What You Need to Know About Copier End of Life and the 5 Year Service Rule
Copier manufacturers are relentless about getting old copiers out of the field and new ones out into the world as quickly as possible. In a rush to get their new fleet of copiers out into the world, they rush to discontinue old models to get people to buy these more modern models.
Thankfully, not all is lost once a copier model gets discontinued. There is a little-known “5 Year Service Rule” you can use to your advantage immediately to save you money if you need to get a new copier, or if you want to extend the life of a copier you currently have.
What Is The 5 Year Service Rule?
Copier manufacturers are required to keep parts in the channel five years after the copier model’s discontinue date. This rule means you can continue to get the parts you need without needing to shell out money for a new copier right away.
Copier manufacturers stop supporting these copiers on the day that copier model reaches that five-year mark. Once that date arrives, that copier model is well and truly dead.
Why Is This 5 Year Rule So Important to Know?
Unscrupulous copier reps take advantage of a copier’s discontinuation to try to sell a newer, more expensive copier. They call you and tell you the model got discontinued; therefore, it’s now much harder and more costly to get the parts you need to maintain it.
Unfortunately, they’ll forget to tell you about the 5 Year Rule. They want you to believe that you can no longer get parts or service on that specific model once the copier gets discontinued.
Also, they’ll conveniently have a new model at a “great price” that’s only $50 more per month, and it’s brand new.
If the model you’re looking at got discontinued eight years ago, the sales rep is telling you the truth. However, if the model got discontinued six months ago, the copier has a good four and a half years of service.
You want to buy equipment that still has a decent life cycle left on it. You don’t want to buy a copier that got discontinued four years ago.
Keep the 5 Year Rule in Mind to Save Money on Your Copier.
Whether you want to save money on buying a copier or extend the life of the one you already have, this five-year rule will let your discontinued copier live to work another day. Keep in mind that once that five-year mark is up, you really will need to let go and get a new copier.
If you want to get a better deal on a copier, keep the five-year rule in the back of your mind.