How to Save on the 5 Most Essential Office Stationery Items

There are many stationery items that are used in a modern office, from binders and folders, pencils, pens and markers, paper in reams or scratch pads, envelopes in their varieties and sizes, ink and toner cartridges and ribbons, labels, diaries, staples and stables, paper clips, tacks, etc. The list goes on and on.

Without these essential items, one would find that the operation of a modern office would not be possible. And because of this, these stationery items get a big chunk in the company's production expenses. By reusing, re-purposing and prolonging their use, your company can get substantial savings on expenses. Here are a few ideas on how to use these items to conserve and prolong their use.

1. The most critical stationery item is the paper so recycle, conserve and re-purpose paper as much as possible. Use any printed material you no longer use and re-purpose it as note paper, scratch paper, and even as an extra cushion for packages. Also, print double-sided documents, send memos using email and use the fax modem instead of the regular fax machine to save on paper. Lastly, encourage everyone to share or circulate printed materials and memos to minimize the extra printouts.

2. To put information on paper we need the cartridge (toner/ink) or a ribbon. We use cartridges for our quality letters, reports and invoices. Mainframe reports come out printed using the ribbons on line printers and regular office printouts come out from laser printers. To save on toner, set your printer to print on "draft" printouts. Draft quality printouts use less toner ink thus, it takes longer before they are replaced. And to save on toner, refill them as much as possible instead of buying new ones.

3. Next are the envelopes for use when transferring paper from one location to another, internally or externally. There are various types of envelopes depending on usage: airmail, window, padded, polythene, etc, to name just a few. Some envelopes are re-usable while others go into file13.

4. For the writing tools such as pencils, pens, indelible markers, highlighters from the popular to the obscure oriental makes. These instruments are used exhaustively in the office during the course of the day for productive work or for the odd doodle during the boss's boring speech. These can be refilled.

5. Encourage everyone to share the staplers, punchers, rubber stamps, etc. Set-up a "bundling/stamping station" (or so) to minimize buying a lot of supplies for these tools.

Better yet, designate a "recycling" station in your office where all items can be gathered and each can be reused and repurposed again

With these simple ideas and tips, not only you can get substantial savings on these office stationaries but you can also help in the preservation of the environment.

Sources:
Ten Simple Steps, List Article, GreenOffice.org.nz