When you’re ready to purchase letter folding equipment, you generally have three options: retail superstores, manufacturers, and dealers.

Retail superstores offer basic folding machines at the lowest cost. These machines allow you to address low-volume folding needs, but they can't handle heavy workloads. More importantly, your options may be limited, access to knowledgeable sales staff will be minimal, and white-glove repairs are likely to be scarce when the equipment begins to fail.

Mailing and office equipment manufacturers are probably the most knowledgeable about how their technology works, but few actually sell direct. If they do, they’ll only offer their brand of equipment so you won’t have much of a selection. It could also be difficult to get service and support from a manufacturer.

With mailing equipment dealers, you may pay the highest prices for a letter folder, but you’ll get the most dedicated customer service and the widest selection of products. Dedicated letter folding equipment dealers can visit your location to perform a demonstration or invite you to their facilities to test out the product. They can also offer maintenance agreements to provide service and repairs when you need them.

Regardless of which type of seller you work with, make sure they work closely with you to find the right equipment with the features you need.

Choosing the right dealer
Shopping around is the best way to find the right dealer to work with. Begin your search by meeting with several different dealers (submitting a free letter folding equipment request for quotes is a good start). They should take the time to ask questions about your letter folding needs so they can suggest the appropriate products. If they don’t, you probably shouldn’t work with them – you risk buying equipment insufficient for your needs or paying more than necessary.

One way to locate the right dealer is to contact companies you already do business with. If you rent postage meters or other mailing equipment, find out if they also sell letter folders. Since you have an established relationship with that company, they’ll be familiar with your business and may be able to give you special deals.

Customer service and support is always an important attribute to look for. You want a vendor who will be there for you after the sale. Investigate how to get support if there’s a problem: do they offer support by phone after work hours? Do they respond quickly to email requests? Will a technician arrive promptly if you need service?

To protect your purchase in case of problems, vendors should offer maintenance agreements in addition to the equipment’s standard 90-day warranty. As you’ll read in pricing, this will cost extra, but you’ll avoid the headaches and expense of service calls and major repairs.

Always have vendors perform a test run of the letter folder you’re interested in. Most letter folding equipment has a sample setting that allows you to see what the finished fold will look like before full production. Have them show you how it works in person, either at your office or at their location. If they can’t meet in person, have them send you a few samples of folded documents using the same type of paper you work with.

Finally, find out what kind of training the vendor offers. While most letter folding equipment is intuitive, you want the vendor to walk you and your staff through the functionality and answer any questions that come up. It’s also a good opportunity to learn how to troubleshoot quick problems on your own and keep the machines clean for optimal performance.