Our company hasn’t always been in the office supply business.  For my first 8 years here, we bought our supplies just like most other people – we went to the store.  If we ran out of paper or toner, we’d get upset with the person who should have told us we were getting low on supplies, then we’d run to the store.  If we ran out of something that wasn’t needed to get through the day, we’d go to the store after work.  It wasn’t a perfect system, but it worked.

As our business got larger and we got smarter (or lazier – but laziness frequently breeds efficiencies), we started trying to keep the “critical” items in stock.  Depending on your business, you probably have just a few items that would merit running to the store immediately – toner and paper being the most common.  How can you “never” run out of these items?

First, always pull from stock when you are reloading paper or changing toner.  Make it a requirement (and hopefully soon, a habit) to then notify the right person (probably yourself) to order the replacement item immediately.  Second, standardize on these items.  If you have multiple printers, try to buy new printers that use the same toner as the other printers – it’s tough to keep eight different toners in stock.  Finally, find a reliable supplier that can deliver those reorders quickly, accurately and at a fair price!