Thanks: 
Likes: Hey fellow team-mates. That's the question of the decade. Short of knocking the people on their head, how do you politely get your customers to stop replacing the toner prematurely?
Friendly notes on the boxes or ?$?$?
Dislikes: 0
We used to print address labels and stick them over the pull-to-open tabs with a big red "Stop" sign on it...then the note next to is read....
"Has your machine stopped running?...If not, then new toner may not be necessary!"
or
"Is this your last bottle? ...Call the office at (615) XXX-XXXX to order a new one!"
We proactively put the appropriate label on the toner for specific customers. There were 6 "Early swappers" and 10 "Down for toners" we dealt with regularly. Once we started using them, the numbers cut to about a 1/3rd!!
....some folks just need their hand held!
Definitely the question of the decade! We have too many customers that Burn through toner like it's water from the tap.
Not only do we have the "early swappers", but we also have the "a new toner bottle should fix this copy quality issue" customers.
We've drilled our salesman to explain the "low toner" and "toner empty" differences (and we as techs also give the rant quite often), and even had one salesman make a flyer to give to customers that explained that "you don't have to swap the bottle when the "low toner" message appears. Limited success, but still a noticeable difference in use for some customers. We ran reports on each customer to see "toner use compared to total number of prints" and it was really eye-opening. I understand that depending on image coverage/ faulty parts/ etc. our "formula" could be way off, but on the whole (especially with B/W machines) we know what our customers are printing, and could make a pretty good determination of "Too many toners being switched early".
Ricoh just recently released a new "toner gauge" widget, that has padlocks on the image of the toner level, once that padlock disappears it is "time to replace toner". It's only a graphic though, and still requires a little "user training" so they understand what it means (salesman need to be informed enough to get the message to the customer upon delivery). Don't know if other Manufacturers have things like this, but could be a step in the right direction.
Hey thanks for the ideas. I just designed a label with a STOP sign and instructions on what we expect of them, the customer. Nicely worded of course. Also designing a one-page model specific instructional sheet that will go with every outbound toner order.
Any other feedback is appreciated.Thanks!
Let's not forget about the employees that take the toner home and sell on ebay. They figure since it's included with the copier service contract their not ripping off their company. This is why on the few "supplies included" contracts I don't leave them a lot of toner. I make sure to always have in stock and deliver to them within an hour. I will leave a spare black but not the more expensive colors. Plus I monitor the meters to make sure everything jives with toners I'm supplying.
I recently cancelled a contract because they insisted I leave 2 of each toner.
Kyocera and Sharp mid-line color have toner locks. Customer cannnot pull them out
Reminds me of back in the analog days customers requesting we put locks on front covers. We used all kinds even big clumsy padlocks
Originally Posted by JR2ALTA
I place a large label inside the front cover that seems to work pretty well.
Attention:
Toner cartridges should ONLY
be replaced once they have been
fully depleted and copying/ printing
is no longer possible
Besides stupidity, I blame HP.
For years and years customers have understood that the "toner cartridge" DOES fix quality issues...because it was an entire imaging unit..
Our company recycles the toner cartridges, so we make sure the customer has empty one(s) on hand, and we swap out the same amount of cartridges. If they are half full we re-box them put them back into their supply and explain they are not fully empty, sometimes that goes over as well as a fart in a spacesuit. We set older machines to alert at 5% and lower. We also monitor usage and base yields at a 5% coverage, for example, client ran only 4,000 black and the cartridge yield is 24k and they are asking for more cartridges, we have an account rep call and explain to them that they are exceeding contract limits, and would be happy to sell them what they needed at cost. It's in our contract for each machine and based upon the individual machine specs, if they have used more toner then specified in the contract, they pay. We have had large groups of users on machines, and if the toners are not kept with an admin, they disappear ( I suppose that is why Xerox has the smart toners), however, we always have the admin sign for it, so there is always record of it.
We have plenty of those customers who feel they have to change the toner out every week or two because they feel the machine needs a new one...hello?! Reality check... not when the toner is rated for 24k+ and you have only run 4k this month. We also have clients that when the machine says to change toner they do not read and change them until the copier stops saying to change toner... we have an old lady in a church that does it all the time! I go in to recycle them and they are all 3/4 full, so I re-box them for her and say they are all full except the black one, here is you black toner... I will see you next month for the same procedure.
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