10/20/2026
A customer called me about our invoice, and he was certain we had made a mistake.
He had switched off automatic supplies on one of his machines some time ago. Later he started printing on it again, because he worked out it was the better machine for his work and the cost per page was lower than on the small desktop unit he had been using. He bought a cartridge himself to keep it running, and when I suggested putting the machine back on Toner AutoPilot he agreed, a little reluctantly.
Then our invoice arrived. He phoned to say we had billed him for the black toner, and he had just gone out and bought that one himself.
It was not the black. It was the cyan, which he had nearly run out of and had not noticed. The right cartridge had already been sent, before a weekend.
On Toner AutoPilot the machine connects with our warehouse and orders the supplies it needs on its own, so nobody in the office has to manage it. He had been looking at the cartridge he could see. The machine knew about all of them.
It isn't to say every office needs it. An office that prints a few pages a week can look after a spare set on the shelf. It is simply that the cartridge that stops you is usually the one you were not looking at.
When did anyone in your office last check which cartridge is next to run out?
Adam, Uptown Business Machines