Would you shop for your week’s groceries at an airport convenience store — or take a date out to dinner at a motorway services? Poor purchasing decisions can seem laughable. But many organisations aren’t immune from maverick spending or other poor practices that undermine their purchasing strategies.
When millions are spent by companies each year on their own needs for goods and services – on everything from office supplies to leasing vehicles, temporary staff to professional and IT services – many people would expect a few oddball purchases to slip through.
You may recall, headlines in the public press such as the council that spent nearly £19,000 on a motivational magician to boost staff morale just weeks after announcing it had to save £2.3 million. And what about the government agency that paid £427,000 on rubber bullets that police were not even allowed to use?
The trouble is, when a purchasing process is unstructured or lacks proper controls, then wasteful procurement can become the norm, not the exception. And it’s not so much the headline-grabbing maverick purchases either. The whole process can become slow, unwieldy and costly. What’s more waste is often hidden. People are just unable to see it, even if they dared.
