Part of running a business is keeping your office stocked with necessary supplies. Whether it’s for paper, pens, markers, staplers, clips, binders, adhesive tapes, sticky notes, or some other type of stationery, you’ll need to allot budget for the items that your workers use on a daily basis. While monitoring the inventory of your office supplies is not your number one priority, extra office supply expenses can take a toll on your company budget.
The cost of office supplies could put a serious dent on your budget if you don’t pay attention to how you’re spending your money and how you’re using the items you buy. If you plan on saving money on office supplies but don’t know where to start, here are some valuable tips that you might want to consider.
Strategize and Compare Prices
You might be tempted to just buy office supplies that are readily available in the store nearest your office. However, if you want to save money, you need to buy from a place where you can get the most out of your money. To find out which stores offer the best deals, you may need to compare prices. However, comparing prices across various brick and mortar stores can be a tall order. If you want to avoid the hassle of doing this, it might be better for you to shop stationery online in Mauritius instead.
Monitor Your Inventory
Monitoring your office supplies helps you keep track of which items require restocking and which ones you won’t need to buy for a while. By keeping up with your inventory, you can avoid purchasing items that you have in stock, thus minimizing your expenses while optimizing your workers’ use of items that are already at their disposal.
Consider Buying in Bulk
When you buy items in bulk, you’ll be able to take advantage of lower prices while getting more of the same product. For example, if your company regularly uses a lot of paper, you may want to consider buying 5,000 sheets or more instead of just 500 sheets. Wholesalers typically offer bulk products at a discount since it’s an easy way to recoup their investment.
Buy Cheaper Brands
Whether you have a small or a big business, it will be more practical for you to buy cheaper brands of office supplies. After all, you wouldn’t want to overspend on expensive brands if cheaper ones can provide the same or comparable quality. This is especially true for small office supplies such as pens, markers, and paper. If you’re looking at purchasing more expensive name brand products, do it when you’re buying office furniture instead. Office furniture that comes with relatively low price tags are often of substandard quality, which means they’re much more likely to malfunction or break soon after purchase, costing you more money in the long run.
Use Office Supplies Responsibly
A vast percentage of office supplies go to waste because they are not used responsibly. Many employees don’t care if they waste office-issued stationery simply because they’re not the ones paying for them. Knowing this, it’s best to set up rules for everyone to follow when it comes to using office supplies. For example, you can have your workers set up your office printer’s settings to fast draft in order to save ink. You may also want to encourage them to repurpose or reuse old materials to minimize waste. The unprinted side of discarded office papers, for example, can be used for writing down notes, while empty boxes can be repurposed as packaging materials. Reusing these materials will keep you from having to restock these supplies as often which saves the company money.
Saving money on office supplies should be a combined effort of both employer and employees. By optimizing your use of important office stationery, you can minimize your environmental footprint while saving money at the same time.
Sources:
https://www.ldproducts.com/blog/tips-to-save-money-on-office-supplies/
https://takeitpersonelly.com/2017/12/05/5-ways-to-save-money-on-office-supplies/
https://www.thebalancesmb.com/save-money-when-buying-essential-office-supplies-2533755
