With many schools preparing to start a new academic year, teachers and staff are working to ensure that they have all of the equipment necessary to fulfill their educational duties. Unfortunately, it’s widely known that teachers often have to purchase supplies out of their own pockets due to lack of funding, and while that may not include equipment such as copiers and printers, there is often a limited budget for these items. That’s where leasing comes in. Schools and educational institutions in Sonoma County may find that leasing copiers is the ideal way to ensure they have the equipment necessary while also keeping their budget in check. Let’s take a deeper look at why leasing is perfect for schools and how Common Sense Business Solutions can make the leasing process easy.
The Unique Copier and Printer Needs of Schools
Whether it’s an elementary school, high school, university, or technical school, there are some common copier and printer needs across all educational institutions. By understanding what your school’s unique needs are, you’ll be better able to determine what type of copier or printer you need. You will also be able to see the benefits of leasing over purchasing, especially for those institutions that make a large amount of copies.
While it’s true that some upper-level educational institutions such as community colleges, universities, and tech school have incorporated various digital platforms and tools into the classroom experience, for some things, there’s no replacing a printed hardcopy. Whether it’s a form that needs a signature or a copy of a diagram to refer to while working on an engine, sometimes you can’t get around printing, which is why every school needs at least one copier, if not more. Here are some of the common items that educational facilities need to make copies of:
Worksheets and Tests
Worksheets and tests done in class often need to be printed out. In some cases, students don’t have access to laptops or computers, and in other cases, you may want to assure that students aren’t using the internet. Some tests are also simply easier to do on paper than they are online. Tests that require drawing molecular structures or architectural diagrams, for example, may be a little more difficult to do with online tools.
Consent and Acknowledgement Forms
Many educational facilities need written confirmation that students have received certain materials or acknowledge various academic policies. Making copies of these forms and having them hand signed in front of a school official makes it clear that each student acknowledged the form and had the opportunity to read it. Copies of the signed form can be filed in the student’s record or provided to the student for future reference.
Copies for Parents
Elementary, middle, or high schools may need to make copies of student assignments and other documents for parents. Parents may want copies of assignments students did poorly on or that were at the center of a plagiarism issue. Teachers may want to retain the original for school records or for other uses, so having a copier is essential in order to provide parents with a graded copy that includes all notes the teacher made on the assignment.
Budgeting Needs
As mentioned earlier, schools often have to stretch their budget. Unlike businesses, they don’t have regular income throughout the year. Instead, their budgets are provided at the beginning of their fiscal year, and they have to make that money last for an entire year. Buying new copiers or printers isn’t something that’s done on a whim – the superintendent and others carefully plan and budget for large purchases.
This is why leasing is often a much better option. There’s no large upfront cost, plus lease agreements often include toner and maintenance. School officials are better able to accommodate the smaller leasing fees into their budgets.
Sonoma County Schools Often Need Multiple Machines
Businesses that work out of a single office can often get away with a single copier. In a real estate office, for example, there are several agents and support staff working from the same area. One shared copier in a common space can be enough to meet the office’s needs. With a school, however, that’s not the case. Even small schools will have multiple teachers, staff, and possibly even some students needing to make copies at the same time. The campus is also typically larger than most small businesses. It doesn’t make sense for teachers at one end of the school to have to walk to the other end of the campus to make copies. Having several machines is often the much better solution.
Of course, this means purchasing multiple machines, which gets costly. Leasing, again, makes it much more affordable. It also opens up options. If the school were to buy multiple copiers at once, they may have to go with the cheaper options so they can buy several. If they lease, they may be able to lease something like the Konica Minolta Bizhub C250i color copier for the main office and then lease several Konica Minolta Bizhub 4051i black and white copiers for other areas. Many copies made at schools are basic black and white copies, but it could be very helpful to have a color copier available at times. With leasing, this is much easier to accomplish.
The Benefits of Leasing from CSBS
If you’re in charge of a school’s equipment or have a say in the decision, it can help to know more about the benefits of leasing a copier from CSBS. Whether you need one machine or several, leasing can often be the ideal solution for several reasons:
Upgrades are easily available. When you purchase a piece of equipment, you’re stuck with it, even if it breaks or becomes outdated. Selling off outdating equipment isn’t always easy, and you won’t recoup much of the initial cost. However, with leasing, contracts have an upgrade option. You can upgrade your old copier to one of the newest machines with different features, or even downgrade to a cheaper option if you decide you don’t need all the bells and whistles you have.
Maintenance is just a phone call away. CSBS contracts include regular maintenance plus emergency repairs. If your copier goes down, it can leave teachers without the necessary materials needed to teach and students without the handouts needed to learn. If that occurs to a copier you own, you have to find someone to come make repairs, and that can take a while. You’ll also have to pay for those repairs. When your leased machine goes down, we send someone out immediately. We keep spare parts at our local warehouse, too, so repairs often take only a few hours rather than days or even weeks. If a machine is beyond repair or will take longer to fix, we can swap it out for another one.
You only supply the paper. Our lease agreements include regular toner supplies. We provide every customer with backup toner, too, so you don’t have to worry about running out. We can adjust how often toner is delivered if you determine that your needs are greater than anticipated. The only thing you have to supply is paper.
Reach Out Today to Learn More
If your school, college, or university in Sonoma County is in need of a new copier, CSBS is here for you. Whether it’s a basic black and white copier or a full color machine that can collate and staple, we’ve got the machine for you. Contact us today to learn more about your options.
