Next Level Purchasing has a great article series on 'Dirty Tricks' they attribute to Office Supply Companies. Having been in the field for over 20 years, I have seen these tricks in play, although not necessarily restricted to a certain industry. What I like about their first article in the series, is the fact, people who may not have time to do proper procurement fall into the trap of believing an association they belong to can negotiate a better deal for them by aggregating volumes.
It usually is a no-brainer that larger volume/aggregated volumes mean bigger discount (it's one of the basic points in Principles of Buying). Plus, it is a time-saver to have an association group member volumes together and do the work for you. However, you still need to do your homework and make sure what THEY negotiate actually meets YOUR particular needs. It can be a cost-saving for some, but not all.
In the article presented, NLP found office supply discounts through a chamber membership actually cost them MORE than what they could get on their own volume. They found the same with health benefits. In my case, I did comparison shopping on health & dental benefits for two different companies (one a small business with 12 employees, and one a non-profit with 3 employees), in both cases, I compared the chamber benefits program with quotes from two additional insurance companies, and got a better deal directly with insurance companies for both companies (each with a different insurer mind you).
So lesson here - do your homework, association membership discounts are not a "saving-fits-all" solution.
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