How much money can your business save on office supplies?

Posted on Oct 21 2010 - 3:07pm by Peter Millikin


There are several methods that a company can do to save money on office supplies. One simple way is to keep track of office employees ordering habits on a monthly basis!

Surprisingly enough many small businesses still order supplies from the office supplies catalogue without even looking for cheaper alternatives.

But many larger companies who are cost conscious bulk buy or have a central area allocated to hold all supplies and a requisition form is filled out by staff. If it is only office staff that use the stationery it will makes it simple to cut down on excessive use of office items.

Printed stationery can cost a fortune so use it wisely. Logo printed stationery should only be given to those employees who work for executive staff. There are other occasions as in inner office communication when a cheaper non logo paper can be utilized.

Included in this cost saving method are things like company envelopes or any item with a logo imprinted on it. This money saving method can be quite successful in lowering office management costs.

Yet, another cost saving method is to put the office manager who requisitions supplies on a budget! Working up a budget based on previous monthly supplies and reducing it by an automatic 10% can be an initial step in coming up with a workable office budget.

Employees are usually more conscientious of the materials they discard or use when their requisitions are being collected. If office costs seem unusually high, this measure will be a fine way of making staff accountable for office expenses.

These two methods, one of requisition forms and one of not using printed stationery internally is a quick and easy ways of getting an office with run-a-way internal expenses under control and reduced.

A more complicated method is to get your office supplies usage analysed by an office supplies company. They can then give you something called a “core list” this core list will be products you use most but offered to you at a heavy discounted price. The office supplies company will normally add and remove products on a quarterly basis when they revaluate your purchasing habits.

Read about the Author

Peter has received many accreditation's including many from the Times Online. As founder of You Could Save (2005) and What Stationers (2007) Peter regularly helps consumers and national organisation ‘save money’. He believes that the only successful way to bring people together online is to provide an open marketplace where people can all work together in a friendly, unbiased environment.

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