"If it ain't broke…fix it 'til it is."

Folks are finally waking up and realizing that their local community matters, and that smaller really is better, and that the big box mega stores drain money out of their local economy.

The following web sites have a wealth of great content:

NewRules.org

The Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) proposes a set of new rules that builds community by supporting humanly scaled politics and economics. The rules call for:

* Decisions made by those impacted
* Communities accepting responsibility for the welfare of their members and the next generation
* Households and communities possessing or owning sufficient productive capacity to generate real wealth

BigBoxToolkit.com

Big Box Tool Kit has the resources you’ll need to both beat the big box and to chart a new course for economic development in your community.

I have a great deal of respect for our worthy big box competitors. In fact, they’re geniuses….the only problem is, they’re evil geniuses. They know how to rip people off while making them think they’re getting a great deal, but occasionally they get caught perpetrating their scams, deception and trickery and recently they have been getting caught a lot. Check out the links below to read more:

U.S. Communities contract terminated by Lee Co., Florida School District.

Audit says Office Depot overcharged taxpayers.

States of Nebraska, Georgia, California, North Carolina…they all got ripped off by Office Depot.

Staples Overcharging and Mispricing on Georgia State Contract

We are frequently asked how we could possibly compete against “The Big Guys” (meaning our local office products big box outlet).  The answer is that we can more than compete, and the reason is pretty simple really:  “The Big Guys” monthly utility bill is greater than our lease payment on two locations, our total monthly payroll, all of our  insurance payments and our utility bill combined. I cringe to even think about what kind of montly rent they must be paying, but I’m sure it’s astronomical.  Our low overhead and cost structure allows us to pass those savings along to our customers, and in addition, we don’t have to make Wall Street happy by hitting quarterly numbers.  And believe it or not, through our national distribution partner and buying group, we have purchasing power that allows us to buy product at a price that is competitive with anyone and other than stock for our small retail store, we don’t buy anything until we have it sold…therefore we don’t tie up  resources in slow moving inventory

The bottom line is this: there is simply no more expensive or inefficient method of distributing product than stacking it up in a climate controlled big box, brick and mortar store, then paying people to put it out, dust it and guard it while it sits on a shelf, and ultimately waiting and hoping for someone to come in, pick it up and buy it.  The shopping mall and big box outlets are dying retail anachronisms that provide an unsustainable business model in an era when cyber-shopping is clearly starting to dominate the consumer landscape.

Our online ordering site Mosdirect.com offers price comparison features that allow us to match and beat our big national competitors.

I know…I haven’t posted in a long time. Oh well, I’ve been busy and just forgot to do it.  Here is what is on my mind:  The economic collapse has changed retail forever…sure there are exceptions, like bottom feeder Wal Mart who has captured many new customers as they float down the economic scale, but the trend is clear that the Big Box operators are essentially doomed.  The reason is simple: the Internet has won. Retail is simply too expensive and inefficient as a method of product distribution…items are stored in an expensive building, sitting on expensive real estate, with expensive utilities and requiring massive amounts of labor to maintain and transact this whole scenario.   Not only that, but because of the power of the web, every potential retail customer knows the best price in the nation on any given item, and as mobile technology progresses, they can look up prices while they’re in the store. This means that high overhead retailers must try to compete on price with much more efficient operations…which of course they can’t do.  The good news is that specialty and boutique resellers stand to gain, as people will be buying commodity products on the web, and will be looking for “social shopping” outlets and retail stores offering a unique experience.

Personally,  I won’t miss the big box resellers….good riddance.

This is funny…but not really…because unfortunately it’s true.

Big Box Mart by Jib Jab

Big Box Mart by JibJab

I generally go through this same conversation at least 2-3 times per week, so I’m just going to write it down:

Commercial Grade vs. Consumer Grade

Office machines, including printers, fax machines, copiers and multifunction devices generally break down into two major categories: consumer grade and commercial grade.  A rough guideline is that any piece of equipment selling for less than $750 to $800 is going to be consumer grade equipment.  Many office machine manufacturers offer both commercial and consumer grade products, but some companies concentrate on one market or the other.  So what’s the difference?  In short, quality of components and construction…the consumer market is driven by price and manufacturers do everything they can, including sacrificing product quality, to achieve a certain price point.  Commercial equipment is intended for office type use and is more durable and capable than it’s consumer counterpart.  Another guideline is that if your monthly print volume is 500 pages or more, then you might want to consider buying commercial grade equipment.

Also keep in mind that consumer grade equipment is disposable…meaning that if it fails out of warranty, and you can’t fix it yourself,  you might as well throw it away because the cost of repair will be prohibitive.  Commercial grade equipment has longer warranties, you can normally buy service agreements. If your office equipment is mission critical then don’t even consider consumer grade unless you plan on keeping a back-up unit on site at all times.

Color vs. monochrome (black print only).

In consumer grade equipment, if you don’t absolutely need color output, then don’t get it.  Regardless of the underlying print engine technology (laser or inkjet), color capability will cost you more, both in initial equipment cost and ongoing supply costs.  In fact, depending on your requirements, it might make sense to buy a monochrome laser printer for general office output (invoices, statements, checks, etc.) and an additional small inkjet printer for the occasions when color is necessary.  In high volume commercial grade equipment the cost advantages of monochrome are not as great, but in the lower end it certainly is.

Inkjet vs. Laser.

This comparison can get complicated, but in general laser is almost always better than inkjet technology, the exception being photo printing.  For office use, my recommendation would be to not even consider inkjet because of the dramatic difference in the cost of consumables, but again depending on your particular application that might not apply.  A cheap inkjet printer, using high grade photographic paper will produce a better photo than a much more expensive color laser printer, but on cheap everyday paper the laser will win…go figure.

Multifunction vs. dedicated equipment.

When considering consumer grade equipment, the only place for multifunction is in a low volume home office application.  Multifunction devices do a number of things alright, but they don’t do anything very well, and in an office environment if it fails then you’re in trouble because you can’t print, copy or fax.  Remember that if you’re evaluating multifunction equipment that you’re buying 2,3 or 4 seperate devices that share a common case and components and you have to make sure that it does what you need in each category.  If you’re looking at commercial multifunction, I would suggest that you rely on a professional salesperson to advise you.  Bottom line: consumer grade multifunction devices are fine for home office use, but NOT mission critical office application, unless you have a viable backup plan.

Consumable Pricing

You can’t compare the cost of toner or ink cartridges without knowing the capacity (or estimated page count) and then dividing the cost by the capacity to come up with a “cost per page” figure.  What makes this more difficult is that manufacturers use different and sometimes deceiving estimated capacity figures.  There is a lot of information on the web regarding cost per page comparison.   In general, the lower the initial cost of the equipment, the higher the cost per page…so again, don’t even consider this type equipment for high volume applications.

The fallacy of falling prices.

When HP introduced the LaserJet II in 1987 it sold for about $2700.00.  Today you can buy a laser printer for about $100.00…so prices have really come down, right. Wrong!  To purchase a printer of equivalent quality to the LaserJet II today, you would pay roughly the same amount, but you would get a much faster, more fully featured printer.  What happens over time with new technology is that manufacturers come out with lower and lower priced versions of the original, but the quality drops right along with the price.

Any inkjet printer or multifunction device that sells for under $100.00 will be a piece of junk…I would rather do without a printer than mess with one of those.

Which brand equipment is best?

Below is my opinion only, and remember your opinion is as valid as mine.

Hewlett Packard:  HP equipment is generally pretty good once you get out of the lower end products.  Their game is to knock your head off on consumables.  They also tend to push photo features because they love to see you burn through their high priced ink printing out photographs. Their drivers and software are also very good. Summary: if you do your homework and buy the correct equipment to match your task, then it’s hard to go wrong with HP.

Brother:  What I like about Brother equipment is that it’s targeted at the small/mid office user and their consumables pricing is very competitive.  The knock against them is that some of their equipment can be pretty “jickey”…meaning that is has a lightweight plastic feel, but given reasonable care it’s fine.  Their better higher end equipment has less of the jickey factor.

Epson: Epson has abandoned the laser market and for a long time virtually every inkjet product they offered was a “photo” printer.  Well, people finally figured out that they can have their digital photos developed professionally for less than it costs them to print them on their own printer, so…Epson is finally getting the message an offering some products other than photo printers.

Summary.

The consumer vs. commercial decision is probably the most important in terms of your day-to-day satisfaction with a product and if your application demands it and your budget allows it, then get the product you need.  If your volume is light, your equipment is not mission critical and/or your budget demands it, then consumer grade equipment is fine.  One last (and probably worst) option if you have a mid to heavy volume office is to buy consumer grade equipment an treat it as disposable, which it essentially is.

As everyone is now aware, shipping costs have risen dramatically in the past year, and this trend will likely continue.  In order to conserve space on trucks and increase shipping efficiency many office furniture manufacturers have increased the number of items that require some, or substantial, assembly.  In general, if an item comes unassembled, we will deliver it to you unassembled unless prior arrangements have been made, and we are able to offer assembly on many items for a reasonable fee.  If you place orders on our web site, plese check the “Product Details” tab (see Fig. 1 below) to verify if a product comes preassembled or not.

Fig. 1

Beware of Unassembled Storage Cabinets!!!

Most items can be assembled relatively easily with the proper tools and adequate time, but an exception to that rule are metal storage cabinets.  It has been our experience that this particular product can be extremely difficult and time consuming to assemble and get the doors to align properly.  HON and Alera both offer metal cabinets that come fully assembled.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions regarding product assembly and/or pricing and don’t forget to verify assembly requirements prior to ordering.  Thanks!

Ever wonder why you don’t see a new generic HP or Lexmark cartridge? It’s because they patent their cartridge designs and aggressively defend those patents. There are companies overseas that manufacture compatilbe HP and Lexmark ink cartridges, but when anyone brings them into the US, the lawyers jump into action and the offending party is sued into submission or intimidated until they stop selling those products. Why do the big guys get so upset? It’s because they make gobs of money on the consumable supplies and don’t want anybody messing with their cash cow. They can’t stop the “refilling” of their empty cartridges, and that is growing into quite an industry itself, with both remanufactured cartridges and kiosk type refill stations becoming common.