Agenda Packets - 2007/06/25 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Pitney Bowes DM500 Machine Purchase: $3,461/plus tax Meter Rental: Free for First Year/$50.00 a month after Maintenance Agreement: Free for First Year/Pitney Bowes was not able to quote me a price for next year’s maintenance agreement. In an email, they told staff it would be about $480/year (+3-4%) depending on inflation. Minnesota Mailing Solutions (Hasler) WJ150 Machine Purchase: $3,751/plus tax Meter Rental: Free for First Year/$45 a month after Maintenance Agreement: Free for First Year/$550 a year in 2008, then add 3-4% depending on inflation in the following years. In order to purchase the machine, the Budget would have to be revised for 2007. The revision would have to come from Central Services/Capital Equipment (Budget Number 100-4160-7030). Since the City will not longer be leasing this equipment, $1,572.00 can be used from the equipment rental portion of the Budget (Budget Number 100- 4160-4010) and transferred to budget number 100-4160-7030. The remaining balance would need to be reflected in the capital equipment budget. Recommendation: Although Pitney Bowes is the apparent low quote, Staff recommends purchasing the equipment from Minnesota Mailing Solutions (Hasler). The City of Mounds View has been using the services of Pitney Bowes for at least 10 years. Pitney Bowes has been the only company for postage machines services for those years. Staff was made aware just this year that other companies were available that had the same services as Pitney Bowes. Staff has been unhappy with Pitney Bowes’ customer service for many years. There has been repeated difficulty in getting maintenance technicians in person to fix our current machine. Staff would spend time on the phone with a maintenance technician customer service agent (sometimes it would take as long as an hour depending on the problem), going back and forth trying to fix the machine. Every time we asked for a service maintenance technician to come out for service, Staff would have to go through series of troubleshooting before Pitney Bowes would even consider getting a technician out. This example of poor service happens very often. That is just one of many examples. Many of the customer service agents even have very poor customer service skills and sometimes rude or condescending on the phone. Going by past practices of Pitney Bowes, Staff is concerned Pitney Bowes may be trying not to abide by maintenance agreements. There have been even a couple of times that Pitney Bowes could not get a service technician out until one or two days later. This was especially frustrating when Staff had a mass mailing for Mounds View residents. Staff was forced to buy stamps at the Post Office because a mass mailing to Mounds View residents needed to be completed that day. A mass mailing could be hundreds even thousands of letters, which means Staff had to place stamps by hand on hundreds of letters. Staff feels that staff time could be better spent drafting staff reports for City