Should you rent or buy plumbed in water coolers?
There are many benefits in renting mains fed filtered water coolers such as low initial outlay, free installation, inclusive maintenance and the option to upgrade to new coolers at the end of the contract but many companies are now choosing to buy their own water coolers. As a company that offers both rental and maintenance we were particularly interested in asking two of our more straight talking customers their own reasons why they chose to rent or buy.
Renting Water Coolers – Mr. Ellershaw from Ch**** Limited – Manchester
“Being a facilities manager of a major logistics company, my time is better spent concentrating on my core responsibilities. I called the Thirst Alternative Limited as I wasn’t too happy with the service from my existing supplier. The rep recommend some new water coolers and we had them installed. We prefer to rent here to help keep cash flow in order and our accounts department would never have let me spend the high initial outlay to buy them anyway. The coolers were installed in less than 3 days and so far, albeit we’ve only had to call them once in the past 18 months, the service has been good. Our accounts department pay the bill, and they provide a service. That way, I don’t have anything else to do with it unless things go wrong”
Our response, Well in this instance it’s certainly a little easier to rent rather than purchase and the client would also have the option of renewing the water coolers at end of the rental term. It’s often a bit of a struggle in this financial climate to buy a few water coolers upfront and we hear the ‘high initial outlay’ argument more and more these days. We’d advise to look into both a quote for outright purchase of you new water coolers and also a quote for rentals. At least if you give some thought to both options you’ll know you’ve taken the best way forward.
Purchase Water Coolers – MS Foster from Liverpool De****** PLC
“I’ve never understood the logic behind renting anything worth less than a few hundred quid. For us the choice was simple. It’s just a question of how long the water chillers are going to last and how much it will cost for their maintenance during their life span. If the difference is a big enough cost saving compared to renting then the decision is an straightforward one. I can understand a small company renting a piece of 125k machinery but renting water coolers seems a little myopic to me. People should always ‘do the maths’ to find out what’s best for the business, and what’s best for the business isn’t always the first thing that comes to mind”.
Our response, Two very different opinions both of which have decent arguments for and against buying or renting new water coolers or boilers. We would always advise our client’s to look at both options and we can even provide a simple spreadsheet to show the outright purchase prices compared to rental costs of water coolers over a typical 8-10 yr expected life span. Remember though, if you do buy water coolers, then you’ll be responsible for making sure they are properly maintained which means organising a maintenance package with your water cooler supplier.
If you require any further information or advice re: buying or renting water coolers or boilers please contact us for more details and we’ll be happy to advise. Tel 01925 235 140