Think about the last time you had a deadline and were waiting for a print job to arrive. Maybe it was a batch of event brochures, training manuals, or direct mail pieces. You had the designs ready, the order placed, and then you waited, hoping there wouldn’t be a shipping delay, a misprint, or an unexpected rush fee. For many organizations, this back-and-forth raises a bigger question: Would it be better to invest in a production printer and bring this work in-house, or should we keep outsourcing?

It’s a decision businesses wrestle with more often than you might think. At STPT, we work with organizations of all sizes, from schools and churches to enterprise print shops, who are weighing this exact choice. The truth is, both in-house production printing and outsourcing have strengths and weaknesses. The right option depends on your volume, budget, priorities, and long-term plans.

So, you’re nearing the end of your lease agreement for your office’s printer/copier and want to know what your options are. 

Knowing your end-of-lease options is crucial. Consumers who ignore the upcoming end of their copier lease agreement can open themselves up to automatic lease extensions if they don’t notify their print vendor or provider in a timely fashion.  

This means you could be paying for a machine you no longer want for another year, resulting in frustration and financial burden to the tune of thousands of dollars.  

As a long-time print vendor, we’ve learned the importance of having a plan for when you come to the end of your lease. And since over 90% of our customers choose to lease their machines, we’ve had to assist a number of clients in their post-lease decision. 

Just like any app on your phone, printer apps can also reach an “end of service.” But what happens when you get an email that reads “this app will reach end of service next month”? What does that actually mean? Will the app simply stop working? And most importantly, what should you do about it?

As long-time Xerox partners, we’ve guided businesses through this exact scenario more times than we can count. Printer apps, like those in the Xerox App Gallery, are meant to go through a lifecycle. And while “end of service” sounds ominous, it doesn’t have to spell disaster if you understand what it truly means and plan ahead.

In this article, we’ll explain what end-of-service for printer apps really is, the risks of ignoring it, how Xerox typically handles it, and the smartest steps you can take to keep your workflows running smoothly.

Table of Contents

Buying a production printer isn’t like picking out a new office copier. It’s a big investment that can shape how your organization produces marketing materials, manages workloads, and even finds new revenue streams. But with so many options on the market, it’s no surprise that many organizations feel overwhelmed by the decision.

The truth is that the “best” printer isn’t the same for everyone. A small nonprofit that needs to print fundraising newsletters has completely different needs than an enterprise in-plant running thousands of transactional statements a day. Even within the same industry, one school might need vibrant posters for student events while another is producing yearbooks and booklets that require more advanced finishing.

That’s where expertise matters. At STPT, we’ve worked with a wide range of businesses, nonprofits, and institutions to help them find the right production printer.