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Paper
Saving Economy
This city has over 900 employees with a 2008-2009 fiscal budget in
the $200,000,000 range. The 500+ word printed document only
specifically mentioned one item that the City Manager felt was
worthy of itemizing in his quest for city-wide savings. All
employees were encouraged to economize on their use of paper.
A direct quote from the City Manger’s letter read:
“The money that we as a City spend to provide services to the
community is dependent upon sales tax revenue. Therefore, there is
less revenue coming into the City this year to cover what we have
projected as expenses.
What does that mean for us? … Look at things you do on a routine
basis and think about other more economical ways to accomplish the
same goal, without sacrificing service. Think about services that
we contract for or provide and decide if they are needed in the
frequency we provide them or if we could defer a little. What
about paper- we go through a tremendous amount of paper – do we
need to print everything? Does everyone need a copy or can we
centralize some things that are printed and distributed? Could
we post more to the share drive and just let people know it’s
there? Saving paper alone may be a little thing, but it gets us
thinking and moving in the right direction.”
This City Manager’s request is a prime example of the
opportunities that are available to every office equipment
business. Paper, a relatively inexpensive business commodity, has
a huge emotional and economic appeal.
Paper is very symbolic. It is an intricate part of the
environment. Paper is made from trees. Paper is a renewal
resource. Using less paper helps reduce global warming. Every time
users save a piece of printed paper, petroleum byproducts are also
saved. Our landfills will last longer when paper refuge is
reduced. Although most paper is white, saving paper is considered
to be a very green topic.
Reducing the use of paper is measurable. It is a tangible way each
person can do their part. The ability to reduce paper usage is
something everyone can identify with. Most workers have the
ability to be able to reduce their paper usage by a few sheets
each day.
As part of my conversation with the city purchasing agent, I
discovered about half of their 900+ city employees only work
part-time. There are less than 300 administrative employees city
wide who work full time with direct access to a printer or copier.
The majority of these people work on a 10 hour, 4 days per week
schedule.
The City’s paper is purchased through an open bid procedure. I
checked the public records and found the winning bid, including
free delivery to a central warehouse, was $17.35 per case, for 500
cases of 20 # bond multi-purpose, recycled paper. Doing the math
for 300 employees using 50 sheets a day, the City can save
$4,711.50 if each of the 300 administrative employees reduces
their paper usage by 50%.
As close as I can calculate, if paper usage is cut in half there
is a potential savings of $4,712. This is a .0024% savings on a
200 million dollar annual budget. The average print management or
solution sales person might not get excited about having the
opportunity to sell a product that will provide a $5,000 savings
to a municipality whose budget is $200,000,000.
But perception is reality. Whether reducing paper usage is
considered to be an added value savings, fulfilling a need,
solving a problem or actually saving $5,000, the call to action
has been made. The client has already decided their paper use can
be reduced. Today’s office equipment dealer needs to listen to the
buyer, rather than our perceived reality. We can easily extend the
cost of paper to include the cost of equipment, supplies and labor
to turn the $5,000 saving into a $50,000 saving. Throw in the
environment and actually being proactive by listening to the
client’s need, and the opportunity to create new businesses is
there.
If ever there was an open invitation for the local
solution-oriented and print management-capable copier dealer to
come to the rescue of the governmental needs, this city manager’s
letter says it all.
My goal is not to negate the city’s quest for savings. My goal is
to emphasize the mindset of purchasing professionals. Each piece
of paper saved has symbolic and monetary value to those who do the
buying and using the products we sell. We have the power to
provide a direct way of reducing the cost of an item the City
Manager views as a shining example of an area of need. At the end
of this letter, the City Manager asked each City employee “to get
creative, and we welcome any and all suggestions.” This truly is
a call for action. End-users still see the cost of paper as much
greater than the price actually paid per sheet used.
The importance of eliminating the wasteful use of paper is still a
paramount need in the eyes of senior staff members. Overall budget
reduction is essential to public and private entities. Print
management, solution sales, scanning, faxing via email and
computer applications training are all an extension of saving
paper. Money, emotions, environment, and following the requests of
upper management are all leaning in our direction. Our present
economic times can be used to increase all of our business
prospects. Opportunity is knocking. No paper invitation is
required to open this door.