Printer supply costs are about to climb again. Xerox and Lexmark just announced roughly a 5% price increase on select supplies — including Xerox PrimeLink and Lexmark Enterprise and BSD lines — effective August 1, 2026. If your office runs either brand, this is worth a few minutes of your attention before the new pricing kicks in.
What’s Driving Printer Supply Costs Up
According to the manufacturer bulletin, the increase applies across four price lists: Lexmark BSD, Xerox PrimeLink, Standard (non-BSD products), and MSRP. Any new order placed on or after August 1st gets billed at the new rate. Existing end-user special bid pricing holds until those bid letters expire, so if you’re locked into a bid, you’ve got some runway — but not forever.
This isn’t an isolated event, either. Printer supply costs across the industry have been ticking up for a few years now, driven by materials and logistics costs that show no sign of reversing. Toner, drums, and maintenance kits aren’t getting cheaper.
How Rising Printer Supply Costs Hit Your Bottom Line
The impact depends entirely on how your printers are set up. If you’re buying supplies a la carte — ordering toner and drums as you need them — you feel every price increase directly, the day it takes effect. If you’re on a cost-per-copy service agreement that bundles supplies into a fixed rate, a manufacturer price bump on the back end is the dealer’s problem to absorb, not yours.
That difference is the whole game when printer supply costs start moving.
The Smart Alternative: Lock In Predictable Costs With a Service Agreement
Here’s something worth clarifying, since it trips people up: a 90-day warranty is standard on most copiers, new or remanufactured, but the warranty was never really the differentiator. Almost every business ends up buying a service and supply agreement from day one regardless of warranty length, because that’s what actually controls your cost per page over the life of the machine.
With a Canon, Kyocera, Ricoh, or Toshiba device under an ABS service agreement, your supplies are included at a fixed cost per copy. When a manufacturer like Xerox or Lexmark raises prices five percent, that increase doesn’t automatically show up on your invoice — it gets absorbed into the contract you already have. That’s the whole point of bundling hardware, service, and supplies into one predictable number instead of shopping consumables piecemeal.
What This Means for Tallahassee Businesses
If your office uses Lexmark printers or Xerox copiers and this is the second or third supply price increase you’ve noticed in the last couple of years, it’s a reasonable time to get a quote on Canon, Kyocera, Ricoh, or Toshiba equipment with a bundled service and supply agreement instead. Law firms, medical offices, and state agencies we work with under NASPO agreements all care about the same thing: knowing exactly what a page costs, month after month, regardless of what happens with manufacturer pricing. Getting ahead of printer supply costs now beats reacting to the next price letter.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Why are printer supply costs going up right now?
A: Xerox and Lexmark cited pricing adjustments across their PrimeLink, Enterprise, and BSD supply lines effective August 1, 2026. It follows a broader industry trend of rising materials and logistics costs for toner and consumables.
Q: Will this affect my current lease or service agreement?
A: If your supplies are bundled into a fixed cost-per-copy service agreement, no — that’s the dealer’s cost to manage. If you purchase supplies separately, you’ll see the increase on new orders placed after August 1st.
Q: How do I avoid getting surprised by the next printer supply cost increase?
A: Move to a service and supply agreement with a locked cost-per-copy rate. It’s the single best way to stop worrying about what a manufacturer decides to do with pricing.
Related Resources from ABS
Sources: Toshiba Business Solutions,