Ask an office manager what the broadband costs and you'll get a number. Ask what the photocopier costs and you'll usually get a pause, then something like "about six hundred a quarter, I think — plus the service bit, which varies."
That pause is where the money hides. This isn't about bad machines: Ricoh, Canon, Konica Minolta, Sharp and Xerox all build kit that works for years. The money is in the contract wrapped around it — the term, the committed volumes, the uplift clause, and the renewal date nobody has in their diary.
1. Nobody in the building knows your cost per copy
On your paperwork. Two separate invoices, which is the heart of it. The finance invoice is a fixed amount from a finance house whose name may mean nothing to you. The service invoice comes from your dealer, is based on meter readings, and differs every time.
Why it costs you. The two are never added together. A cost that is never totalled is never questioned, and never negotiated. Separately, neither invoice looks alarming.
What to do. Add up the last four quarters of both. That's your real annual cost. Divide it by the pages you printed for your true all-in cost per page — not the headline click charge.
2. Your contract rolled over and nobody noticed
On your paperwork. Small print like "shall continue thereafter until terminated", or a clause headed automatic renewal. Beside it sits a notice period — the window in which you must write to them to stop the agreement rolling on, usually measured in months rather than weeks. The tell-tale sign: no renewal letter ever arrived, and the payments simply carried on.
Why it costs you. A rollover keeps you on rates set years ago, priced against a machine that was new then. It also removes your leverage: inside the notice window, the only way out is a settlement figure.
What to do. Work out the end date from the start date and term, count the notice period back from it, and put that deadline in a shared calendar with a reminder three months earlier. Not in one person's head — that person leaves.
3. Your minimum volume doesn't match what you print
On your paperwork. A committed or minimum volume, usually per quarter and split between mono and colour. Your service invoice shows the meter readings for the same period. If it bills the minimum rather than the meter, you're printing less than you agreed to.
Why it costs you. You're paying for pages nobody printed. Hybrid working made this common: an office with people in three days a week doesn't print what it did on five, but the commitment signed before all that is rarely revisited.
What to do. Compare four consecutive meter readings against your annual commitment. If you're consistently under, write it down — it's a strong card at renewal. Be realistic about the remedy, though: suppliers re-base commitments going forward far more readily than they refund the past.
The one thing to take away
You're not looking for a scandal. You're looking for drift. These contracts are long, quiet and structured so that small annual movements compound without anyone making a decision. Knowing your annual number and your notice deadline puts you ahead of most businesses on your street.
4. Your per-copy rate has crept up every year
On your paperwork. A clause about annual increases, indexation or uplift, in one of two flavours: linked to an inflation index such as RPI, or a flat percentage written into the agreement. Either way it's applied automatically, often with no letter telling you. Compare the per-page rate on your oldest service invoice with your newest.
Why it costs you. It compounds. Each uplift applies to the already-uplifted rate, so the gap between the first year and the last is wider than the headline percentage suggests. Over a term of three to five years, that's often why a deal that looked sharp on day one looks expensive by the end.
What to do. Ask your supplier in writing to confirm every increase applied and the basis for each — an ordinary request. Then negotiate the clause itself at renewal: a cap, or a fixed rate for the term. Most people negotiate the price and ignore the clause that changes it.
5. You're paying the same for a machine that's years old
On your paperwork. An identical lease payment to the one you started with, for a device that has visibly had a long life. Check the serial number and install date against the original agreement — sometimes the machine in the corner isn't the one on the paperwork.
Why it costs you. The finance element of a lease repays the equipment over a set term. When that term ends, the reason for that payment ends with it. If the amount hasn't changed, the fair question is: what am I paying for now? Sometimes there's a good answer.
What to do. Ask the finance company — not the dealer — for the start date, the original term, the current status and a settlement figure. That tells you where you actually stand.
What to dig out, and what to look at
Ten minutes with four documents answers most of the above. If you can't find them, your accounts software or the supplier's customer services can produce copies.
| Document | Line items to look at |
|---|---|
| The finance or lease agreement | Start date, term, payment and frequency, renewal clause, notice period, end-of-term options. |
| The service agreement | Mono and colour click charges, minimum volume, the uplift clause, and what's included: toner, parts, labour, call-outs. |
| Your last four service invoices | Meter readings, the per-page rate actually billed, and extras such as delivery or software licences. |
| Your last four finance invoices | The payment amount, whether it has ever changed, and any insurance or admin charges bundled in. |
The two numbers you want at the end
First, your total annual cost: twelve months of finance plus twelve months of service, before VAT. Second, your annual page volume, mono and colour separately. With those two you can have a sensible conversation with anyone — including your current supplier, who may well be the right answer.
If you'd rather not do the sums yourself
The widget on our homepage does the arithmetic. It asks what you pay, roughly what you print and when your contract ends, then shows your real annual number on screen. The sum runs on your own device, and nothing is sent anywhere unless you ask us to check the market for you.