Supplies & Maintenance

Have you opened your latest copier bill, expecting it to look the same as always, and noticed that your total went up?

Before you panic or start imagining hidden fees, take a deep breath; you’re not the only one wondering why.

At Strategic Technology Partners of Texas (STPT), we help businesses across Texas manage their printer fleets, and one of the most common questions we hear is:

“Why did my copier bill increase when nothing changed on my end?”

The truth is, there are a few very normal (and preventable) reasons why this can happen. Some are tied to your contract, while others have to do with how your team prints. Understanding them can save your business a lot of money and stress down the road.

In this article, we’ll walk you through the three most common reasons your copier or printer bill may have gone up, what they mean for your organization, and how to get back on track.

Table of Contents

When your office printer goes down, it can feel like the whole workplace grinds to a halt. Deadlines get pushed, employees hover around the machine pressing buttons, and someone eventually says, “How hard could it be to fix this thing?”

We know how tempting it is to roll up your sleeves and try to fix it yourself, especially when repair costs and downtime feel overwhelming. But printers aren’t like coffee machines or microwaves. They’re complex, high-voltage devices packed with delicate parts, specialized software, and very specific repair needs.

As a print vendor with decades of experience, we’ve seen many businesses try to handle repairs themselves. More often than not, this approach ends up costing more in the long run, both financially and in lost productivity.

In this blog, we’ll break down four big reasons why servicing your own printer or copier is a bad idea, and what you should be doing instead to keep your office equipment running smoothly.

The stats speak for themselves: consumers prefer eco-friendly businesses. 

According to Forbes, 68% of millennials bought an environmentally friendly product in the last year, and 87% of consumers developed more positive images of companies that supported environmental issues.

As the millennial age group takes over the marketplace, it is important for companies to follow new market trends to capture millennial attention, and environmental sustainability is one of the big ones.

Let’s consider an example. When’s the last time you saw a Hummer on the road?

In the 90s and early 2000s, GM’s Hummer was all the rage; celebrities drove them, and GM sold multiple civilian models to a market that couldn’t get enough. 

You rely on your printer to work when you need it—but have you ever considered whether your office setup is actually working against it? Many businesses unintentionally place their printers in less-than-ideal conditions, leading to frequent breakdowns, costly repairs, and a shorter lifespan.

At Strategic Technology Partners of Texas (STPT), we work with printers daily and have firsthand experience with how environmental factors impact performance. We’ve seen printers stored in overheated server rooms, placed directly under air vents, or even positioned in areas with high dust buildup—leading to premature wear and tear. The good news? Many of these issues are preventable with proper care.

By understanding the ideal conditions for your printer, you can extend its lifespan, reduce maintenance costs, and keep your office running smoothly. Let’s dive in.

Your printer just blinked a warning: “Low Toner.” Now you’re wondering how much longer it’ll last. Will you make it through that big report, or will it fizzle out halfway through? For anyone managing office supplies, toner yield is the key to smarter printing decisions.

At Strategic Technology Partners of Texas, we’ve worked with printers for nearly 40 years. We know the value of reliable, high-quality office supplies. Understanding toner yield—the number of pages a cartridge can print before running out—is vital for balancing quality, cost, and efficiency.

In this article, you’ll learn what toner yield is, the factors affecting it, and how to maximize it for your office. With this knowledge, you’ll be able to optimize your printing and keep your budget in check.