subject: How To Stop Wastage In Office Supplies Ordering [print this page] You should ensure that you have the right purchasing system in place for office stationery. This is necessary with staff costs soaring and all business needing to ensure that they're keeping all costs in check to ensure maximum profits to the business.
Most systems are simple and straightforward however they fall down if no-one actually uses the system implemented.
Create your opening balance inventory on stationery supplies held in the company. You need to go through the pain of creating a starting point for the business so that you will be able to understand the purchasing patterns over time.
Create a list of office supplies requirements for each member of the team. This means understanding how many desks and computers to chairs and paper usage requirements so that you can ensure your keeping your staff needs met without allowing for wastage to creep into your business.
Create a purchasing spreadsheet of your office supplies and if there are multiple stakeholders consider using Google docs as your spreadsheet tool.
Create your asset register of your major office supplies inventory such as desks.
Create a short list of potential suppliers by simply looking on Google or finding potential supplier catalogues in the office and or using the major brands.
Put an order together of a typical cross section of your needs from small everyday requirements to major office supplies needs. This might be a dummy sample order for the exercise or better still an actual order that you can actually use for your office supplies needs.
Distribute your order to your suppliers shortlist to get quotes on your typical office supplies order.
Create a short list of the top three best quotes and invite your short listed companies to meet with you to have a discussion on their quotes.
Meet with your short listed companies, explain your typical purchasing patterns so that you are indicating to them your desire for a long term relationship. Ask them to provide you with their value added offers and their absolute best price on the sample order provided prior to the meeting.
Evaluate the outcomes of the meeting regarding the overall best prices they provided and if necessary dissect the order by product category looking for the strengths and weakness of each quotation. Evaluate delivery schedules and costs, product ranges, value added offers and so on. Appoint your office supplies provider. Drive a long term relationship with annual reviews.
