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Other Stuff That Has Little To Do With PLA => General Discussions => Topic started by: d on November 11, 2008, 12:28:20 AM

Title: Why are copy machines so expensive now?
Post by: d on November 11, 2008, 12:28:20 AM
20 cents a copy? It used to be 5 cents in the early 90's.
Title: Re: Why are copy machines so expensive now?
Post by: Lestan Gregor on November 11, 2008, 12:32:45 AM
You really had to make a thread to ask a  rhetoric question? Are you looking for an answer to this copy machine crisis of yours?

20 cents a copy? It used to be 5 cents in the early 90's.

And gas cost $1.14 a gallon. Its called inflation.
Title: Re: Why are copy machines so expensive now?
Post by: d on November 11, 2008, 12:35:00 AM
yeah but a quarter for a copy machine? 500% inflation in 8 years?
Title: Re: Why are copy machines so expensive now?
Post by: rbcp on November 11, 2008, 09:35:22 AM
Wow, it inflated from 20 cents to 25 cents in just 2 posts.  This is out of hand!
Title: Re: Why are copy machines so expensive now?
Post by: MattGSX on November 11, 2008, 10:03:31 AM
My copies are still only $.10 off a machine, and $.08 over 10 copies at a copy shop. Are you doing color copies, or something? Because those also didn't exist 5 years ago, and could explain the higher price.
Title: Re: Why are copy machines so expensive now?
Post by: rbcp on November 11, 2008, 10:10:51 AM
Are you doing color copies, or something? Because those also didn't exist 5 years ago, and could explain the higher price.

Self-serve color copy machines have existed since at least 1994, when I used to try and photocopy money, stamps and photos at a post office.  I was paying around $1.00 per page.

In the early 90's all the post offices where I lived had B&W copy machines which cost 25 cents.  I think the library was just 10 or 15 cents though.
Title: Re: Why are copy machines so expensive now?
Post by: Nod on November 11, 2008, 12:33:05 PM
I remember being able to make color copies in the school library for ten cents in sixth grade. That would be about 1995 or 96.
Title: Re: Why are copy machines so expensive now?
Post by: ravenmaddox on November 11, 2008, 12:44:51 PM
I remember being able to make color copies in the school library for ten cents in sixth grade. That would be about 1995 or 96.
You were in the sixth grade in '96? That makes me feel so old...
Title: Re: Why are copy machines so expensive now?
Post by: d on November 11, 2008, 04:37:40 PM
Well, the supermarket at the supermarket is 25 cents.
The library is 15 cents.
Title: Re: Why are copy machines so expensive now?
Post by: ApprenticePhreak on November 11, 2008, 04:46:56 PM
I remember being able to make color copies in the school library for ten cents in sixth grade. That would be about 1995 or 96.
You were in the sixth grade in '96? That makes me feel so old...

School was perfect for me. I started off in grade zero (kindergarten) in 1990. In 1991 I was in first grade. Every year corresponded to the grade I was in, even 10th, 11th and 12th. It was great.
Title: Re: Why are copy machines so expensive now?
Post by: SpaceBison on November 11, 2008, 05:47:12 PM
I remember being able to make color copies in the school library for ten cents in sixth grade. That would be about 1995 or 96.
You were in the sixth grade in '96? That makes me feel so old...

School was perfect for me. I started off in grade zero (kindergarten) in 1990. In 1991 I was in first grade. Every year corresponded to the grade I was in, even 10th, 11th and 12th. It was great.
Class of 2002 ftw!
Title: Re: Why are copy machines so expensive now?
Post by: rogueclown on November 11, 2008, 07:46:50 PM
I remember being able to make color copies in the school library for ten cents in sixth grade. That would be about 1995 or 96.
You were in the sixth grade in '96? That makes me feel so old...

yeah, seriously!  i started high school in '96!
Title: Re: Why are copy machines so expensive now?
Post by: rbcp on November 11, 2008, 07:51:32 PM
I was hacking Gibsons in '96.
Title: Re: Why are copy machines so expensive now?
Post by: ApprenticePhreak on November 11, 2008, 08:19:06 PM
It's nice being a young gun around here. You old shits.
Title: Re: Why are copy machines so expensive now?
Post by: Nod on November 12, 2008, 01:12:15 AM
Pardon me for not being in my thirties. Give me four more years and you'll still all be old farts in comparison.
Title: Re: Why are copy machines so expensive now?
Post by: AmishGangsta on November 12, 2008, 06:45:56 AM
Why are copy machines so expensive? The prices have come down, if anything, for what you get now as opposed to earlier machines.

The first copy machine  I ever used took about 35 seconds to process one single page. It was hot, energy intensive and it jammed about every 10th page. It did nothing but copy in black and white. Toner had to be replaced monthly.

That machine cost around $4,000.00

My current machine has yet to jam, primarily because it scans each page only once and prints from memory. It is a network device which lets me scan pages and save them as files on my PC, as well as act as a network printer. It also can be used as a fax machine. Toner lasts about a year and a half.

It cost about $3,400.00.

Title: Re: Why are copy machines so expensive now?
Post by: ravenmaddox on November 12, 2008, 06:59:56 AM
I remember being able to make color copies in the school library for ten cents in sixth grade. That would be about 1995 or 96.
You were in the sixth grade in '96? That makes me feel so old...

yeah, seriously!  i started high school in '96!

At least that's closer... I graduated in '96... same year I saw Ozzy in concert... same year I reprogrammed the copy machine in the local post office (kyocera ... I still remember the code) to make copies for free.

It wasn't a gibson, but it was a great hack for its time... especially when I discovered it made perfect 1:1 b&w copies of $5 bills which just so happened to work in our school's break room...
Title: Re: Why are copy machines so expensive now?
Post by: Magus on November 12, 2008, 07:43:10 AM
I remember being able to make color copies in the school library for ten cents in sixth grade. That would be about 1995 or 96.
You were in the sixth grade in '96? That makes me feel so old...

yeah, seriously!  i started high school in '96!

At least that's closer... I graduated in '96... same year I saw Ozzy in concert... same year I reprogrammed the copy machine in the local post office (kyocera ... I still remember the code) to make copies for free.

It wasn't a gibson, but it was a great hack for its time... especially when I discovered it made perfect 1:1 b&w copies of $5 bills which just so happened to work in our school's break room...

I celebrated my 5th birthday in '96. This is actually the earliest year I remember before goddamn Pokemon started taking over my life.

Incidentally, this is also around the time me and a friend would spend our church services drawing--yes drawing, as in with crayons and stuff--fake money. Pretty soon we amassed a collection of "counterfeit" bills, only to realize that soda machines are not that stupid. My friend committed suicide soon afterwards, realizing his life's work had been a waste.

RIP JOHNNY
1991-1996
Title: Re: Why are copy machines so expensive now?
Post by: rbcp on November 12, 2008, 08:45:04 AM
My current machine has yet to jam, primarily because it scans each page only once and prints from memory. It is a network device which lets me scan pages and save them as files on my PC, as well as act as a network printer. It also can be used as a fax machine. Toner lasts about a year and a half.

It cost about $3,400.00.

Geez, that's a lot of money.  Mine was $500, which I thought was kind of pricey.  Mine does all the stuff yours does, including wireless networking, but it's an ink jet.  I like that it scans things into a memory card that I leave in it all the time, which I can access from any computer on the network.  It also does 2-sided printing, which saves paper.
Title: Re: Why are copy machines so expensive now?
Post by: AmishGangsta on November 12, 2008, 09:09:12 AM
The current machine is a Kyocera KM-2550; the first one was a Toshiba, but I'll be damned if I remember what model number it was. I should mention that when I said "the first copy machine I ever used" that I was about 6 at the time. I was making copies of the labels on 5.25in floppy disks.

I wonder if I destroyed them with the intense heat that thing generated?
Title: Re: Why are copy machines so expensive now?
Post by: Zazen on November 13, 2008, 04:47:42 PM
Mine was about $400 and it's laser. I'll never buy an inkjet ever again. I replace toner maybe once every 5000 pages for like 50 bucks. And if I don't print anything for a week or two and it gets dusty I don't have to use 10 bucks worth of ink for the financial rape they call "self cleaning".