photocopy. - Pronunciation: 'fO-t&-"kä-pE

Function: noun

Etymology: International Scientific Vocabulary

: a copy of usually printed material made with a process in which an image is formed by the action of light on an electrically charged surface

photocopiers. xerox machines. whatever you call it, let us all thank this wonderful machine which yeah, makes copies of whatever printed material we want to duplicate. hands down to the inventor, he/she is such a smart person to be able to think of this machine which gives us much convenience nowadays.

but why am i doing this entry? maybe this is such a small thing to even consider thinking about. in our busy lives, who could even think of something which practically, doesn't concern our personal lives and which wouldn't contribute to our own future? jon, ang weird mo para maisip pa 'yan! true, but yet, i still am in awe of what this machine can do to us. can you imagine a world where at one point of a person's life, he/she would be needing something which should be duplicated, and fast? ang hirap nun pag walang photocopier. so let us all thank the wonderful machine once again (haha).

but what concerns me more is how photocopying companies earn their profit and pay their workers' salary. dala na rin siguro ng pagka-business management student ko. hehe. let's face it, as a business student, i should be aware of things like this. part-curiosity and part-burdened with responsibility, i wonder how such small amounts of money (paying 0.60 centavos per page) make these companies survive; and not only survive, but earn as well. supposing you establish a photocopying company, part of the expenses would be (let's make this a per unit basis per day para madali):

a) workers' wages. - one xerox machine should have at least one operator. let's say that the worker receives a minimum wage salary of P300.

b) the machine itself. - i have no idea as to how much a machine costs, but i think it's not that cheap to have one. if it were, then most households would have a xerox machine and having photocopiers wouldn't be needed in schools anymore. let's say a machine costs P30,000-P50,000?

c) papers to be used - let's say that a piece of paper costs 0.10 centavos at the least. assuming 100,000 pages will be used in one machine in one day (which i think would be impossible), P0.10 x 100,000 = P10,000.

d) ink - maybe we can assign a value of P25,000 per day in one machine.

e) maintenance of machines and other expenses - sige, wag na natin isali yan.

assuming a machine can photocopy 100,000 copies at the most, that would be 100,000 copies x P0.60 = P60,000.

from this value, minus:
a) P300 = P59,700
b) P30,000 = P29,700
c) P10,000 = P19,700
d) P25,000 = (P5,300)

a net loss of P5,300 a day. pano yun? i really don't know how the system works, pero ang galing pano nila nagagawang kumita. if i am wrong with my assumptions and self-analysis, please do correct me, i'm interested. hehe.

and i do admit that sometimes i am a dork. ;)