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A Few Copier Vignettes from the Late Eighties & Nineties

 

The picture in the header showed our demo room back in either 1989 or 1990, might have even been 1991.  As you can see by the photo Atlantic Office Systems (the first one in NJ) was Authorized for Adler Royal, Brother, and Tele VaxaFax (facsimile).  Sometime later Adler Royal was purchased by Mita and the Adler Royal brand was changed to Copystar. I thoroughly hated the name Copystar because there was no brand recognition, at least with Adler Royal, our clients knew about Royal typewriters.

We were never a big dealer, I did most of the sales while my other partner handled the technical work.  From time to time I had to dig in and do a few service calls when we were swamped.  Not being a large dealer enabled us to make timely decisions and offer products that were in high demand. Back in the early nineties we were still selling analog copiers and improvements came at a much slower pace than today's digital copiers. 

We had two PC's in the office.  One was used for accounting (peach tree) and the other was used for sales.  The computer that we used in account was connected to a dot matrix printer and we were running carbonless forms for our invoices. 

Back then, I thought we were on top of technology when we sold our first fax machine (Tele Vaxafax).  The MSRP was $2,495 and the auto feeder was an option.  Once we added the document feeder, and delivery/installation we were able to get to $3,000.  Three thousand dollars was the  magic number to offer leasing to our clients.  We got a little creative and placed a display ad in our local county newspaper for the Teli's.  We advertised them at $1.99 a day to lease.  Probably one of the best ideas we had.  We were selling more faxes than copiers.  At one point we were at one every day (we were also open on Saturday mornings till 1PM).  What we didn't realize is the volume of thermal roll paper that followed. Every month we were ordering full skids of thermal paper along with a skid of fax machines.  Yes, those were some great times.

As the fax market matured and pricing eroded we found ourselves placing more of the Brother fax machines over the Teli's. 

It was about 1993 or so when we purchased our first color copier.  That copier was manufacturer by Brother, was very slow and used some type of ribbon transfer technology (no toner or ink).  I think we were selling color copies (singles) for $5.00 each.  At one point we hooked up with a sales rep for Gillette, he had to make copies of his presentation in color for his clients.  He was in a three of four times a month and needed almost 100 copies every time (we discounted to $3.00 each for his volume).  Back then Hulk Hogan was hired for their advertising campaign back then.  My son was so excited the day that client brought in a signed Hulk Hogan press photo.  I believe my son still has that pic.  Yes, great times to be selling.

Another client that I remember was some guy who came in on a regular basis to send faxes during the late eighties.  His faxing pattern was quite unique because he was always sending faxes to places like Panama, Afghanistan, San Salvador, Iran & Iraq.   I thought he was kinda screwy also because he always had to send his own faxes.  He would not let us see them.   After maybe a year ago or so he opened up and told us he was an arms dealer. All of those faxes turned out to be purchase orders and invoices for his business. WOW, I would have never guessed it! 

I do remember that he invited me to go with him on a trip to Afghanistan when the Russians were departing. He told me about the riches that could be gathered such as rugs, gold, and antiquities.  He stated that we would be away for three weeks and he would give me training on how to use a weapon.  Well, that sealed the deal for me, there was no fracking way I'm going to a war torn country and having this butt head leave me there or get shot. I had the great sense to opt out.  I never saw that guy again, I'm guessing he went and never came back.  One of my better decisions in the copier industry I guess.

Another neat story from back then came from another guy who frequently visited our office in 1993 & 1994.  He was the President of a chemical plant in NJ (we got a crap load of those).  He stated he had closed his plant and was looking for someone to sell everything in the place.  Whoa, that was right up my alley.  The site was like a time capsule, one day they just locked the doors with everything in it.  There were copiers, desks, chairs, printers, fax machines, tables, file cabinets, paper,  high end furniture and all of the hardware that used to produce the chemicals they made.

Every Saturday and Sunday I was there four about six months. I sold almost everything, even brought in a large fork lift to remove a huge Xerox copier from the second floor. If I remember correctly I got $5K for that son of a gun.  It was not until late in the six months that I began exploring the chemical part of the plant.  There was copper, aluminum, steel, vats, filters, the place was loaded.  I admit I was kind of naïve about chemicals plants.  I later found many puddles of a silver liquid substance on the concrete floors, the substance proved to be Mercury.  I asked the owner about it and he told me Mercury was used to make chlorine. Frak, the place made chlorine?   It was not until I finished (made a ton of cash) that I found out I was selling crap from a site that labeled as a NJ Superfund site (toxic dumping went on their for years).  I later investigated the owner and found that he was indicted for some pollution thing.  Seems he needed to raise additional funds for his defense.  I believe he was found guilty many years later, however, at that time he was probably in his late seventies.   Never heard from him again either. 

There you have it, a few vignettes from my early days in the copier industry.

Special thanx to Polek & Polek for sponsoring this blog!

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George KRebs posted:
Art,



You and I are from similar professional backgrounds and times. We started in 1980 selling Sharp and Juki typewriters. Everything sold near MSRP. Then the fax boom came and we caught that wave perfectly. We sold Ricoh thermal faxes for full list ($2995.00). The only issue was cash flow; we sold them faster than we could order and purchase them. Copier Maintenance agreements went from .022 up to .035 and did not include drums, developer, toner, fuser rollers or lamps!



Also, like your story, we had two Orthodox Jewish guys coming in here several times per week and they were sending faxes overseas and they too huddled around the machine like it was a secret. One day they stopped coming in and soon after we got a visit from the FBI. These guys were involved in some kind of foreign intrigue. They interviewed us for an hour, confiscated the fax machine ( they eventually returned it ) and we were exonerated as the harmless dupes that we were.



Another interesting story….. I was in the office on a Saturday catching up on equipment set ups when some guy knocked on the door. He begged me to let him copy a book manuscript he had just finished. We talked as the pages slowly came and he said he had a summer place in Spring Lake but that home was Baltimore. The novel had something to do with Soviets and the Navy. I asked him about it as I was speed reading the pages and he said the working title was “ The Hunt for Red October “. I was making copies for Tom Clancy! Nice guy too.



Enjoy your work.



George Krebs

Shore Business Solutions

Yup we have the same issues with cash flow. It was a great problem to have. The Hunt for Red October was a great book, even found the movie awesome too! Ty for the comment, we should connect for lunch one day

Art,



You and I are from similar professional backgrounds and times. We started in 1980 selling Sharp and Juki typewriters. Everything sold near MSRP. Then the fax boom came and we caught that wave perfectly. We sold Ricoh thermal faxes for full list ($2995.00). The only issue was cash flow; we sold them faster than we could order and purchase them. Copier Maintenance agreements went from .022 up to .035 and did not include drums, developer, toner, fuser rollers or lamps!



Also, like your story, we had two Orthodox Jewish guys coming in here several times per week and they were sending faxes overseas and they too huddled around the machine like it was a secret. One day they stopped coming in and soon after we got a visit from the FBI. These guys were involved in some kind of foreign intrigue. They interviewed us for an hour, confiscated the fax machine ( they eventually returned it ) and we were exonerated as the harmless dupes that we were.



Another interesting story….. I was in the office on a Saturday catching up on equipment set ups when some guy knocked on the door. He begged me to let him copy a book manuscript he had just finished. We talked as the pages slowly came and he said he had a summer place in Spring Lake but that home was Baltimore. The novel had something to do with Soviets and the Navy. I asked him about it as I was speed reading the pages and he said the working title was “ The Hunt for Red October “. I was making copies for Tom Clancy! Nice guy too.



Enjoy your work.



George Krebs

Shore Business Solutions
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