Does anyone know of a specific brand/make/model of a copy machine that is suitable for office use that seldom or never jams???
No. No one knows of a specific brand/make/model of a copy machine that is suitable for office use that seldom or never jams, unless you define seldom as the average rate that copy machines jam.
All of the well known copier companies make machines that jam as infrequently as possible. But the majority of jams are due to poor quality paper, improper loading of paper and toner, over use, lack of maintenance, etc.
What size machine are you looking for? Something to share among three people and make maybe 50 copies a day, or an “enterprise” grade machine that’s LAN-connected so it can also be used as a high-speed / high volume printer with collator, sorter, stapler and is capable of consuming 5,000 sheets of paper per day without a hiccup?
If you overwork a “SOHO” (small office / home office) copier, you’re pretty well guaranteed to have endless grief, so matching a machine’s capacity to your needs is important.
Also vitally important is maintenance. Feed rollers and separator pads are “consumable” parts that are expected to need replacement every “x” thousand pages, but a lot of people overlook these things.
Don’t replace your copier. Replace your people.
Ricoh used to have a stellar reputation but that was a long time ago. I haven’t heard anything to think that it’s changed though. They’re expensive, but if it saves you hassles, it’s worth it.
On the other hand, laser printers have become so cheap that you can sometimes pick one up for around $100 on sale - for monochrome. If you need color, there are all-in-one machines that are in the $300-400. I have a Samsung CLX-3175FN that was under $400 and is very compact.
If you don’t have more than a handful of people and they all have copying they need to do, you could get one for each of them plus a couple extras as back ups. At least you know that you would never be at the mercy of the service tech.
Since the OP is seeking recommendations, this is better suited for IMHO than GQ.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
Canon Image Runner Pro 150
They haven’t been called copiers for awhile - Multifunction devices are more accurate terms:
Scan
Print
Copy
Store (you can get a terabyte of network accessible storage on some of them now)
OCR
File
Fax (yep - build in some fax lines to the machine, then have electronic copies of all faxes go to your computer).
Then we get the finishing options - staple, punch, fold, z fold, trim one edge, trim 3 edges, etc.
Oh - do you want color capabilities too? Would you like to know who goes single sided color only, and who goes double sided B&W? Want it to default to that?
Now, with all of that, key questions:
What is your monthly volume? Some people go cheap, over use, and are then shocked to have problems. Every machine out there has a recommended monthly duty cycle.
How often do you get your machine serviced? There are rollers, guides, and other bits and pieces that can wear out, get dirty, etc. This is why a good service contract is needed.
Finally - are you using the right paper? Yes, some paper IS better than others. How do you treat your paper? Do you have a bunch of partial stacks sitting around, or do you put in a full ream every time you run out? Humidity can impact jamming as well.
Any copier contract can be done over several years, with built-in service, toner, and a set cost per page. After that, you can evaluate their service department.
For comparisons, the main one the industry uses is here:
Nitpick: there are still copiers out there that just make copies.
As for the question in the OP, given that he didn’t specify anything about the specs needed, I’d recommend just hiring a monk to work as a scribe. Not terribly fast, but guaranteed to be jam-free (unless he likes to eat jam for breakfast).