Everywhere that there are offices, there is a need for office supplies. The daily grind of business requires tons of paper to be consumed every day, along with miles of pencil lead, staples, ink, and everything else that is used by millions of offices all over the world. Costs from purchasing office supplies could account up to 40% of an office’s operating expenses, on the average. Oftentimes, companies spend more on office supplies than they have to.
When a company is wasting money, profits grow smaller. Companies that could earn $150,000 in profits might lose up to 30% of potential income due to excessive spending on office supplies. Experienced businessmen know that it’s easier to reduce expenses than to increase profits. A profit margin of 10% can be doubled by cutting costs by that same amount.
I wrote this article to present some practical and effective steps to reduce expenses on your office supplies. By following these steps, you will see your operating costs shrink considerably and your profit margin start to grow.
1. Inventory all the office supplies that you have in the office right now and rearrange 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. You can get a lot of office goodies from all those seminars, conferences, and expositions that you go to. You can stash them all and use them at the office.
4. Buy your office supplies in bulk. Office supply stores can give a substantial markdown if you buy in bulk from them. Buy 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. There are a lot of good office supply stores on the Internet that can help you save money. Research on the best prices available for the supplies that you need. Most online stores have detailed pricing and delivery information available on their websites.
A lot of times we can reduce expenses by just using common sense and diligence. It doesn’t take an accountant to find ways to save money. I hope that this article has provided you with useful information about cutting costs and saving money by buying and using office supplies wisely.
Azlan Irda is the co-founder of http://www.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 office supply.
- Azlan Irda
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
