No matter if you are a giant business or someone who is just looking to start out, having an office for your staff to work out of is probably the first investment that you have had to make. Once you have an office space tho, the next task on hand is to kit it out with supplies so that your staff can go about doing their daily jobs in the least hassle free manner possible.
Now, most companies might not recognize this, but the long term costs related to buying new office supplies and replenishing ones like printer cartridges can stack up to a pretty significant sum of money! But then you must be wondering how to spend less on office supplies, after all they’re daily use items and compromising on their quality can directly impact the workflow of your business, right?
And on that facet, you’d be completely correct! There is absolutely no way you should be compromising on the quality of your office supplies, yet, more often than not, there are multiple ways that you can save money without letting the standards fall down. Today, we explore 3 of them!
Buying Non-Branded OEM products
Most replenishable office supplies like pens, paper and printer cartridges are produced in bulk by OEMs and then rebranded under different company logos. If you are looking to save a quick buck, you can directly contact these Original Equipment Manufacturers and have them ship products to you directly. Now this isn’t always possible for a small business as these OEMs generally deal in bulk orders but we have a solution for you guys as well. You can always buy non-branded products or even second hand branded products from various online portals and if you are diligent with your research, you can save a ton of money doing just that!
Proactive Maintenance
Machines like desktops, printers scanners and even sometimes servers and other enterprise level hardware falls under the category of business supplies and we have seen a trend where companies tend to spend large sums of money procuring such equipment but then don’t do any follow up maintenance post installation. Now this is a surefire way to rack up your office supply spending as it is easier and often way cheaper to fix something when it is just starting to go wrong rather than after it has failed and broken down completely. Add to that the fact that proactive maintenance not only saves you money, but can also keep productivity running high and you can see why most companies have a dedicated IT team just for this.
Using Promotions and Supplier Discounts
This one might sound simple in theory but most businesses fail to practice it in real life. If you are a large business, you are probably entered into a long term contract with someone for office supplies and this can only apply to you when it is time to negotiate for a renewal of said contract. However, if you are a small business or a startup that is strapped for cash, make sure to look around and shop for choices. Many suppliers would be willing to give you a discount even on top of already running promotions if you approach them nicely and convince them that you have a long term future with them! So make sure you weigh your options before you decide on a particular supplier for your business office supplies!
We know that most of the techniques mentioned in here aren’t anything revolutionary or new yet we have found that in practice many businesses tend to overlook the simplest of solutions and tend to hunt around for a much larger issue. This however is not always a manager or even the owner’s fault for it can be hard to see the bigger picture when you are so involved in the everyday working of your business. This is why it might be beneficial to have the experts come in, audit your spending and help de-clutter your office supplies. The easiest way to save money is often the simplest one, or as the great scientist Albert Einstein once put it
“Out of clutter, find simplicity.”
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