I do not know if this is a look at how tight it is out there for business, but here is a sample. Those who have delt with the Ricoh and the Konica brands, would know that the Konica would be a higher end brand cost wise. You can make your own statement about quality, we sell both and the Konica is a higher end product. We just recently lost one of our biggest contracts, 650 Konica machines to another dealer bidding Ricoh. To keep the contract we went to Japan and got special pricing on Bizhub 360's and 601's. We were going to place them cheaper than another dealer could have got them for, and then we bid the service at projected cost, no profit to be made. My boss was taking a big risk that he would not loose his ass down the road. The Ricoh bid came in one third less than ours on a five year contract.
You may ask why we did not bid the Ricoh? We really do not think that they would hold up in the rough enviroment. We are pretty sure the other company gave it away because they are for sale and are trying to pump up the size of the company.
The other company lost thier contract to do the Ricoh warrenty work for this area to us last year, so quality of work is not an issue.
Another sign of the times, since I do not have to make a living on a sales comission, my boss will let me move printers at our cost just to move them. Is any one else having to give it away?
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