Sunday, May 29, 2016

Thoughts on InfoPrint 75 and InfoPrint 100 CF Continuous Form Printers

Don't be captive in the Ricoh cage with the InfoPrint 75 or InfoPrint 100.

CLICK HERE - OTHER SOLUTIONS ARE AVAILABLE

2020 EDIT: RICOH WILL END SERVICE ON MARCH 31, 2021. RICOH TODAY SELLS NO REPAIR PARTS TO 3rd PARTY SERVICE PROVIDERS. RICOH'S TONER SOLE-SOURCE SUPPLIER HAS ANNOUNCED TO CUSTOMERS THEIR END-OF-AVAILABILITY OF IP75/100 TONER PRODUCT 03/31/2021. RICOH ABANDONS IP75 AND IP100 INSTALL BASE.

NO NEW PRINTERS: The IP75 and IP100 are no longer sold new. Ricoh never let their Copier / "Office Solutions" dealers access sales or parts to deliver service. 

NO RESELLER CONTRACTS: You cannot buy a Ricoh service contract on a used IP75 from a printer reseller if you do not already have a contract with them.  You have to additionally go deal with Ricoh RPPS.

NO VENDOR SALES EXPERTS: Ricoh Production Print Solutions fired all the InfoPrint sales teams and resellers that sold into the Distribution and Manufacturing industries. Then, not surprisingly, IP75 and IP 100 sales dropped off to nearly none. The only folks that really understand these printers are the former resellers like Printer Connection.

NO UPGRADE PATH:  There is no Ricoh follow-on printer for the IP75. Now Ricoh RPPS concentrates on this enormous, million-dollar inkjet press-style print-for-profit equipment.


NO SERVICE CHOICES: You cannot get good third-party InfoPrint 75 service because not enough of these units were sold to put enough parts machines and used parts into the market, and Ricoh is a pain to deal with for parts.

CHOOSE A VENDOR THAT CARES: There are excellent choices for new CF Lasers, and you don't have to be captive to a Dead-End product, a 'Don't-Care' vendor, and a 'Don't-Want-to-be-Bothered' supply chain for toner.  We have some great solutions for CF printing.  Choose great support, excellent pre-sales consulting and testing, and Make Printing Great Again (sorry, got carried away...).

Contact Warren Neeley, Printer Connection at 817-430-6202 or wneeley@pciprinters.com.




Saturday, May 14, 2016

Dry Erase Markers and the Problem with "Industry Standard"

We got a new dry erase board to replace the old one. The marks on the old one just would not erase, and it was discolored. It was time. So, we got a new board and guess what? Our new board didn't erase any better than the old one. Hmmm. Must be bad old markers, right?
We got new markers, just like everyone uses.  Just like you see everywhere you go.  The "EXPO" brand seems to be what everybody uses.  They are sold by everybody.

New markers on the new board just didn't erase very well. SHOOT! Now what? Did we waste our money on a defective board?

After just not working on the board for a while, I decided to try some no-name markers from another source.  WOW! They erase like my Dad would say "Slicker 'n a nickel!"  They are GREAT!

What does this have to do with Printers? Customers buy Zebra thermal printers, and WHY?  Everyone, everywhere, and everybody.  But then, ask.  Are Zebras as good as the BEST?  Did folks just GET USED TO THEM? Do Zebras work as WELL AS OTHER ONES?  Are they "Slicker 'n a nickel!"?

Other units understand and use the Zebra language perfectly, and have been for years. Ask us about thermal printers, and ones that just might work fine in your environment.

I'm sure glad I tried some other markers.  Now, back to my website planning on my dry erase board.