Printers Should Not Break More Than Once A Year

I recently conducted a controlled survey, where I asked office workers how often they think is acceptable for printer malfunctions. The results ranged from one extreme to the other, but a good number of people (32% to be exact) felt that a printer shouldn’t malfunction more than once a year.

I think most of us would be happy if our printers lasted more than a few days without jamming up. As a matter of fact, out of that 32%, about half of the respondents had printers that broke at least once a month.

The thing is, a once per year breakdown isn’t entirely unreasonable. It could happen if 1 – the printer isn’t being overused and 2 – the printer is well maintained with a six-month-checkup from a good technician.

A technician will see problems long before they become obvious to everyone else. He’ll see worn treads on the feed rollers, warped spots in the press roller, and washed out areas of the drum unit. Sometimes, these kinds of problems sneak up on users, and they make the machine inoperable until the problem is solved. Other times, they kind of gradually become apparent, and it isn’t until an outsider points it out that a user realizes their printouts are faded or have tiny black dots all over them.

Either way, giving a printer a bi-annual servicing can save a lot of headaches. And if this is done, a newer printer (one less than 4 years old) shouldn’t have problems more than once a year. As a matter of fact, I have several customers who have never called me for an emergency repair. As long as they keep up their six-month visits, their machines stay in good working order.

If you want to give your machine a check-up, contact me to set an appointment via email, or call me at (513)708-7389.