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Supplies & smart fulfillment
Supplies is where toner decisions get made. MeterBeam watches every cartridge's level over time, works out how fast it's being used, and turns that into a simple recommendation per site: what to ship now, what to include in the same shipment, and what can wait.
How days-left is calculated
For each cartridge MeterBeam keeps the level history from every poll and fits a burn rate (percent per day) to it. Days left = current level ÷ burn rate. The clock resets every time a cartridge is replaced — a jump from 3% back to 100% is recorded as a replacement event, and the new cartridge starts its own curve. Rates settle after about a week of readings; a device that was just added will show a dash until there's enough data.
Two things to know: usage is seasonal and lumpy, so treat a projection as a planning number, not a promise; and devices that report toner in coarse steps (some only say 100 / 50 / 25 / 10) will have noisier estimates than ones that report exact percentages.
The three decisions
| Decision | Trigger | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| SHIP NOW | Projected empty within the urgent window (default 14 days), or level at/below the toner alert threshold (default 15%). | Without a shipment this device stops printing soon. |
| ADD TO BOX | Projected empty within the batching window (default 45 days) at a site that already has a SHIP NOW. | Not urgent — but shipping it now saves a second box (and second shipping charge) to the same address next month. |
| RESTOCK | An item in that site's shelf inventory is below its minimum. | Top up the customer's on-site spares while you're shipping anyway. |
The part number shown is the OEM cartridge for that exact model and color (e.g. T04L C, 106R03526, HP 414X W2021X), so whoever places the order doesn't have to look anything up.
Proposals
Click Create proposal for a site (or Proposal on any attention-queue row) and MeterBeam assembles the box: every SHIP NOW item for that site, plus the ADD TO BOX and RESTOCK items, each with quantity and part number. Review it, remove anything you don't want, and approve. Approved proposals appear under Shipments in progress on the dashboard until they're marked delivered.
By default MeterBeam is in approval mode: nothing ships without explicit approval. If your account is connected to a supplier for automatic ordering, the proposal becomes the order on approval; if not, it's a pick list for whoever handles your purchasing.
Shelf inventory
Some customers keep spares in a cabinet. Each site can carry a shelf — a list of cartridges kept on hand with a minimum quantity. When a device's cartridge is replaced from the shelf, decrement it; when the shelf drops below minimum, it appears as RESTOCK. This keeps the "we have a spare, don't ship" and the "we're out of spares, do ship" cases straight without a phone call.
Supply forecast
Under each site's fulfillment table is the full forecast: every cartridge at the site with level, burn rate, projected days left and date, and part number — including the ones that aren't due for months. Use it for quarterly planning or when a customer asks "how long until the color unit needs toner?"
Tuning the windows
The urgent trigger, batching window, and toner alert threshold are global settings you can change under Settings → Global thresholds; the toner threshold can also be overridden per site and per device. If a customer is a long drive away, widen the windows so more goes in each box; if they're next door, tighten them.