{"id":1734,"date":"2017-10-08T20:37:56","date_gmt":"2017-10-09T01:37:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lisa.rushworth.us\/?p=1734"},"modified":"2017-10-13T23:21:08","modified_gmt":"2017-10-14T04:21:08","slug":"on-saving-money","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rushworth.us\/lisa\/?p=1734","title":{"rendered":"Corporate Expense Reduction Strategy: Procurement"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We have a 3D printer, and have an evolving list of things to 3D print. Custom design work comprises most of the list now. Originally, I anticipated printing a whole bunch of little plastic bits that are\u00a0<em>seriously<\/em> overpriced in retail stores. The bobbins for embroidery thread come to mind &#8212; 20 cents a piece (although I&#8217;ve subsequently found them at Walmart for 10 cents a piece). They weigh practically nothing. 3D printer filament runs between one and a half cent per gram and four cents per gram (not getting into pricey exotic stuff which doesn&#8217;t make sense to use as a base for winding embroidery threads!). I can print six for Walmart&#8217;s super cheap price!<\/p>\n<p>And then I thought to check AliExpress &#8211; two cents a piece. I can buy 100 for less than the price of 28 at Walmart. Material cost would be a\u00a0<em>little<\/em> lower printing with the cheapest filament. But there&#8217;s electricity and time to consider as well. I ended up ordering the things shipped from China.<\/p>\n<p>But in the process started wondering if\u00a0<em>companies<\/em> use either of these techniques for reducing expenses. 3D printing would be an interesting endeavor &#8211; include the company logo, make items the *exact* size needed for an application. But direct ordering from overseas manufacturers has a larger opportunity for expense reduction. Pens for a cent or two each. Ten thousand staples for five bucks. Paper clips, wires and cords, clip boards &#8230; there are all manner of random little consumable things companies buy. Start running low on staples, order another ten thousand. So what it takes six weeks to arrive? You&#8217;re just refilling a supply closet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We have a 3D printer, and have an evolving list of things to 3D print. Custom design work comprises most of the list now. Originally, I anticipated printing a whole bunch of little plastic bits that are\u00a0seriously overpriced in retail stores. The bobbins for embroidery thread come to mind &#8212; 20 cents a piece (although &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[399,11],"tags":[362],"class_list":["post-1734","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-expense-reduction","category-miscellaneous","tag-expense-reduction"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rushworth.us\/lisa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1734","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rushworth.us\/lisa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rushworth.us\/lisa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rushworth.us\/lisa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rushworth.us\/lisa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1734"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.rushworth.us\/lisa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1734\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1742,"href":"https:\/\/www.rushworth.us\/lisa\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1734\/revisions\/1742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rushworth.us\/lisa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rushworth.us\/lisa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rushworth.us\/lisa\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}