Sustainability
Save on your Office Supplies – Practical Tips By a Stationery Expert
Jun
It has a very interesting method of calculating the saving and the end result is SIMPLE and EASY to understand.
Let me explain by Illustration.
Let’s take Susan she is employed as a receptionist and earns a salary of R 12 000.00/month or R64,10/hour if she works 195 hours / month. She is also responsible for the Stationery Requirements of the Company.
Every Tuesday Susan has to get in her car and drive off to the nearest Retailer in search of the correct Stationery Supplies as per the list drawn up by colleagues.
During Susan’s time away from the office someone else, let us call this person Willem, must perform Susan’s duties. This creates havoc as Willem has his own duties and responsibilities, this is now being neglected. This could cause Willem to miss deadlines that could in turn cost the Company 1000’s of Rands…
During Susan’s frantic search for stationery from the list drawn up at the office for every employees’ requirements, Susan is away from the office for two hours only to return with the wrong goods and probably not with every item required. – Frustrating to say the least
To add insult to injury Susan’s work is running behind and other staff have to fill in the gaps, the situation is even worse as Susan must carry heavy boxes of Paper and bulky files, stand in long ques and is very frustrated by the time wasted.
So what is the Actual Cost of Susan’s time away from the office?
Below is a calculation of the real cost of having Susan away from her primary position as receptionist, this example is very simple but it is practical and has a real cost on business. These costs are hidden costs that business owners fail to calculate or simply don’t understand.
So let’s analyze this scenario and do a small calculation on the cost of this exercise..
- Before Susan can leave for the retailer, she must book out petty-cash from Marie that has her own duties. This takes Marie 20min as a requisition must be filled out and approved.
- Marie must now keep record of money taken by Susan and reconcile when Susan returns with the Stationery, Change and Till Slip.
- Susan is away from the office for 2 hours and the cost of this is;
- (R12500/195Hours) = R64,05 this is (2 Hours x R64.05) *4days = R512,82
- Susan have to travel at least 5km to the retailer and another 5Km back, in other words 10km.
- Susan uses a Small Car.
- The total mobility basket of R6144.22of owning a small car comprises all the fees that are involved with vehicle ownership in South Africa: a monthly instalment, the insurance premium, fuel and maintenance fees.
- The average km’s travelled by car in South Africa is 2500km/month on average.
- Calculated at an average monthly travel of 2500km at an average cost of R6144.22 the equation is (R6144.22/2500) = R2,45/km
- So Susan’s travel cost is (R2,45 x 10km)*4 = R98/Month for traveling to a retailer for their office stationery needs.
- The calculation for the total cost of Susan’s visit to the shop to buy Stationery the sum is:
- Hourly Salary for 4 Trips of 2 hours each = R512,82
- Travel Costs for 4 Trips of 10km Round Trip = R98.00
- The total cost is (salary cost) R512,82 + (Travel-Cost) R 98,00 = R610,82
- Calculated over 12 months the cost is; 12Months x R610,82 = R7329,84
The sum seems complicated but the answer is really simple, Companies are “bleeding” unaccounted for costs by sending “Susan” out to buy Stationery.
Calculated very conservatively at R610,82/month the cost could go up significantly depending on Salary Structure, Time away from the Office, Distance Travelled and Mobility Basket of the vehicle used.
The Solution…
Order Stationery Online from Ultimate-Stationery and let the Professionals handle the logistics for you, this could save your business a lot of money and time.
Ultimate Stationery offers 30 Accounts for qualifying businesses. Having an account will save transactional costs at Cashbook level dramatically and improve efficiencies at your office.
Kind Regards,
Stephan Corthing
