Printer End of Life

Printer End of Life

Every device in the printing industry has a service life, and understanding  exactly what that is helps you save money in the long run. In all of our years in the industry, we have seen providers take advantage of their clients when it comes to reclaiming devices before their end of service life. Clients willingly give up devices that could be money in their pocket for every year of continued use. 

In this article we discuss ways to take advantage of the service life of your device, and why we recommend it. 

What Is The Real End Of Service Life?

The end of the service life is roughly ten years from when the manufacturer first manufactured the device model. It will vary, but generally, ten years is the average, and if you have a piece of equipment for that long, you are doing very well. 

What does it mean when the device is at the end of its service life? 

There are two factors that dictate when a device has reached the end of its service.

• The manufacturer is no longer making parts for that device.
• The firmware or printer driver is no longer being updated. 

If the manufacturer is no longer making the replacement parts for a device, it can make it harder to support the device. Once those parts become absolutely obsolete, it will be almost impossible to fix the device or find techs trained on how to do it. However, it is not necessarily the end of the device’s life, because you can get used parts through various supply companies or take them off used printers. Availability of parts is normally what will force a change in this situation.

Another important thing is if the firmware or print driver is no longer updated. The firmware is the brain and also the security of the printer. The obvious implications of that are numerous. Many companies that are security conscious would not want their devices if the firmware is not updated, because the device is not protected against malware and emerging attacks. If the printer driver is not updated, that affects compatibility with software and control of print jobs.  This is another major cause of a client having to get new hardware.

The Advantages Of Maintaining A Device Through End Of Service Life

As previously mentioned, for every year you use a device after it is paid for, you are saving money. As long as the device is not breaking down and costing you more than it is worth, it is wise to accept small maintenance repairs that cost less than getting a new device.  You will always have the option to upgrade the hardware, so there is no rush to change it out because it hit a magic timeframe.

How long a device is valuable to a business is up to them. Sometimes you may want a newer device for various reasons, either because of the ability of that device or to keep your fleet uniform. However, as long as a device serves its purpose, you can potentially save money in the long run.

We Can Help

If you would like to learn more about our approach to managed print service and the end of service life, give us a call. Our goal is to help you have an intelligent and strategic approach to all the devices in your print fleet.