Epson photo scanners proven robust for rental market

Envio Rentals, a consumer brand owned by Envio Ltd., provides short-term access to products customers may not want or need to buy. Operating in partnership with a national logistics provider, customers can now collect and return items at over 6,000 UK locations.

From software to intelligent delivery packaging, the company is leveraging its own technology to bring the consumer rental experience into the 21st century. Their goal is to make rental more compelling than ownership whilst also encouraging sustainable consumerism by circulating fewer products across more people.

To date the company provides on demand access to product categories from photography and metal detecting, to cleaning equipment, projectors, and scanning.

Rebecca Chapman, Head of Marketing at Envio Rentals, explains: “Today, consumers with short-term requirements or low budgets will often compromise on quality by buying cheaper, less capable solutions that deliver an often poor experience that then may sit in the cupboard 364 days a year. Envio Rentals provides consumers access to high-quality solutions, when they need them, for a fraction of the cost on a nationwide basis. With many products becoming obsolete before wearing out we need to reevaluate consumption of items that have such high resource requirements to manufacture in the first place. Unlike various sharing economy initiatives, we own our own inventory which enables us to deliver a highly consistent and dependable service that’s reflected by customer feedback and a net promoter score of over 90 measured over a thousand rentals.”

Within this portfolio is the Epson FastFoto FF-680w high-speed auto-feeder scanner, which can be rented from just £10 a day¹, as well as the professional grade Perfection V850 Pro Flatbed scanner that can be rented from just £16 a day.

Chapman continues: “Customers will spend anywhere from 3 days to two weeks with the Epson FastFoto scanner, digitising family photos that might otherwise be sat in the loft gathering dust. Thanks to Epson’s proprietary scanning software we can see the volume of photos or documents scanned, and customers are scanning up to 6,000 photos or documents in just one weekend. This is a great demonstration not only of the Epson scanner’s speed, but also its durability, as the same scanner might be sent to another customer the day after.”

To optimise shipping and eliminate the need for single-use materials, Envio are now deploying their proprietary reusable packaging with a digital e-ink™ shipping label that dynamically changes upon delivery.  Chapman concludes: “SecurePack is the latest innovation at Envio and exemplifies circular economy practices within the rental and wider logistics sector. We’re confident that this focus on convenience and sustainability, combined with our customer centric business model, will continue as growth drivers for Envio Rentals.  To create SecurePack we partnered with a materials technology company called Paua to implement one of their newest most robust technologies, a patented 3D Woven fabric infused with microcells that stands the test of constant delivery.”

In addition to high speeds of up to 30 photos in 30 seconds², the FastFoto FF-680W also benefits customers as a versatile document scanner, and it can archive a range of single or double-sided documents at 45ppm³.

It's not just Epson scanners that are available from Envio Rentals, but Epson projectors as well, and customers can rent the Epson EF-12 mini laser Smart projector as part of a ‘movie night’ package, complete with pop-up screen and popcorn.

¹ Day rate when rented for 14 days

² Based on average speed from start of feeding through to ejection of the last photo, scanning thirty 10cm x 15cm photos at 300dpi in landscape orientation.

³ Based on A4-sized document scans at 300 dpi in black-and-white, grayscale or colour mode. Scan speed varies depending on network conditions.