cost savings

[tdonyel]

As most companies are doing these days, we are trying to keep an eye on expenses. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how a company can cut costs, without reducing staff? We are looking at supplies expenditures very closely (in fact, I used suggestions from this forum to keep from ordering so often), and are looking at having different departments take care of their own garbage. I'd love to hear any ideas that may have worked for you.

Thanks!

Terri

[jadegrniiz]

Hi, Terri!

It might help to know, generally speaking, what kind of business industry you are in.

Something I've discovered recently is that keeping tabs on package delivery companies (like UPS and FedEx) is a good way to nickle and dime the budget. For one, is the package delivered on time? If delivery is guaranteed by 10am, then at 10:01am track the package and if it hasn't been received, call and get a discount on the delivery charges. We started doing this here, and even found out that it's not worth paying extra for the AM delivery... because it was never on time, anyhow, and the discount didn't equal the surcharges.

Another thing I'd caution - here at my office, we recently went with a new cleaning company to save money and employees were responsible for their own garbage. The plan backfired, bigtime. People were only taking out their trash when it overflowed or started to smell, cube-mates were complaining about the other cube-mates trash, and big complaints about how being a janitor wasn't in the job description. In fact..... we became so anal about expenses that a new employee couldn't even get a GARBAGE CAN, and DESK SUPPLIES without approval from the Executive Offices. She ended up leaving, because she felt jipped.

Hope some of that helps, at least.... but I know there will be a few more replies here in the next few hours.


Jadegrniiz
Peer Moderator

[chris68]

Another suggestion is look into different vendors for office supplies.  We currently are using two suppliers.  If one is too high we look to the other and generally speaking one or the other is almost always cheaper.  Also once your regular vendor catches on to this they will offer greater discounts to keep your business.  If they don't then I would suggest looking for more vendors and keep rolling with it.  It's worked out very well for us.  We've ordered mass volumes of anything from binders to manilla folders and recieved up to and over half price for items in the book just by calling and asking our rep for a discount.

We've also changed over our long distance carrier as well for a cheaper rate.  The service is just the same in some areas and better in other things.  You have to price them out but it worked out really well for us.


Just my .02 cents.

Chris68
Peer Moderator

[msmarieh]

Travel expenses can be a biggie, depending on your business. If you can switch to making your own reservations, using only e-tickets, getting non-refundable tickets, eliminating last minute travel, consolidating bills to one corporate account instead of individual credit cards, all these things can make a difference. There are numerous ways to cut costs in this area.

Coffee supplies can also be reduced by switching to someone running over to a Sam's club for instance, instead of having a coffee vendor.  Also consider using a soda machine vendor that gives you a commission on sales, if your office is large enough.

Marie

[msmarieh]

Jade,

I'm curious about you saying you switch to the discounted rate on FedEx when the package is late. Their guarantee is money back if they are late, not switch to the standard rate instead of priority. The only irritation is they can't do it on the spot. They make you call back after you have received your bill to get the credit.

You are absolutely correct though. This can be a tremendous cost saver for the company, as they are often late. (Of course this often shows us how often we use this form of delivery when it really isn't necessary!)

Consider switching to 2 day or 3 day ground delivery if your package doesn't absolutely have to be there, but still needs to be tracked. Of course you could also use the postal service (although we find it a pain in the neck as we have to do a special trip for it).  

Marie

[jadegrniiz]

That could truly be the case, Marie. I'm just not the one who does the follow up at FedEx.... I just notify the accounting office when it happens, and they take care of it. But gosh, if it's FREE when it's late? That's even better... and all the more reason to keep tabs!

Jadegrniiz
Peer Moderator

[tdonyel]

We are a call center and fullfillment house and have about 150 employees. We process payments manually, online and via phone call, make and receive telephone calls, also house an IT department, Sales department, Account Management as well as Accounting. We currently recycle toner cartridges, we will call Waste Management about recycling paper, we're cross-training employees, and we are launching a program to reward employees for ideas that promote safety, quality and productivity for 2003. I'm looking for things, large and small, that we could do to make sure we are maximizing the resources we have.


Terri

[dwreath]

We also do the Sam's club run for our coffee supplies and other kitchen products.  Much cheaper.

Also... one small thing we do is make our own scratch paper.  We keep box lids scattered about the office and instead of throwing paper away we put it in the lids.  That keeps it all straight and even.  Every now and then the receptionist uses our paper cutter and just cuts scratch paper.  We have marks on our cutter so that its the same size every time.  The boss has made it known that we are not to use the manilla legal pads or note pads around the office.  They are only for meetings with customers or special projects.  Actually... most people are afraid to use the bright yellow pads so no one has a problem with using the scratch paper.   I rarley have to buy that type of paper.

Another thing, my boss won't let me buy paper-clips.  I make a daily bank run and every so often I ask for box full.  They are more than happy to fill my bank pouch full.

These are small things.... but eventually they do add up.

D.

[chris68]

Another item we are not allowed to order is 3 ring binders.  These are VERY expensive and there are literally TON's of them floating around our office that are in good enough shape to use for in-house purposes.  I'm sure if we needed something specific for a sales pitch or what have you that would be another issue, but for in house purposes, NO new binders, no more Doctor Grip Pens or refills even.

Check your accounting department for binder clips as well; I'm sure they will probably have tons you don't realize.  Our A/P department uses tons of them for invoices and vouchers when they match on a weekly basis.



Chris68
Peer Moderator

[catsmeat]

I used to work for a team of sales reps, all contactable via mobiles.  You can imagine the bills - costly calls, sometimes several if the line dropped.  We started to use text messaging over the Internet as a means of communication, which cut phone costs.

[ozbound]

Speaking of coffee supplies and kitchen products, you could encourage everyone to bring their own coffee mugs instead of using paper cups. Also, washing and re-using plastic forks & spoons cuts down on waste as well as saving money!

[mlm668]

Marie/Jade:

Another thing you may want to check for when using FedEx, UPS or Airborne, is if the area you are overnighting the package is actually an area they deliver in the morning or even overnight.  We are in an extremely rural area (read drive 30 minutes to get to anywhere) and UPS only delivers in the afternoon.  Airborne delivers maybe twice a week.  I constantly go round with some of our suppliers about Airborne.  They just don't realize that if they pay for overnight through Airborne, it may be three days before they get it to us.  

I also do the Sam's Club deal too for all our sodas, coffee, bathroom supplies, etc.  I've also found they are much cheaper on post its, file folders and writing tablets.  The only problem is when they don't have what I need.  Copy paper is also better priced there, but since I often go alone, I refuse to even try to get it.  My car can only handle so much weight.  Besides, lifting the drinks has gotten to be so hard on my back that I have started dragging someone with me to do the lifting.



Michelle

[countrigal]

The measure we took seems so simple that it was amazing how it worked.  Electricity is pricey, so the last person out of the office was required to turn off the office lights.  Security made passes through the facility and any office that had no one in it (after hours) and had lights on, were written up and reported to the Director.  Standard response was the office that was negligent had to pay a small "fine" to re-inforce the new policy.  Each office handled this differently, but it worked and folks started paying attention to lights.  This included the restroom lights... if no one is in there, the light is out (and we're a hospital, so bathrooms are plentiful and available to public).  Some of the restrooms in the more public areas have sensors that turn the lights on when someone enters, and will turn them off again if there is no movement for xx minutes.  Others, like the one down from our area, tends to be out of the way for patient/visitors, so the light is turned off/on by individuals entering and leaving.  These procedures have helped to cut costs some.

With office supplies, especially if you have more than one office paticipating, standardizing supplies allows bulk ordering and cuts costs.  We've done this with types of pens, folders, notebooks, and other standard office supplies.  We also created a mail group that has a representative from each office in it, which we use to see if anyone has extras of items we need before ordering.  If an office finds a surplus of stuff, they let everyone on the group know and others can take advantage of that surplus.  I just did that with binders.  I had approx 15 3-ring binders that I had cleaned out (they held outdated data we no longer needed to maintain) and a couple of the other offices needed some and were able to use these.  With pens, a standard black and standard blue was decided upon and if anyone wants a different type, they are welcome to purchase it themselves.

CountriGal
Peer Moderator

[debsjohnson]

We have tried a system with mobile phones where each person receives a print every month of the expenditure (calls over certain minutes, over £1, etc) so they can see these costs for themselves. Anyone spending excessively has a limit implemented. Also, if someone goes abroad they inform the office and the international option is applied for that month only then removed on return. This has halved the mobile bill.  

We keep a mobile in the office for dialling the mobiles to reduce costs too, as this is cheaper than a landline/ mobile call.

We also buy office supplies in bulk from stationary supplies, but have found that Tesco and Costco often sell the same items cheaper!

I like the courier performance monitor - that is something definately have a look at.

Flights and car hire are booked online when possible, but when we use our agent the non-flexible fares are often a nightmare to explain if they are cancelled. Any suggestions?