Business News
Tips to Lower Overhead And Increase Profits
By
Sep 27, 2005, 22:38

(NUI) - Overhead costs can torture many business owners. Lowering overhead increases profits and allows some businesses to lower prices, which can, in turn, boost sales.

Here are a few ideas to help reduce your business's overhead.

* Do your research. Research the cost of the supplies you buy. Many times you can find a cheaper vendor or a vendor willing to lower prices for buying in bulk or for customer loyalty.

* Evaluate resources. Make sure you are not wasting office supplies. Make sure employees know to use what they need but not to use supplies frivolously.

* Investigate problems. Thoroughly examine any problems, such as office machine downtime, accidents or quick employee turnover. These issues are usually evidence of more serious problems, which, if ignored, could greatly affect the company's bottom line.

* Barter. Bartering is a great way to cut expenses. You can trade your services for something you need and save money in the process. For example, sometimes a neighboring business also has one of your expenses. Try to find a way to share costs. This method will reduce overhead and can help you build strong relationships with other businesses.

* Cut down on electricity use. Wasted electricity is one of the most common areas where businesses lose money unnecessarily. You can conserve electricity in a number of ways.

Train employees to turn off the lights when a conference room or team room is not in use. Pay attention to electricity bills and investigate any abnormally high or low bills.

Vending machines are an often overlooked electricity sink. These machines are left on every day and can substantially increase energy costs. Unfortunately, turning off the machines is usually not an option. When the machines are turned off, they do not make any money and, therefore, become nothing but a big paperweight taking up valuable office space.

Reducing the electricity used by a vending machine is the only way to cut costs in this area. You can accomplish this with a special device called the VendingMiser, which reduces the cost by 50 percent. Utilizing a custom passive infrared sensor, VendingMiser powers down a vending machine when the area surrounding it is unoccupied and automatically repowers the vending machine when the area is reoccupied.

For more information on this money-saving device, go to the USA Technologies (OTC BB:USTT) Web site, www.usa tech.com.

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