Purchasing: What’s My Time Worth?

I used to love going to my local True Value store when in need of hardware. I much preferred it to the big box Home Depot and Lowe’s stores. I figured my time was worth more than having to navigate those huge stores assisted by indifferent people who knew less about my project than I did. I knew that I might pay a bit more for the product, but factoring in superior assistance and significantly less time spent in the store, I felt it was worth it. Now that my little store is no longer in business, I will frequently go online to purchase the products I need, since I consider this a much better use of my time.

In business, where time is truly money, we still see antiquated purchasing processes whereby several procurement employees are spending an inordinate amount of time shopping for the lowest possible price. A simple exercise in totaling up these employees’ salaries and benefits factored against any monies saved on purchases will no doubt reveal that the company is actually losing money on these endeavors. A business must ask itself this question: What if these employees’ time was spent on growing the business rather than saving few dollars here and there? Further, it should ask if these purchasing employees are even needed at all.

In this economy a vendor must be competitive in price to stay in business. To spend much time shopping for the lowest possible price is a waste of one’s resources. Instead a business must find a vendor that offers a system which makes purchasing an efficient and effective process, requiring as little time as possible to complete the task. GPnet™, an online supply chain efficiency system, is one such system. The time required to procure an item a business needs is drastically reduced, and prices are often lower due to the purchasing power of the vendor.

Cal Popken
COO