Why are copy machines so expensive now?

[AmishGangsta]

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.

[ravenmaddox]

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...

[Magus]

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

[rbcp]

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.

[AmishGangsta]

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?

[Zazen]

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".