Most Common Acronyms for the Copier Industry

Are you looking to purchase or lease a copier, and the sales representative seems to be using words you haven’t heard or don’t understand? In this article, we are going to go over the most common acronyms used in the copier industry.

We have been selling and leasing copiers for over a decade, so we wanted to give a plain English version of what a lot of the terms you may have heard actually mean. 

• FMV Lease – Fair Market Value Lease – An FMV lease is a type of lease where you generally return the copier to the leasing company at the end of the lease. You will have an option to purchase the copier at the “Fair Market Value” at the time of the contract end date. This is where it gets its name. (Most people do not take this option but choose to get a new copier and another lease)
• CPP – Cost Per Print – This is the price you will pay for each print you make on the copier. If your supplies and service plan has a CPP of .009 for black and white prints, it would mean you will pay 9/10 of a penny for each black and white print you do.
• CMYK – Cyan Magenta Yellow Black – These are the 4 primary colors used in a color copier. Each letter stands for one of the colors, and for black, the last letter is used. K actually means key color, but you will see it as black.
• A3 – This is a paper size which most of us in America would mean 11 x 17 paper. Now this isn’t the exact dimensions of A3, but what we mean when we say, do you need an A3 copier is do you need to print on 11X17 paper?
• A4 – Like A3, it refers to paper size. Specifically, there are paper sizes that go from A0 to A8 (smaller numbers are bigger paper) – An A4 copier is a copier that does letter/legal sized paper.
• ADF – Auto Document Feeder – This is what is on the top of the copier and where you can put a stack of papers in to scan.
• MFD/MFD – Multi-Function Device / Multi-Function Printer – These are what we think of when we use the word “copiers” in the modern age. A device which can do multiple functions – Scan, Print, Copy and Fax (usually optional).
• SEF – Short Edge First – This refers to the orientation of the paper as it is loaded into the printer or copier. It could alternatively be designated LEF or Long Edge First – If you had an 8.5 x 11 sheet and the device called for SEF, then you would load the paper, so the 8.5 inch part went into the printer first.
• PCL – Printer Command Language – Developed by HP, this is generally seen with print drivers in the Windows environment.
• PS – Postscript – Another printer driver related term. This is generally used by Windows machines in graphics applications and by Macs as the standard print driver.

Knowing printer acronyms may not be the most exciting thing in the world to learn. However, it is important to be educated when you are getting a copier or printer lease, and knowing what some of the common acronyms mean can really help you know exactly what you are getting when you see a proposal or your copier is having issues and you are getting help to get it working again.

If you are looking for a copier lease or to purchase a copier in plain English, we would love to help. Give us a call, and a sales representative will be here to help you!