Cutting Office Supply Costs

Everyone needs office supplies, from the parish of a small town to the largest conglomerate in the land. Business transactions occurring everyday make for tons of paper, pens, pencils, staples, and lots more of other office items to be consumed in billions of offices all over the world. Office supplies can account for up to 40% of a company’s operating costs. Oftentimes, companies spend more on office supplies than they have to.

When a company is wasting money, profits grow smaller. A company that should be earning $150,000 in profits could lose up to $30,000 of potential profits because of needless spending on office supplies. Experienced businessmen know that it’s more difficult to raise profits than to reduce expenses. A profit margin of 10% can be doubled by cutting costs by that same amount.

This article will provide you with some of the effective ways to reduce operating expenses by saving on office supplies. Follow these steps and your operational costs will reduce significantly and your revenue start to grow.

1. Take inventory of all the office supplies you have in the office right now and transfer them in specially designated areas where people can easily find them when needed.

2. Reuse old supplies. Binders, folders, or even notepads from last year’s inventory can be reused or salvaged with a little inventiveness and resourcefulness.

3. Start a collection. All those expositions, seminars, and conferences can yield a lot of pencils, pens, and other goodies. You can stash them all and use them at the office.

4. Buy your supplies in bulk. A lot of office supply stores can give a large markdown if you buy in bulk from them. Get enough paper, ink cartridges, diskettes, etc. to last an entire year. If this proves to be too difficult, gather your friends, co-workers and associates who need the same supplies that you need.

5. Learn when to buy. Stores have peak seasons and off seasons. During summer, a lot of office supply stores offer discounts, sales, and rebates for these items, so try to stock up on what you need to avoid paying full price.

6. Use the Internet. The information highway is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, so go ahead and use it. You may find the best prices for your corporate budget. Most online stores have detailed pricing and delivery information available on their websites. You can save a lot of time and money on your next purchase by going online.

A lot of times we can reduce costs by just using common sense and diligence. You don’t have to be an accountant to find ways to reduce operating costs. I hope that this article has provided you with valuable information about cutting costs by buying and using office supplies wisely.

Azlan Irda is the co-founder of aamofficesupply.com which provides an extensive selection of high quality office supplies at affordable prices. Find out how you can save money and get the best, high-quality items when you buy staples office supplies.

- Azlan Irda

aamofficesupply.com/

Originally posted 2007-08-31 00:00:00.

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