For the average person off the street, learning that a professional copier machine can cost in the $100,000 range often comes as a surprise.
-Though, not usually a, “WOW!” surprise. More like a, “huh. I never really thought about it before,” kind of surprise. And to be fair.., who does think about photocopiers? Those hulking things down at the library? They’re cool, I guess.
Well, the owner at my wife’s workplace inherited his; his old one came with the business when he bought it… nearly two decades back. He owns it outright and pays for repairs and supplies out of pocket, and was always able to turn a profit on the beast. -And it IS a beast! That thing has served as the workhorse of the shop tirelessly for years!. (Frankly, it’s amazing how long they last and how hard they work; tens of thousands of copies per month is a normal use case.) Still.., he knew the day was coming when it would need to be replaced.
I think it was because the repair guy retired and the company brushed their hands of it. “Oh, that thing? We’ve moved on. We don’t like to really think about that model anymore.” Outside of junk auctions, he can’t get parts for it anymore.
And so.., he went shopping.
When the new machine rolled in, it was a big day and it took nearly a week to get the thing set up properly. It’s very fancy! Bells and whistles galore! -And you know it’s fancy because the service and financing contracts are no joke. A new copier is a big deal.
They really are! When you think about what the machine actually does… Gutenberg ‘literally’ changed the world with a clanky moveable type monster five hundred years ago, being able to reproduce text at industrial quantities.., it really is a sort of miracle machine. (And 500 years ago? FIVE HUNDRED YEARS?? Can we stop for a moment and think about that number? Half a thousand. That’s skirting on the edge of mythology.)
But here we are. Today anybody (with $100k) can set up a Xerox printing machine in their garage if they wanted to. (I kind of want to. I could seriously print my own comics then!)
I don’t really know what my point here is other than we live in an age of wonders and it’s really easy to not notice. “Yeah.., $100, 000? I guess that sounds about right. I never really thought about it.”
Well.., think about it! What’s the point of living in an age of miracles if you don’t stop to notice?
“So wait.., you put blank paper in one end, and words come out the other? Pictures too? In COLOR?? Well, dang! Ain’t that something?”
Indeed. Ain’t that something!