About Purchasing Supplies for Your Office

Taking Inventory
Before buying office supplies it's a good idea to take inventory of the supplies used most and those that are used least. One tip for controlling the cost of office supplies is to use your regular bookkeeping software to track the schedules of prior office supply purchases. Most bookkeeping and accounting software have inventory modules that are great for this purpose. This type software helps to identify increases in cost as well as quantity.

Choosing The Best Vendor For Office Supplies
There are a wide variety of office suppliers online and off. There are several things to consider before engaging a regular office supply vendor. The first is reliability. Nothing is more disconcerting than expecting copy paper supplies to be delivered on time and finding delayed deliveries are causing copying downtime. Even if the office supplies ordered are for a small home office, timely service is still important. Take the time to shop around for the best prices. For businesses, budgets for office supplies are often tight. Try to buy in volume from the office supplies vendor when items are discounted or at a special sale price. This saves money as well as ordering time.

Ask For OEM Discounts
Most office supplies vendors will offer special OEM (original equipment manufacturer) discounts for regular customers who regularly purchase the same type of office supplies. There are also other discounts available on certain items at a particular time of the year. Let the office supplies vendor know that you want to take advantage of these.