diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 69979dbe..c7f54a08 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -128,6 +128,20 @@ ADR-007 and ADR-002.
 
 ### Fixed
 
+- **The printer supplies card was ordered by printer name, so the emptiest
+  cartridge was not first and sometimes was not shown at all.** Rows sorted on
+  "is critical" and then alphabetically, and critical is everything at or below
+  5% - so a cartridge at 5% and one at 0% tied on the first key and the alphabet
+  broke the tie. That is the wrong order on its own, and worse than it looks:
+  the dashboard queue keeps only the first few rows per source, so a printer
+  that was genuinely empty got truncated off the card while a fuller one held
+  its place. The card exists to answer "what do I walk out and change today" and
+  was answering it with the alphabet. Rows now sort by the emptiest cartridge on
+  the printer, ascending. Waste cartridges were already normalised to percent
+  remaining, so one ascending sort is worst-first for every supply type and the
+  critical flag falls out of it rather than needing its own key; the name only
+  breaks ties.
+
 - **A permission became grantable to anonymous visitors because of how it was
   spelled.** `guest_grantable_permissions()` opened any permission whose name
   ended `.view` or `.read` to the guest role, on the reasoning that reading is
diff --git a/plugins/printers/api/asset_routes.py b/plugins/printers/api/asset_routes.py
index da463726..3b3e7d39 100644
--- a/plugins/printers/api/asset_routes.py
+++ b/plugins/printers/api/asset_routes.py
@@ -2659,6 +2659,9 @@ def dashboard_supplies():
             # dashboard card and the toner report were both doing.
             'levelid': printer.get('levelid'),
             'iscritical': any(s['status'] == 'critical' for s in depleted),
+            # The emptiest cartridge on this printer, which is what decides the
+            # row's place in the queue. depleted is sorted and non-empty here.
+            'worstremaining': depleted[0]['remaining'],
             'supplies': [{
                 'text': '{} {}%'.format(_shortsupplyname(supply.get('name')),
                                         supply.get('remaining')),
@@ -2667,7 +2670,18 @@ def dashboard_supplies():
             } for supply in depleted],
         })
 
-    rows.sort(key=lambda r: (not r['iscritical'], r['printername']))
+    # Emptiest first. This sorted on iscritical then NAME, and critical is
+    # everything at or below 5%, so a cartridge at 5% and one at 0% tied on the
+    # first key and the alphabet decided which came first. That is bad ordering
+    # on its own and worse than it looks: the dashboard queue takes only the
+    # first few rows per source, so the printer that is actually empty was
+    # being truncated away while a fuller one held its place.
+    #
+    # remaining is already normalised for waste cartridges (a full waste bin
+    # reads as low remaining), so one ascending sort is worst-first for every
+    # supply type, and iscritical falls out of it rather than needing its own
+    # key. Name only breaks ties.
+    rows.sort(key=lambda r: (r['worstremaining'], r['printername']))
     # Envelope rather than a bare list, so the card can say WHY it has no rows.
     # An empty card and a blind card must not look the same.
     return success_response({'rows': rows,
diff --git a/tests/test_plugins/test_supplies_card_ordering.py b/tests/test_plugins/test_supplies_card_ordering.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..1eb40fef
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_plugins/test_supplies_card_ordering.py
@@ -0,0 +1,101 @@
+"""The supplies card must put the emptiest cartridge first.
+
+It sorted on iscritical, then on PRINTER NAME. Critical is everything at or
+below 5%, so a cartridge at 5% and one at 0% tied on the first key and the
+alphabet decided the order.
+
+That is bad ordering on its own, and worse than it looks: the dashboard queue
+takes only the first few rows per source, so a printer that is genuinely empty
+was truncated out of the card while a fuller one held its place. The card
+existed to answer "what do I walk out and change today" and was answering it
+with the alphabet.
+"""
+from unittest.mock import patch
+
+import pytest
+
+
+def _call(client, auth_headers):
+    response = client.get('/api/printers/dashboard/supplies',
+                          headers=auth_headers)
+    assert response.status_code == 200
+    return response.get_json()['data']
+
+
+@pytest.fixture(autouse=True)
+def _clear_cache(app):
+    from shopdb.extensions import cache
+    cache.delete('printers_low_supplies')
+    yield
+    cache.delete('printers_low_supplies')
+
+
+def _printer(printerid, name, remaining, status='critical'):
+    return {
+        'printerid': printerid,
+        'printername': name,
+        'assetnumber': 'A{}'.format(printerid),
+        'location': 'Shop floor',
+        'mapx': None, 'mapy': None, 'levelid': None,
+        'supplies': [{
+            'name': 'Black Toner', 'level': remaining, 'remaining': remaining,
+            'status': status, 'iswaste': False, 'isdrum': False,
+            'partnumbers': [], 'lastseen': None, 'color': 'black',
+            'supplytype': 'toner',
+        }],
+    }
+
+
+def _patched(rows):
+    return patch('plugins.printers.api.asset_routes._get_low_supplies_data',
+                 return_value={'printers': rows,
+                               'summary': {'total_checked': len(rows),
+                                           'low': 0, 'critical': len(rows)}})
+
+
+def test_the_empty_cartridge_comes_before_the_nearly_empty_one(client,
+                                                               auth_headers):
+    """'Alpha' at 5% used to precede 'Zulu' at 0% purely on the name."""
+    with _patched([_printer(1, 'Alpha', 5), _printer(2, 'Zulu', 0)]):
+        data = _call(client, auth_headers)
+
+    order = [row['printername'] for row in data['rows']]
+    assert order == ['Zulu', 'Alpha']
+
+
+def test_rows_are_ordered_by_how_empty_they_are(client, auth_headers):
+    with _patched([_printer(1, 'Alpha', 4),
+                   _printer(2, 'Bravo', 0),
+                   _printer(3, 'Charlie', 2),
+                   _printer(4, 'Delta', 5)]):
+        data = _call(client, auth_headers)
+
+    remaining = [row['worstremaining'] for row in data['rows']]
+    assert remaining == sorted(remaining)
+    assert remaining == [0, 2, 4, 5]
+
+
+def test_a_zero_percent_printer_survives_the_queue_truncation(client,
+                                                              auth_headers):
+    """The dashboard queue keeps only the first few rows per source.
+
+    With five fuller printers whose names sort earlier, the empty one used to
+    fall off the end of the card entirely.
+    """
+    rows = [_printer(index, name, 5) for index, name in enumerate(
+        ['Alpha', 'Bravo', 'Charlie', 'Delta', 'Echo'], start=1)]
+    rows.append(_printer(6, 'Zulu', 0))
+
+    with _patched(rows):
+        data = _call(client, auth_headers)
+
+    # QUEUEPERSOURCE is 5 on the frontend; first place is what matters here.
+    assert data['rows'][0]['printername'] == 'Zulu'
+    assert [r['printername'] for r in data['rows'][:5]].count('Zulu') == 1
+
+
+def test_the_name_still_breaks_a_tie(client, auth_headers):
+    with _patched([_printer(1, 'Bravo', 3), _printer(2, 'Alpha', 3)]):
+        data = _call(client, auth_headers)
+
+    assert [row['printername'] for row in data['rows']] == ['Alpha', 'Bravo']