Running a business isn’t getting any cheaper. Between rising wages, rent, insurance, and utility bills, it can sometimes feel like every supplier you deal with has decided it’s time for another price increase.
And while you can’t do much about some of those expenses, there are plenty of smaller costs that deserve a closer look. Stationery is a good example. A few dollars here, a couple of boxes there, and before you know it, you’ve spent a surprising amount on things nobody really remembers ordering.
The good news? You don’t need to start rationing paper clips to bring those costs down.
1. Get Smarter About Buying Office Supplies
When was the last time you checked what your business was actually spending on stationery? Not just the big orders, but all those little purchases that crop up throughout the month.
Ever thought about switching to a dedicated supplier for your office stationery supplies? You might be surprised at how much you can save compared to picking things up at the local store. And if you’re buying the same pens, paper, and printer cartridges every month, why not see what sort of deal you can get by ordering in bulk?
Another thing to look at is who’s doing the ordering. Does the sales team buy their own supplies while the accounting department orders exactly the same stuff from somewhere else? Get those orders together and you could be looking at fewer delivery charges and a better deal overall.
2. Stop Buying Things You’ve Already Got
Have you ever gone looking for a box of staples, only to discover three unopened boxes sitting at the back of the supply closet? Meanwhile, somebody’s already put another two on the shopping list.
Sound familiar? It’s a pretty common problem when different people are ordering supplies and nobody’s keeping track of what’s already there.
You don’t need some fancy inventory management system to sort it out, either. A basic spreadsheet will do the trick. Just jot down what you’ve got, update it when new supplies arrive, and get everyone to check it before they place an order. Easy enough, right?
3. Give Generic Brands a Fair Shot
There’s a time and place for premium stationery. If you’re printing proposals for important clients, you probably want decent paper. But does every internal memo really need the expensive stuff?
Probably not.
Try switching a few everyday items to cheaper alternatives. Pens, notebooks, folders, and basic printer paper are all worth a look. You might find there’s barely any difference in quality, despite a fairly noticeable difference in price.
And if the cheaper pens turn out to be terrible? Well, at least you haven’t committed to buying 500 of them.
4. Who’s Actually Ordering All This Stuff?
Here’s a question worth asking: how many people in your business can order stationery whenever they feel like it? If the answer is pretty much everyone, you might have found yourself a rather expensive little problem.
You don’t need to hire someone to manage the supply closet, obviously. Just pick one person who’s reasonably organized and knows what the office goes through in a typical week. Get everyone to send their requests to that person, rather than having half a dozen people placing separate orders.
And while you’re at it, why not make Thursday the regular ordering day? Or whichever day works. That way, you’re buying what the office needs, rather than whatever somebody happened to remember when they were browsing online.
5. Have a Look at What’s Going in the Trash
Ever watched someone clean out their desk before leaving a job? It’s amazing how many perfectly good office supplies can end up in the trash. Half-used notebooks, folders, packs of pens that have barely been opened. Some of it probably hasn’t even left the original packaging.
A regular office-wide desk clean-out and stocktake is a great way to gather up all those loose items that are likely to lie unused for years, or worse, end up in the waste pile at some point.
It’s a pretty simple idea, admittedly. But if you’ve got twenty or thirty people working in the same office, those little savings can start to add up surprisingly quickly.