Without a brisk trade in secondhand equipment, the UK print industry would have choked on its own capacity years ago; long before some half-brained City slicker had ever conceived the bright idea of advancing money to paupers rather than using it to support purposeful endeavour. By hoovering up kit past its prime, giving it a thorough makeover and selling it on to where it can find a whole new lease of life, dealers - many of them family-run concerns - have consistently helped pave the way for next generation technology to raise output quality and performance standards before it too stands aside in the cause of evolution.

Also, for what it's worth - and I'd say it's a fair deal - they have the happy knack of enlivening the print business in a way that some of their stuffier, more apparently kosher corporate counterparts have long since lost sight of.

So how are the dealers weathering the chill winds of our economic winter? With sufficiently robust fortitude to mean that it's pretty much business as usual, according to Mike Steele, director of the British Used Printing Machinery Suppliers Association (BUPMSA). "The comparatively low value of the pound is an obvious upside. A large proportion of used kit bought here already goes out the UK, and exchange rate is increasing that level of trade, which could now amount to 80% of a dealer's turnover."

Time is right
The proof of that can be seen by the strong showing of used dealers at Gulf Print in Dubai next month, in preference to Northprint. Even so, there's never been a better time for a UK printer to also buy used kit, says Steele. "The price is right and the conditions more so for striking some terrific deals. There's a lot of good machinery on the market to be had, as long as you put together the finance."

More and more UK printers are doing just that. Courtesy of an Icelandic printer's demise, book binding equipment specialists Printing & Graphic Machinery (PGM) have just sold a 2005 dated Kolbus BF 527 system with only 1.4m books on the clock to Letts in Dalkeith at 30% below list price for new, says PGM managing director Guy Churchill. "We competed head-to-head with the manufacturer on the order and in fact had to discount by 15% to secure it. That's quite a bit on a used deal, but the margin is still there and we're as keen to do business as everyone else."

All dealers are reporting a flexible approach among manufacturers to the pricing of new equipment. But as well as the availability of nearly new machines coming onto the market, there's that extra cushion of the exchange rate, considering most new kit shipped into the UK comes euro denominated. Either way, whether going for old or new, buyers are benefitting.

While no one is likely to bang on about green shoots, dealers are at least keeping business warm by dint of some dying embers, says Atlas Machinery managing director Steve Lamb, who points out that a dealer can help in ways other than delivering a good price. "We've been asked to hold on to equipment while it's in the process of being paid for, effectively keeping it within the inventory while the customer sits out the recession in anticipation of improved trading conditions to come."

Carrion crows? More like St Bernards I'd say.