How to Control Office Supplies
As a business owner, you may notice that office supplies can be a major expense. Without taking control of this expense, you could spend more than you need to on these items. By managing the use of office supplies, you can be more efficient and make better use of your money. More of your capital could then be used for other purposes like marketing or investing in infrastructure that can improve the company.
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Instructions
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Put all of your office supplies in a cabinet that locks. Many business owners make the mistake of putting office supplies where anyone can easily grab them. This creates a temptation for your employees to take more office supplies than they need. They might even feel like taking extra pens or paper home with them for personal use. By putting the supplies in a cabinet that locks, you can control the flow of supplies.
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Create a system that holds each employee accountable for the office supplies that he takes out. By doing this, employees know they are being tracked. You could keep a notebook with a form in it for your employees to list exactly what they take each time they access the cabinet. Employees should be required to sign the paper each time they take something.
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Review the spreadsheet that tracks office supplies. You can see which employees are accessing the supplies more often than others. If someone is abusing the system, you can talk about it. If employees know that they are being monitored, they are less likely to abuse the system anyway. By looking at usage patterns, you could adjust your office supply purchases to accommodate for these demands. This way, you do not buy too much of one item and not enough of another.
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Use office supply inventory software to monitor your supplies. If you do not want to use a manual system, you could use software that is developed strictly for this purpose. You input the data into the software, and it tracks everything for you. It can also send alerts when you need to buy additional supplies. If you do not want to purchase dedicated office supply inventory software, you could essentially do the same thing with a traditional spreadsheet program on your computer.
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