How Can We Cut Down on Stationery Costs in Our Office? Seeking Practical Ideas

In my company, people are using too much stationery. Please suggest or send some formats to minimize costs on stationery.

"So much of stationary" is a vague statement. To solve the problem, we have to define the problem statement clearly. Who issues the stationery in your company? Is it the stores or the admin department? While raising the demand for stationery, is an indent given to either department? If not, then you must start the procedure to draw stationery on the issue of the indent.

However, we cannot stop at the introduction of the indent only. As and when an indent for stationery is received, the issuing department must maintain a log wherein the value of the stationery issued to the respective department is recorded. At the end of the month, an analysis of the stationery indents will reveal which departments are using the maximum stationery.

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar

Dear colleague, I think you need to make a thorough analysis of the current usage of stationery as follows:

1. Make an ABC analysis of all stationery items in terms of the most costly items to the least costly and the total value of items consumed.

2. You can apply the 80/20 principle, i.e., 20% of stationery items have 80% of the value, which will indicate which items to focus on for a reduction in cost/consumption.

3. Analyze which items of stationery are consumed most by which department and why.

4. Explore whether certain printed stationery can be eliminated due to redundancy.

5. Explore the scope of computerizing certain forms and conducting work online to reduce paperwork.

6. Have this analysis done for the past 6 months to study consumption trends and evolve a suitable action plan involving all stakeholders.

Regards, Vinayak Nagarkar HR Consultant

Impact of Paper Usage on Budget and Environment

Usage of paper has two effects on your budget and the environment. Every piece of paper was once part of a tree. Reducing paper usage will help the environment and, of course, your budget. Two knowledgeable members have already commented on the issue. Comments by the learned Shri Nagarkar are to the point and excellent.

Steps to Reduce Paper Usage

First, why should I reduce paper usage?
- Saves your office money
- Ecological and environmental reasons

Practical Steps

- Make your bills 'paperless' and pay them online. Save online receipts in a folder on your computer (ensure adequate backup on another disk/cloud, etc.).
- Use the print screen function, paste, and organize it in separate vendor-wise folders.
- Use both sides of the paper.
- Send replies on the same letter itself for unimportant and routine matters. No need to keep file copies for ordinary matters.
- Electronic storage is important along with double backups.
- Take only online subscriptions for magazines and newspapers, even in the office.

Printing Considerations

- Think before you print.
- Electronic document collaboration is superior to paper document collaboration. Use Google documents more often.
- Email is better than paper letters, and the server will always have a copy of the letter.
- On your business card, provide only email IDs to reduce paper pamphlets, promotional material, etc.

Other ways include budgeting, examining trends of consumption, and economizing. Offices must cut down on paper use for economy, environment, and to avoid the accumulation of junk.