There is a big difference between buying, renting and leasing a coffee machine, or any asset for that mater.
Of course, buying one simply requires that you hand over an amount of cash and take full ownership of the coffee maker. Your only consideration is "do I have the cash to do this?" and "do I want to spend the full amount on buying the coffee machine?"
Yet, this is not as simple as it may first appear. An office coffee machine can range from around $1000 for a small office automatic coffee machine, all the way up to $5000 for a larger coffee vending machine.
While the individual machine price is a definite consideration, an office on say three floors, or having separate areas of staffing, may need three of these. Suddenly the consideration moves anything from $3000 and up to $15 000 or more of expenditure.
The question remains "do I want to tie up that money in coffee machines or can I use it elsewhere?" You may feel your staff deserve good coffee and that this will keep them from darting out to the coffee shop down the road, and that having a "pick-me-up" at the touch of a button, will add to productivity. It surely will, but if you just don't have the finances to buy outright, it's not a question of if, but how!
Enter leasing and rentals.
Leasing and Rentals
These options allow you to have the benefit of the correct type and number of coffee machines in your business without the upfront or once off capital outlay.
Generally, the major difference between leasing and renting is that leasing gives you the option of acquiring the coffee machine at the end of a leasing period for a small additional payment. Coffee machine rentals on the other hand, do not. A rental only gives you the right to use the coffee machine for the rental period.
So why would you rent if you could eventually own the coffee machine by leasing it?
The benefits of renting a coffee machine
There are a number of reasons why rentals offer advantages over leasing.
First, rentals tend to be cheaper than leasing. Coffee suppliers know that to move their coffee, they need you to have a coffee machine, and one that offers incredible value! So they look for good deals with suppliers and keep acquisition costs low. They also do not only make their money on renting you the coffee machine, but on the coffee that they supply you.
So they differ in their approach from a leasing company that only makes money from interest earned on the lease. Of course, a lease company can only make money for the period of the lease but a coffee company renting a machine, can refurbish the machine and place it for many rental cycles. The point being that the coffee company doesn't have to get all its money back in the first three years, nor only from the rental fee.
Second, when you rent a coffee machine, you can also request upgrades and downgrades and effectively change the machine without too much hassle, but when you lease a coffee machine, you have an obligation to pay off that machine. You can of course sell it and get another machine, but you will have to settle with the leasing company.
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