Sorting Your Comms for EOFY: Should You Buy, Hire, or Lease?
As we get closer to June 30, operations managers and producers across the country are doing the exact same thing: looking at budgets and figuring out what needs upgrading for the new financial year.
When it comes to two-way radios, the question we get asked the most is pretty straightforward: “Should we just buy our own gear outright, or are we better off hiring?”
After two decades in the business, the honest answer is that it completely depends on how your team actually operates. If you're trying to figure out the smartest way to spend your budget before June 30, we've broken down how buying, hiring, and leasing actually play out in the real world—so you can decide what makes sense for your site.
Buying: Sorting Your Core Team
If you run a daily operation—like a warehouse, a school, or a hotel—where the exact same staff need a radio on their belt every single day, buying your fleet outright is usually the best move.
It’s a straightforward investment. You own the hardware, your team takes responsibility for looking after it, and it’s always sitting in the charger ready for the next shift.
The only catch is the upfront cost. Genuine Motorola radios and multi-chargers are an investment. Because of that, we always recommend buying only what you need for your permanent, day-to-day team. You don't want to buy extra radios "just in case" you get busy, because that’s just tying up your budget in gear that sits in a tech cupboard for nine months of the year.
Hiring: The "Hybrid" Approach for Peak Periods
This is where a hybrid setup makes a lot of sense. Let’s say you own 20 radios for your permanent staff. But in December, your retail store brings on 15 casuals for the holiday rush. Or your venue hosts a big weekend festival. Or your film production suddenly needs 40 extra crew members on location.
If you bought those extra 40 radios, you’re paying for equipment you only use a few times a year. By hiring your overflow gear, you only pay for comms when you actually need them.
When you hire extra Motorola units from us, they arrive fully charged, pre-programmed, and ready to hand straight out to your casual staff. You get a reliable, dedicated comms setup for your peak period, and once the job is done or the season wraps up, you just pack them up and send them back.
Leasing: Protecting Your Cash Flow
If you do need a large, permanent fleet for your venue but don’t want to use up your entire EOFY budget in one hit, leasing is a highly practical alternative.
We work with Grenke to offer equipment financing, which spreads the cost of a new Motorola setup over 12 to 60 months. A lot of facility managers and accountants prefer this route for a few practical reasons:
Better cash flow: You get the premium comms setup your site needs right now, but your working capital stays in the bank for other EOFY expenses.
Tax benefits: In most cases, your monthly lease payments can be claimed as a 100% tax-deductible operating expense (definitely run this past your accountant first, but that’s the general rule).
Keeping tech current: At the end of your lease term, you aren't stuck with outdated hardware. You have the option to easily roll over and upgrade to the latest equipment on the market.
Making the right call for your budget
There’s no single right way to do this. We have event clients who only ever hire, warehouses that buy everything upfront, and large hospitality venues that lease their entire fleet to keep cash flow smooth.
The goal is just to make sure your team has reliable comms without putting unnecessary stress on your budget.
If you're sorting out your EOFY spend, reach out to us. Tell us how your site operates, and we can run the numbers on hiring, buying, and leasing to show you exactly what makes the most financial sense.
