What's actually going on
Most copier agreements include a minimum number of pages per month bundled into the payment. Pages beyond that are billed as overage at a per-page rate.
The overage rate is usually higher than the bundled rate, sometimes considerably.
A single heavy month, a mailing or a new department can push you into overage, and quarterly billing means you see it two months later.
What to do in the next 48 hours
- 1Find the included volume and the overage rate on your agreement. They are separate numbers from the click rate.
- 2Compare twelve months of meter readings against the included volume to see whether you are consistently over or occasionally over.
- 3If you are consistently over, ask to move up a band. A higher bundled volume at a lower rate almost always beats paying overage every month.
- 4If you are consistently under, you are paying for pages you do not print. Ask to move down.
The honest tradeoffs
- Moving up a band lowers your per-page cost and raises your fixed monthly commitment. If your volume is genuinely falling, that is the wrong direction.
- Staying on overage keeps the base payment low and makes budgeting unpredictable.
Your next step
Questions people ask next
- What is a copier overage charge?
- A per-page fee for printing beyond the volume included in your monthly agreement. The overage rate is set in the contract and is often higher than the effective rate on the included pages.
- Why did my copier bill suddenly increase?
- The usual causes are exceeding your included page volume and being billed overage, an annual escalator taking effect, or estimated meter readings being trued up against actuals. Check your meter history and your contract's escalator clause first.
More on costs that don't add up
- My copier bill keeps going up and nobody can explain why
- I think I'm overpaying but I can't prove it
- Why are we printing so much?
- How much should a copy actually cost?
- How do we actually reduce paper usage?
- How do I track print costs by department?
- Is colour printing worth what we're paying for it?
- My copier lease is ending and I don't know what to do
- My lease auto-renewed and I never agreed to it
- I have to return a copier and I don't know the rules