The school charges too much per copy and the print shop is across town.
It saves the Pto a few cents a copy but what about the time and fuel it costs the members? It's especially bothersome when we only need a small amount copied.

Compared to the expense of buying a copier, you'd have to figure how many copies/how many months it would take the PTO to break even before experiencing a cost savings of having their own copier. That information can help you decide if it's worth spending PTO funds on this expense. You'll also need to determine if purchasing a copier would be a justifyable expense if viewed through the parent membership's eyes.

Do you have a business in the area that would let you use their machine if you provided the paper? Just a thought, because that is what we do. My boss is great. I just get the paper i want and make copies at the copier at work. I don't do them that often, probably one big bunch every 3 weeks or so.

Thanks to both who replied. I'll work the numbers and what I get.

This is something that we've been considering as well. We use the district print shop and pay the bills to them. So our plan has been to add up all of our printing costs for the fiscal year when we close out the books in June. Then we'll figure out how many copies we paid for and how much that amount of paper would cost us and combine that with the amount we'd pay for a machine and a year's supply of toner to determine whether or not we would definitely come out ahead to purchase our own machine. The big thing is not to forget about the cost of replacement toner and paper. I'll try to remember and post again in June to let you know what we ultimately figure out.

~Lisa

Have you looked into leasing a copy machine? Our school does that and the PTO pays for the service contract on it. We decided this is better than buying one as there are so many people who use it daily that it would be broken constantly and more expensive in the long run to repair it if we owned it. Good Luck!