I'll Take Some Toner & a Prayer, Father...

I spent most of last week on airplanes, in meeting rooms, at restaurant tables. Arrived home yesterday beyond the state of exhaustion and collapsed into my favorite chair to have Peter Jennings enlighten me as to how the world kept spinning during my absence.

As expected, nothing much new and nothing much good... except for the final story on one of my favorite businesses, Laser Monks. In case you missed their story in the January 2003 issue of Fast Company, this monastery in Wisconsin has taken the toner cartridge market by storm. As Father Bernard McCoy tells the story, it all began because he was in search of "just a few sprinkles of dust" - realized how expensive computer toner was and felt there had to be a better way.

Taking this project on to raise self-supporting income, the monks began selling inkjet & toner cartridges, and earned $2,000 in 2001. This year? They're looking at around $2 million.

Father McCoy says they strive to "build relationships & make e-commerce more human:"

"LaserMonks consciously markets our products and molds our business and website with a focus on 'people benefits.' We endeavor to bring our 900 years of monastic tradition to bear on all aspects of LaserMonks. Through these efforts we hope to build long-term and mutually beneficial relationships with all our visitors and customers."

Income earned above and beyond is contributed to charitable organizations and projects outside the monastery. Great prices, blessed service, and charitable giving to boot.

A match made in heaven, don't you think?

Comments

[Todd]

I have met Father Bernard. He attended a Milwaukee Company of Friends meeting and talked about Lasermonks. There are only 5 of them in Sparta. They had to find something that they could do with the manpower they had. They found out how much dust is marked up and found a perfect opportunity.

ALL the profits go to good works. At our meeting, Father Bernard wrote a check to Neil Willenson, founder of Camp Heartland (an summer camp for HIV+ children).

And talk about having a brand that is 900 years old. They understand that and plan to use it as their business grows.

[fouroboros]

God is my Copier Tech. He said "Faith moves mountains... but a good slap with the palm of the hand frees up those extra-pesky paper jams."

Very cool, Michele. Now I'm trying to get the HP ordering page to load.... grrr

[Elliot Daverty]

I totally agree with what you're saying. I wish more people feltthis way and took the time to express themselves. Keep up the great work.

Elliot Daverty
http://www.brothertonermodel.com