Do You Need a New Scanner?

Your scanner broke down. But the fact is, you weren't using it that much to begin with. So now you need to decide whether buying a new scanner is worth it.

On the one hand, money is tight. On the other, there are those times you really need a scanner, and you'd rather buy a good one that will last.

If you do find yourself in the market for a new scanner, check out this review. There are some inexpensive scanners out that are pretty solid performers.

However, you also should consider the good old "user error" issue. Whether you operate the scanner or someone else in your office gets the job, they need patience to avoid incidents like this. And they also need some level of training on the machine.

A third option is to contract the document imaging work out to a third-party. Pricing depends on the job, of course, but some services charge as little as 8 cents per page for scans to PDF. Let's say you scan 700 pages. That'd cost you $56 -- with no hassle.

Outsourcing to a document imaging/scanning service may be the right choice for you.

A little tip: if you do decide to outsource some or all of your document imaging needs, consider (tedious as it may be) going through the papers and taking out all the staples and folds ahead of time. Any time someone has to work on a page by page basis, they're going to charge more.

You'd do the same, I bet.