Is your business spending too much money on office supplies? Odds are, the answer is yes. According to the experts at OPI, smaller offices with up to four employees spend over $1800 per employee on office supplies. A medium-sized business with about 40 employees still spends about $1069 per worker on office supplies.
That’s a lot of money! For cash-strapped businesses struggling to stay alive or maintain a competitive edge, the cost of office supplies could literally kill the company. Are those fancy new chairs or new coffee machines really worth damaging your bottom line?
With spending on office supplies clearly out of control and ranking as one of the top ways businesses waste money, it’s time to take a step back and come up with some ways to save money around the office. By following these simple tips, you can get your budget in check while still making sure your office functions the way you demand.
Saving on Office Supplies
Here are the absolute best ways to save money on your company’s office supplies:
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Buy in bulk whenever you can—
For the items you use most, such as pens, printer paper, ink cartridges, HP toner for your printers, and staples, buy in bulk to get the absolute lowest per-unit costs. Most office supply stores will offer significant discounts on bulk purchases. You can even talk to your supplier and try to negotiate discounted rates on your orders.
Just make sure you don’t get carried away and buy more supplies than you’ll actually need. Focus on the things you know you’ll use. For example, your printer will always run out of toner, so that’s something you could buy in bulk. Be smart about it!
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Don’t worry about getting brand name items—
Do you really need name brand office supplies? In most cases, the only difference between office supplies from different brands is the name on the package. Name brand supplies come at increased prices because people recognize and trust the brand name, but they aren’t usually significantly better products.
In most cases, you can get away with buying generic office supplies. You’ll save a heap of money, and you won’t notice any difference in the quality of the products. If you do, you can always ask your supplier to trade what you have left up for a better quality.
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Shop online for the best deals—
For the best deals, always shop online. Shopping for office supplies on the internet allows you to easily compare prices from a number of retailers in just seconds. That makes it incredibly easy to spot the best deals. Just make sure you factor in shipping costs when making your online purchase.
Why is it so much cheaper to buy online than in a store? The large office superstores have huge overhead. They have the building space to pay for and tons of employees as well. Internet stores don’t have all of this overhead, so the savings get passed on to you.
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Make sure your employees aren’t stealing your supplies—
Did you know about 2/3 of all employees admit to having taken office supplies from work? In most cases, those who take office supplies home grab cheaper items like pens and post-it notes. There usually isn’t any ill intent behind these “thefts.” No harm done, right? Well, while you might not think it’s that big of a deal, the cost of those little items going missing can begin to add up.
However, what’s really costly is when an employee makes the conscious decision to steal more expensive office supplies, like printer ink, software, or even office furniture. It happens, and a lot of managers don’t even realize it. Make sure you stay aware and have a system in place to prevent supply theft.
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Track your monthly expenses—
One of the main reasons companies spend so much on office supplies is because no one is actually paying close attention to how much money is actually being spent. Quick, without looking at the numbers, do you know how much your company spends on office supplies each year? Probably not.
That’s why it’s so important that you track all of your office supply expenses. This will help you identify areas of overspending as well as areas where supplies might be getting wasted. Knowledge is power!
So, how much money is your business wasting on office supplies? Stick to these tips, and you could start saving a lot of money.
Gail Gardner
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Well, this was something i was looking for since i am planning on setting up a workspace soon, this helped me lot in choosing the supplies i need. Thanks, buddy.
It is really fascinating, I have never thought that way. Anyways you suggested great things and it also save my money.
I work at an business center for office rentals in Liverpool and we service offices and provide stationery for businesses who use our offices – so this blog post should help impress my boss. I’m so glad I stumbled across this, thank you!!
Thanks for the tip. Very useful for the business to save money.
Bulk buying is really something that I rely upon. Thanks for sharing other ideas too.
Hey Gail, office supplies are a very important part of every office. No office can be functional without them. However, this too is true that employees do take advantage of these supplies and try to fulfil their personal needs with them. It is the senior management which needs to look after it.
it was a nice reading… and also informative..keep sharing.
Excellent post. I think that if you could save your money in Office supplies then you invest the same amount in your business and you can earn a lot more then it.
Thanks
One more effective way to reduce the operational cost of your business is by switching to cloud telephony system. It will save you a lot of money compared to using traditional phone systems and the benefits are huge.
If you are finding tough to mange office supplies, you can simply handle your office task to virtual offices. A reliable virtual office will efficiently manage all your office tasks efficiently at a standard cost.
Had no idea office supplies really added up! Maybe another tip would be to track inventory, at least if it really becomes a problem that your employers are stealing supplies. Thanks for the tips Gail!
Gail, thanks for some great tips. I had NO idea that spending on office supplies ranks as one of the top ways businesses waste money! Also, thanks for the reminder not to buy what you don’t need- I love office supplies, and end up buying things I don’t need, and too much of some things.
Love, Joy
Epic tip to keep in mind always, Yes bulk buy saves cost for long term.
Informative post! I was really worried about the expense of office supplies since it will totally depend on me as i need to take care of that.
Thanks for sharing!