a year and still many repairs are still not covered 100%.” Monthly costs for debt service and service contracts can be a huge nut to crack, though offer fantastic throughput if the work is consistently there.
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