Xerox Is the Canary Now

By Charlie G. Peterson IV | greg report 2027

The old dealer-floor joke had teeth: when HP caught a cold, everyone else got the Zombie Flu.

It worked because HP had mass. Shelves moved when HP sneezed. Toner pricing twitched. Buyers paused. Competitors suddenly found themselves explaining why their “strategic direction” looked suspiciously like a man sweating through his polo beside the demo unit.

That metaphor feels dated now.

Xerox has taken the perch.

Not because Xerox dominates the room. That crown wandered off years ago. Xerox matters because its numbers expose the weak boards underneath the old channel floor: print volume, equipment placements, post-sale revenue, managed print stickiness, debt, service economics, and the nasty question of what happens when a legacy print company buys scale because time has grown expensive.

The Q1 2026 earnings statement opens with a recovery story. Revenue hit $1.846 billion, up 26.7% year over year. Adjusted operating income reached $72 million. Adjusted operating margin climbed to 3.9%, up 240 basis points from last year. Xerox reaffirmed full-year guidance: revenue above $7.5 billion, adjusted operating income of $450 million to $500 million, and free cash flow around $250 million.

ECS 2026: The Legacy Embedded in the Future

ECS 2026

Twelve years ago, I attended the 2014 ECS. I’m not the only one who can wax nostalgic about an Executive Connection Summit from over a decade ago, but here I am.

Post and Walters, Ask Us Anything

This episode of the Crickets show featured Greg, Art, and special guest Keith from PUDU Robotics discussing the company's new products and go-to-market strategy. 

Keith introduced PUDU's latest cleaning robot, the BG1 series, which features AI object detection, wet/dry area recognition, and fleet communication capabilities, with pre-orders expected to ship in late April and mass distribution in June. 

The discussion covered PUDU's U.S. market strategy, including their new Dallas headquarters and existing warehouses in Los Angeles and New Jersey, as well as their upcoming presence at the Modex trade show in April. 

The conversation also touched on PUDU's quadruped robot (D5) for potential security and inspection applications, and the growing interest in robotics within the office equipment dealer community.