The following is a guest article contributed by Azlan Irda, the co-founder of http://www.aamofficesupply.com, which offers a variety of quality office supplies:

Everywhere that there are offices, there is a need for office supplies. The daily grind of business requires tons of paper to be consumed every day, along with envelopes, ink, toner, staples, disks, cleaning supplies, and everything else that is used by millions of offices all over the world. More often than not, companies spend 20% more than they really have to.

Often it is easier to reduce expenses than to increase profits. If your profit margin is 5%, you can double your company’s profit by reducing expenses in that same amount.

Here are some practical and effective steps to cut costs on office supplies. By following these steps, you will see your operational expenses shrink considerably and your profit margin start to grow.

1. Centralize your inventory: Take inventory of all the office supplies you have available right now and transfer them to central locations where they can be easily found. When supplies are hoarded here and there, they may end up being wasted or may go stale – at the very least, they tie up funds in excess inventory. The reason people tend to hoard supplies in the first place is that they perceive that there is inadequate inventory, so by ensuring that there are adequate supplies in your central inventory and keep that restocked, there is less reason for members of your staff to hoard.

2. Buy in bulk: Office supply stores can give a substantial discount if you buy in bulk from them. Get enough paper, ink cartridges, disks, etc. to last at least six months at a time. If you don’t have the budget to buy in bulk, you may be able to make a joint purchase with an associate. For bulk purchases, you can get competitive bids from multiple suppliers. Just make sure you don’t over-buy and create a storage problem – one way to do this is to have your suppliers agree to store the supplies for up to a year and make monthly or bimonthly deliveries as part of the terms of their bids.

3. Learn when to buy. Stores have peak seasons and off seasons. Usually, office supply stores will offer discounts, rebates or sales on supplies during the summer months, so try to stock up on what you need before you have to pay full price. On the other hand, paper suppliers tend to try to raise prices during the early months of the year, and if you use a lot of paper, you may avoid price increases by purchasing a year’s supply in December.

4. Use the Internet. There are a lot of good office supply stores on the Internet that can help you save money. Research on the best prices available for the supplies that you need. Staples, Office Max, Office Depot, Quill, and other major office supply houses are a good starting point, and their web sites are an easy source for benchmark prices you can use for comparison with other sources. On the other hand, you may be able to find better pricing from a smaller supplier. Most online stores have detailed pricing and delivery information available on their websites. Be sure to take any shipping and handling charges into account when comparing prices, especially when shopping for heavy items that can be picked up locally.

5. Compare apples to apples: Some suppliers will offer inferior goods at a slight discount. Most likely, you will not be satisfied with these goods and they will not reflect well on your business. By shopping multiple sources, you will often be able to find quality goods at the same or lower price than the inferior ones.

These tips are a good start, and they will probably inspire you to think of a few ones on your own. All of us can reduce expenses with a bit of common sense. I hope that this article has provided you with valuable information about reducing expenses by purchasing and using office supplies wisely.