Copier leases lead to school district blowup
March 19, 2010 by Steve HannafordPosted in: Dealers & Channel, In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views
Copier contracts were the source of a major controversy in Jefferson Parish, LA.
According to Nola.com, school board members were “accusing vendors of cheating the public out of hundreds of thousands of dollars and some vendors saying board members are unfairly excluding them from the school market.”
It turns out that the older (unauthorized) system had each school principal negotiate his or her own copier contracts. This resulted in three schools being overcharged by more than $20,000 per copier over street prices.
As one board member explained:
“The agreements that principals had been signing for their own schools’ copiers typically had non-cancellable clauses, lasted five years and were re-sold to third-party financing companies … If a machine started having problems, vendors persuaded principals to sign a new long-term lease for an upgrade … Yet they were still obligated for payments under the old lease.”
As a result, the school board settled on a single vendor. Unfortunately, the sold vendor happened to be a close golfing buddy of the very school board member that proposed the consolidation. Competitors are crying foul.
The controversy, not yet settled, points out the sometimes seamy side of copier leases, along with the need to have smart and experienced negotiators in charge.
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