By the time most industries notice their decline, the ground has already shifted. The copier channel is lucky. It still has time to steer. At the Post Walters webcast, that steering began in public view.
The conversation pulled together the full spectrum of experience. Art Post and Greg Walters spoke for the bridge-builders. Kevin Frey represented the technical architects. Ed McLaughlin and Chip Miceli carried the institutional memory. The topic was robotics, but the subtext was survival. Could the copier channel, with all its trucks, techs, and tenacity, become the distribution and service backbone for an entirely new class of machines?
CricketsUS exists to answer that question with action. The coalition now represents the most coordinated effort yet to convert copier and IT dealers into robotic resellers, local partners who can sell, lease, install, and service autonomous machines in the same way they once handled MFPs.
From Decline to Design
Greg Walters opened with the obvious truth: diversification efforts like MPS, IT services, and water have not offset falling print volumes. Dealers still rely on A3 and A4 for two-thirds of their revenue. Managed IT represents only about thirteen percent. ECM and VoIP together add less than two. That stagnation created the space for something new.
Robotics fits because it feels familiar but acts different. Dealers already know how to set up devices, run dispatch, and manage SLAs. Robots simply add motion and software updates. They require network connection, battery maintenance, and firmware patches all tasks service teams already understand.
CricketsUS formalizes that fit. It connects OEMs that lack field service capacity with dealers that need a new product tail. It gives structure to what might have been an isolated experiment.
Proofs of Movement
At the upcoming Tampa event, the first full proof will run. An AMR will leave its dock, travel to a supply shelf, pick up toner, and deliver it next to a copier. Another will run an HR onboarding demo using an embedded LLM trained on a dealer’s handbook. Both are symbolic, but they prove the larger claim: robots can operate inside the dealer ecosystem, supported by existing technicians and help desks.
The model scales through pilots. Dealers can start with one demo robot in their own office, running deliveries or cleaning tasks. Once internal teams understand scheduling, routing, and maintenance, they can offer similar pilots to customers in healthcare, automotive, finance, or property management.
The Twain Factor
Kevin Neal's presence gives Crickets technical credibility. The Twain Working Group spent thirty-five years building the driver standards that made scanners and MFPs interoperable. Twain now plans to do the same for robotics. The aim is to standardize how software communicates with robots so that devices from different OEMs can be managed through one interface.
This matters for scale. Without a standard, every integration becomes a custom project. With it, a dealer can support multiple brands under one service platform. Twain’s new specifications will define how robots send and receive movement commands, report status, and interface with Ai systems.
Ed McLaughlin closed the loop. “You cannot rebuild the tail you had,” he said. “You have to build a new one.”
Ed McLaughlin’s warning echoed through the session. The copier business stopped being relationship-based when leasing took machines off the balance sheet in 1982. The entire industry turned transactional. That culture is now the biggest risk. Robotics requires account development, not contract flipping.
To sell a robot, a rep must understand workflows and measure time loss. They must show where a machine saves minutes and money. That means site surveys, pilot phases, and discovery questions the skills that built the industry before leases replaced relationships.
Dealers who revive that muscle will win. The rest will watch the opportunity pass by.
The Practical Tail
Chip Miceli grounded the conversation in economics. He is already evaluating cleaning robots for commercial properties. His argument was simple: robots perform tasks people no longer want or can afford to do. They fit the dealer model because they break, need updates, and generate recurring service. “This is the future,” he said. “Stuff we can fix. Stuff we can program.”
The cost-per-task model extends naturally from the copier’s cost-per-page logic. Instead of metering impressions, dealers can charge per delivery, per cleaning cycle, or per completed job. Leasing companies already understand the structure. CricketsUS provides the training and templates to make it operational.
Security and Liability
The discussion also covered the risks. Robots move, record, and learn. Ai retains what it sees. Deploying them inside regulated environments requires compliance planning. Kevin Frey referenced work aligning with NIST 800-171-3 standards to govern data retention and access control.
Dealers who already manage print security are well positioned to extend those practices to robotics. The same skills that protect scanned documents will protect robot telemetry. CricketsUS and Twain plan to publish joint guidance so dealers can sell into healthcare, finance, and government without regulatory blind spots.
The Workforce Edge
Another topic was recruiting. The average copier technician is over fifty. Dealers struggle to attract young talent. Robotics changes the narrative. “Robot tech” sounds like a career, not a stopgap. Pilots inside dealerships double as training grounds. A small in-office robot can become a hands-on classroom for new hires.
Greg Walters noted that this alone could revitalize the service culture. A company that showcases robotics becomes a magnet for curious minds.
The Long Game
CricketsUS is not pitching overnight transformation. The timeline is measured.
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2025: Pilot phase and dealer certification.
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2026: Full OEM partnerships and expansion to fifty dealers.
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2027: Integration with nationwide leasing and managed service structures.
By then, the model will be normalized: robots sold, leased, and supported through the same dealer networks that once handled copiers.
The impact extends beyond revenue. It repositions the channel as a force in automation rather than a relic of print. Copier dealers know how to live in the customer’s workflow. Robotics gives them new workflows to live in.
The Cultural Turn
At the end of the webcast, Walters summed up the shift. “The leaves are turning. So is the channel.” That line carried weight. For decades, the channel has been told to reinvent itself. This time, it is not about software dashboards or managed services. It is about movement, real machines that create visible, measurable change in a customer’s day.
Ed McLaughlin closed the loop. “You cannot rebuild the tail you had,” he said. “You have to build a new one.”
That is what CricketsUS represents: the first organized attempt to retire the copier tail and replace it with something modern, mobile, and sustainable.
A few months from now, dealers will walk through the Tampa floor and watch a robot carry toner to a copier, answer an HR question, and roll back to dock. The symbolism will be clear. The channel that once kept offices running is learning to keep robots working.
The service business never died. It just changed shape.
And for the first time in years,
the copier channel is ahead of the curve again.
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