He had a team of highly-paid salesmen (and they were pretty much all men) driving around the countryside convincing school principals and the like that they needed new photocopiers.

The profit margin on the machines was basically zero.

But the salespeople earned their keep, because every large photocopier sold also had a service contract that charged a fee for every copy made.

The game was up by the early 2000s when the stand-alone photocopier was replaced with networked laser printers, but while it lasted it paid for a lot of salespeople’s fancy cars, boats, and overseas holidays.