Today’s post is by Gayl M. Southard, Administrative Consultant for SafeSourcing.

Whether single, married, large or small family, trying to save money is a good feeling.  It may be tempting to buy generic to save money, but it is not always the right choice.

Here are five examples of name-brand products versus generic that might prove generic to be a good choice.

1.  Cereal is one example of trying to save money.  For every name-brand cereal, there generally is a generic version.  Often time the generic brand will also have a similar name.  The Kellogg’s Corn Flakes brand cereal will cost roughly $2.98, while an 18-ounce generic brand will cost $1.98.  That’s a big savings.  There is not too much difference in taste.

2.  Spices and seasonings are another way to save some money.  A name brand bottle of basil costs $2.96 while a generic alternative costs $2.24.  That 72 cent savings can add up!

3.  Parents want the best for their babies.  Maybe spending extra on the brand-named baby food and other baby products may be worth it.  Diapers can prove to be a big savings.   Buying generic versus a name brand you can save 10 cents per diaper.

4.  Medication is also an example where savings can be realized.  Take aspirin and ibuprofen as an example.  At a drug store 100 (200 mg) tablets cost $9.99 versus a store brand of 100 tablets for $7.29.

5.  Gasoline is another example.  Commuting to work can be very costly.  It can also be an area where buying generic might be a good choice for you.  Filling up at a major gasoline company versus the Costco brand can yield significant savings.  In California where you might pay $4.79/gallon for regular gas, the Costco brand is approximately $2.85/gallon.  For 15 gallons of gas, you could save approximately $29 each time you have to fill your tank.  That’s a huge savings!

It’s all personal preference on how you choose to spend your dollars.  SafeSourcing can assist you in exploring your procurement solutions for your business or on our “Risk Free” trial program, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service Representative. We have an entire customer services team waiting to assist you today.

We look forward to your comments.

Todays post is from our SafeSourcing Archive

The process of procuring services for you organization has a few aspects to keep in mind that are different then processes involving typically procured products.  How the company currently purchases these services tends to be varied and additional expenses that tend to be “bundled” into the price frequently provide very little visibility for you to understand what you are paying for.

The following are just a few tips to keep in mind when you are preparing the initial stages of finding new service providers.

Understand how and from whom you work with today – So many companies, especially those with more than one location, have an unclear view of the relationships, contracts, and pricing that they pay for the exact same services throughout the organization.  Understanding how each part of the company works with the providers of the services you are looking for is a critical first step to successfully developing a strategy for the entire organization.

Develop the strategy of where you want to go – Once you know where things stand it won’t be uncommon to have a variety of different contracts, terms and companies that you are dealing with.  Instead of trying to fit what you want into everyone’s model or contract, this is the time for you to determine how you want to be billed.  Knowing this and providing it to the vendor community early will help you get the details you need to make the best decision for the company.

Define Additional Expenses – Almost every vendor has a price list of “additional services” that fall outside of the normal course of business.  It is very important that you require every vendor you speak with to provide you the complete list of these fees and that they understand that any fee not listed will not be honored as part of the new contract with you.

Unbundle the “upcharge” – Upcharges are one of the great mysteries in dealing with service provider companies; many of whom would prefer to give you invoices with nothing more than one line item showing the weekly, monthly or annual charge.  By requesting the vendors to break this charge into smaller more detailed components, it will be easier for you to determine what you are paying for and will also give you stronger footing from which to negotiate your relationship with them.

For more information on best practices in procuring services for your company, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Services Project Manager.

We look forward to your comments.

Today’s post is our SafeSourcing archive

Over the next two weekends, scores of NFL fans will be coming together to reenact the most important moment of their sports lives for the year….the fantasy football draft.  This is the time where seasons are made or broken based on the selection of real football players in a make believe environment.

If you are one of these people, you are now instantly connected to this blog and if not, you now probably think both I and fantasy football are stupid but read on as I put it in the perspective of the procurement world.   Both worlds may make a little more sense when we’re done.

Beware of the rookies – One of the biggest risks someone can take in putting together a lineup of real NFL players to compete for fake fantasy points based on their individual performances is to draft a first year player. They are unproven and usually come with nothing but potential and risk. In much the same way, unproven, unknown vendors who try to buy your business constitute a similar risk.   These vendors promise the world of potential and often come at bargain prices only to disappoint and fail on delivering their potential.  Therein lies the risk because in some cases (read that C.J. Spiller, Arian Foster) the rookie not only pans out but delivers at levels few veterans can.  Research the company, research the solution, research their history and then know the risk you are taking.

The changing team – Every fantasy football owner I know would love to put out Requests For Information to each NFL team every summer.  If they did this is what they would ask: “Are there any major changes in management expected in the next 6 months?”;  “Do you plan on having a major shift in offensive mission statement before the season starts?”;  “Are you looking to acquire new talent that would affect how you do business in the next 3 months?”  The reason these types of questions would be important is because they affect the value of the services they are looking for from a player in much the same way companies like to include these types of questions when determining the value of a solution they are interested in.  By itself the solution may be a leader but unfortunately changes to that vendor’s infrastructure can render a terrific component useless.

The handcuff – Fantasy Football owners, please skip down in this block while I explain the concept of the handcuff.  The handcuff is a player who is the backup of a major starting player on a football team (usually a running back) that people draft when they already have the starter on the team and they want insurance of also having the backup in case anything happens to the starter or the starter does not perform according to expected levels.  When you have both, you have security in the same way procurement professionals like to have the security of a primary and secondary supplier for mission critical categories.  Having a backup to take over for your primary player/supplier gives you the flexibility and security to focus on other areas that need more attention.

At SafeSourcing we pride ourselves on trying to view procurement projects from different angles as well as the traditional and successful approaches and hope you enjoyed today’s “out-of-the-box” comparison to a very popular activity.  We hope to get a chance to show some of this creativeness for your companies.  For more information about SafeSourcing or on our “Risk Free” trial program, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service Representative.  We have an entire customer services team waiting to assist you today.

We look forward to your comments.

Today?s post is from our?from our ?SafeSourcing?archive.

When you are planning out purchases, whether it?s for a business or a personal purchase,? for most people and companies it is planned out as part of a budget.? Just looking at the price tag can give you a false sense of security as to what you are going to pay and ultimately blow your budget if you don?t plan for it properly. There are any variety of adders that you will have to take into account in order to fully set and adhere to your budget for any purchase.

Let?s take Van Trailers for example. The mandatory taxes that you have to pay vary state by state, and also vary by your company. For trailers, in the state of Ohio, manufacturers have to pay a 12% Federal Excess Tax upfront in order to sell a trailer to anyone in the State of Ohio and include that in their price.? You also have to know what your sales tax will be for the purchase. If you are using the trailer as a transportation company, sales tax will not apply to you.

At SafeSourcing we know what to ask and what to include in your scope of spend. We understand the tax issues and other types of duties mandated by the federal and state governments for specific industries.? For more information as to how we can help you with your procurement needs or on our ?Risk Free? trial program, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service Representative.? We have an entire customer services team waiting to assist you today.

We look forward to your comments.

Today?s post is? from our??SafeSourcing Archives

?Everything but the kitchen sink?.? has its roots in the early 1900s and referred to situations involving the inclusion of almost everything someone can think of whether it was needed or not.? In procurement terms it means running sourcing projects that include several unrelated items and categories in order to try and maximize the efforts and cost of running the events.? The downside to taking this approach is that the focus becomes fractured among an eclectic mix of goods and services that prevents a project from being as successful as it could be.

Today we will be looking at a few reasons why this approach does not work for many procurement professionals.

Fractured Focus ? The first issue that arises with multi-category sourcing events is that is fractures the focus of the items.? Each category gets some attention but not all of it and so specifications tend to be incomplete, internal support for the event not as determined and interest from the suppliers that can deliver on more than one category gets divided among several items that usually are not given a priority by the customer.? With all of these factors it is difficult for suppliers to give their best proposals because they have to divide their attention and in some cases are unsure what items and services are the most important to the customer.

Suspicious Suppliers ? Another of the issues when including many categories in a sourcing event is that suppliers who know they can only bid on one or two items begin to get suspicious of the event due to their assumption that the customer will try to consolidate suppliers where they can and use the suppliers who can only bid on a few items to help drive pricing only.? While grouping multiple categories is not a recommendation of SafeSourcing, if a project is going to be run this way then it is recommended that a multi-supplier award be considered and the possibility communicated to the suppliers.

Missed Supplier Opportunities ? With so many types of suppliers needed to support a large multi-category event it is often unrealistic to bring in as many companies in each area as a customer would like.? Unfortunately this leads to some very qualified suppliers being left out if they specialize in just one or two categories because otherwise the event would become very difficult to manage.? These types of suppliers can bring great value to an event and because it is their specialty they can often bring additional expertise and in some cases better pricing to the customer.? These lost opportunities are hard to quantify but are a proven side effect of large multi-category projects.

Many companies still try to run events of this nature because of their fear of the cost associated with running multiple events.? At SafeSourcing we are constantly helping companies who want to try to source categories safer, smarter and easier.? For more information on how we can help you or on our ?Risk Free? trial program, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service Representative.? We have an entire customer services team waiting to assist you today

We look forward to your comments.