Tips For Successful Stationery Management

Managing your inventory is an important part of managing your office space - your branded stationery is no exception. When you're in control of your inventory, knowing exactly how much you have and how you use it, you can reduce expenditure, the use of materials and ultimately your impact on the environment. To help you get on top of your inventory, we've compiled our top stationary management tips.

1. Start with a stock check

The first tip sounds like an obvious one but it's a step often overlooked, though it's essential in order to be successful in managing your stationery. To get started, make a thorough list of each item frequently used and how many you have of each, in the office and in any storage spaces. This includes the likes of pens, notepads, letterheads, etc.

Once this is completed, ask your team what kind of items they're currently using and ask for an estimate of how many they think they go through over a period of time, such as over the quarter - also consider asking them if there's anything they would like that's not currently available to them. This will help you get an idea of how much you'll need. It's also helpful to consider any upcoming events where you plan on handing out branded items or promotional materials. Taking these simple steps into consideration will ensure you make more accurate orders, reducing the chance you'll over-order or under-order, saving time and money.

2. Consider the quality

Improving your stationery management has benefits beyond being organised, most importantly maintaining a handle on your expenditure and sustainable consumption levels. With these components in mind, it can be more beneficial to go for quality over quantity, ensuring a longer shelf-life and longer lasting products. Ultimately, this can reduce your overall stationery costs long term. Not to mention, higher quality, branded stationery reflects positively on your brand image and perceptions, which is particularly important if you're handing these items out to potential clients.

3. Set some ground rules

Sharing some ground rules and expectations in regards to stationery use with your team will help save costs and reduce waste. If you only want branded stationery items to be used in customer facing communications or as promotional tools, make it clear to your staff branded items aren't for internal use. These guidelines are also a great way to encourage more conscious paper consumption in yourself and your team.

4. Provide unbranded alternatives

If you're setting ground rules about stationery usage, it's important to have alternative options for your team to use. While branded and customised stationery reflects positively on your brand imagery and perception, they're usually more of an investment than generic options. Additionally, for some items that aren't customer facing, it can be useful and cost-effective to have these generic options to provide your employees. Particularly, items that have an everyday use inside the business such as notepads, paper and envelopes. This allows you to keep the branded materials for any customer facing events.

5. Have a key distributor in your team

To keep these rules in place, it's helpful to have someone in charge of managing distribution of the stationery and monitoring its use. Not only will this help you maintain a better overview of your inventory, it can help avoid misuse or overuse. With a clear view of how much is being used, you can continue to place more accurate orders down the track.

6. Consider repurposing items

If you've just undergone a rebrand, there's no reason those outdated items have to go to waste. Using them internally is not only a cost-effective measure but an environmentally friendly option, too. Repurposing and reusing items is an option even if there was no rebrand. For example: used, one side printed letterheads can be cut down, binded and reused as notepads. Old business cards can even be used as document bookmarks. Encourage your team to think of their own creative ways to repurpose paper - it won't only save you money but it'll save costing the environment, too.

For more information on branded stationery or to request a quote, contact your local Snap Printing Centre today.