The key to saving money on office supplies is a system. Here are my tips –
1. Create a supply list – use a paper document, a digital document or an online list provided by the office supply vendor. The supply list is a list of all supplies you use. Narrow it down to one of each item. Limiting the list saves time in restocking. Pick one kind of black pen, one kind of red pen, one kind of legal pad, etc. Don’t bow to pressure to have special items for each loud voice in your office.
2. Compare office supply vendors, local and online, to determine the best prices on the supplies you need. Pick a single vendor if possible. Resist the temptation to use more than one supplier even if some items have a better price with a different vendor. Go with the overall low price vendor to minimize the time involved in dealing with placing orders.
3. Examine the quantity discount for each item and determine the sweet spot for each item that is the intersection between the best price and a reasonable supply for each item. Add a column to your list and specify the quantity that gets you that best price for each item. Lets refer to this as your “re-order quantity.”
4. Add a “minimum quantity” column to your supply list. This minimum should be a one month supply of each item. When you’re down to this minimum you’ll know it’s time to re-order.
5. Have someone check the supplies each month. If the supply of any item drops below the “minimum quantity” they should place an order for that item using the “re-order quantity.” The order should always be placed for the “re-order quantity” determined above – no more – no less. That way, you’ll be achieving the quantity discount you seek. Your supply person simply goes down the list, counts the quantity of each item and determines if it needs reordering. If you’re running low on an item they place the order for the “re-order quantity.” No thinking allowed. Once the system is working you should be able to have an intern or the lowest paid person on the team deal with this task.
6. Do the inventory and place the order on a set day each month. Don’t order supplies on other occasions. If you follow the plan you should always have what you need. Watch out for staff deviating from the system to maximize “bribes” from the vendor. Quill, for instance, sends lots of cookies and other bonus gifts for orders. The customer can maximize the gifts by placing, smaller, more frequent orders. This takes staff time and may cause you to incur greater shipping costs. It also results in more charges to the firm credit card or checking account driving up your accounting costs.
By following this simple system you minimize the time spent on ordering supplies and debating what should be in the order, you take advantage of quantity discounts and you minimize the number of invoices and payments to be processed. Bottom line – you’ll have the supplies you need at the lowest possible cost for supplies and staff.
What’s your system? Got any improvements for mine? Got a better idea? Please comment below.
