Once upon a time there were three Independent Copier Companies in the US and
the time came for them to leave home and seek their fortunes.
Before they left, their Stockholders told them “Whatever you do, do it the
best that you can because that's the way to make your shareholders lots of
money.
The first Independent Copier Company built their brand by acquiring
dealerships, the second Independent Copier Company built their brand with
Konica and Canon, and the third Independent Copier Company built their brand
with Sharp, Canon & Ricoh.
Then in the course of two to three years, there were THREE large wolves, who
dearly loved to gobble up copier companies. The first wolf swooped in devoured
up Global, the second wolf feasted on Danka and the third wolf barbequed on
Ikon.
There's no happy ending here, and that’s a shame, the likes of Xerox,
KonicaMinolta and Ricoh thought they needed to preserve market share and
instead of supporting dealers, they went out and bought market share.
So, with April 12th fast approaching another iconic brand will disappear.
Ricoh will drop the IKON name as of April 2012. Those branches will now carry
the Ricoh Americas Corp banner from here on.
For those who don't know, I'm still in the business of selling copiers,
actually going on my 32nd year in 2012. I've sold for a Minolta, Mita, Adler Royal, and Ricoh dealerships in
that time.
Once upon a time there were three Independent Copier Companies in the US and
the time came for them to leave home and seek their fortunes.
