Big suppliers such as Office Depot Inc say a sluggish economy is part of the reason for shrinking profits.
Local providers see customers scrimping on purchases.
Businesses, mostly small, call in last-minute orders for toner and other supplies. They wait for warning lights to go on before requesting service on copiers and fax machines. Declining purchases of computers and software also contributed to a 42 percent drop in profits at Office Depot, the biggest US retailer of office supplies, in the first quarter. That behavior is showing up in broad numbers. Corporate spending on equipment and software fell at a 2.1 percent rate in the first three months of the year, after dropping at a 3.3 percent pace in the fourth quarter of 2000, according to the Commerce Department.