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Small Business
Lock your supply cabinet
July 22, 2000: 7:00 a.m. ET

Keep expenses down by keeping office supplies from walking away
By Jane Applegate
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - If your office-supply bill is skyrocketing, and the supply closet shelves are always empty, try locking the closet.

Profit-meister Barry Schimel shared this idea: Hand the key to one responsible person, the office manager, or if that's not feasible, to a couple of managers or supervisors on different shifts. This way, no one can just root around for an armload of supplies. Add a sign-out sheet, too, to monitor who is taking what.

If this sounds too draconian, take a lighter approach. At the end of a staff meeting, ask everyone to go back to their desks and rescue all the pencils, pens, and markers hidden under piles of paper or tucked into the backs of drawers.

Look in your briefcase or purse, too -- you'll be surprised by how many writing implements you will find there.

Excerpted from 201 Great Ideas for Your Small Business, Copyright 1998 by Jane Applegate. Published by arrangement with Bloomberg Press. Excerpts appear on Saturdays on CNNfn.com.)
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