The Project That Started It All
Back in 2023, our company decided to consolidate vendors. We had 8 different suppliers for office supplies, printing, and break room stuff, and accounting was not happy. The CFO wanted us down to 2 or 3 at most. So it fell to me to figure out how to do that without leaving our 400 employees across 3 locations with bad equipment or delays.
I'd been handling purchasing for about 5 years at that point (took over in 2018). I knew the vendors, knew the products, knew the ordering systems. But this project was different. It wasn't just about finding the cheapest option. It was about reliability, consistency, and not having the regional manager yell at me because the laminator in Seattle jammed again.
The First Big Decision: Shredders
We already had a mix of shredders across offices. Mostly Royal and Swingline, a couple of Dahle units. They worked okay, but we had constant issues with jamming and capacity. The question everyone asks is "How many sheets can it shred?" The question they should ask is "How many sheets can it shred consistently without the motor overheating?" (this was a lesson learned the hard way).
I started looking at Fellowes partly because of the brand reputation (we'd used their binding machines before) and partly because a colleague at another company had switched to them and had good things to say. I ordered a Fellowes 14C10 14-Sheet Cross-Cut Home Office Paper Shredder to test in our main office. It felt a bit small for a 400-person company, honestly (ugh, my first mistake was thinking about it as a 'home office' product instead of looking at their commercial line).
The Test Run
We put the 14C10 in a high-traffic area near the break room. For a home office shredder, it handled the daily use surprisingly well for about 3 weeks. Then someone tried to shred a multi-page report with a staple and the thing sounded like it was dying. It didn't jam completely, but it slowed way down. That's when I realized: the 14C10 is a great shredder for individuals or a very small team, but for a busy shared office, I needed their commercial models. Most buyers focus on the sheet capacity (14-sheet) and completely miss the duty cycle rating. You'd think a shredder would run for 5-10 minutes straight, but the 14C10 has a 3-minute run time before it needs a cooldown. That matters more than the sheet count.
More Than Just Shredders: The Fellowes Ecosystem
Once I started talking to the Fellowes rep (a helpful guy named Chris, if I'm remembering right), I realized I was thinking about office equipment all wrong. I'd been treating each product category as separate decisions: shredders from Vendor A, laminators from Vendor B, binding from Vendor C, keyboard trays from Vendor D. But Fellowes makes all of it, and there's a real advantage to having compatible products from one manufacturer.
We tested the Fellowes Office Suites Deluxe Keyboard Drawer in our ergonomics pilot program. I'll be honest (honest_limitation position here): the cheaper keyboard trays we'd been buying were fine for most people. They held the keyboard. They slid under the desk. But the Fellowes unit had a smoother glide mechanism, a better mouse platform, and a weight rating that felt more solid. Was it 3x better than the budget options? Not for everyone. But for people who spend 8+ hours a day at their desk, the difference was noticeable.
The most frustrating part of managing multiple vendors: the same issues recurring despite clear communication. You'd think written specs would prevent misunderstandings, but interpretation varies wildly. With Fellowes, we had one contact for everything. When the binder in Chicago needed a part, I called the same person I'd talked to about the shredder. That simplicity saved me maybe 2-3 hours a month on admin work (thankfully, every bit helped).
The Missed Step: Not Asking About Alternatives
Here's where I messed up. I got so focused on Fellowes (and their pricing was competitive enough) that I didn't push hard enough on the alternatives. The project required us to recommend 2-3 preferred vendors across the board. I'd narrowed it to Fellowes for equipment and a separate vendor for disposables. But I didn't fully explore what Fellowes couldn't do well.
For instance, our standing desk program. Fellowes makes standing desks (their Integra line), but they're not their core strength compared to companies like Varidesk or Uplift. I should have recommended Fellowes for ergonomic accessories (keyboard trays, monitor arms) but advised looking elsewhere for serious standing desk solutions. Instead, I let the consolidation logic push me toward a single-vendor recommendation that wasn't perfect. Most buyers focus on the convenience of one vendor and completely miss the limitations. The question everyone asks is "can you supply this?" The question they should ask is "are you the best supplier for this specific product?"
The Payoff: Calculators and Dry Erase Boards
Maybe the funniest part of this project was how we ended up with two completely unrelated tools that saved us time. Our finance team uses the Illinois Paycheck Calculator (we're based in Chicago, so state-specific calculations matter) and a markup calculator for pricing services. Neither of those has anything to do with Fellowes, obviously. But during the switchover to the new vendor system, I had to retrain myself on how to compare pricing across suppliers.
The markup calculator became my best friend during that period (this was back in October 2023, when we were finalizing contracts). I'd input the base price from one vendor, add their shipping, compare it to the other vendor's all-in pricing, and figure out the actual markup. It made me realize that the cheaper base price often had hidden costs. The most frustrating part of vendor management: the same issues recurring despite clear communication. You'd think written specs would prevent misunderstandings, but interpretation varies wildly.
Dry Erase Board Cleanliness
And the dry erase board thing? That came from a completely different part of the office. The training team asked me how to clean dry erase boards properly after someone used permanent markers on one (it happens more often than you'd think). I'd learned the trick years ago: draw over the permanent marker with a dry erase marker, then erase. It works 90% of the time. But I also learned that some cheaper dry erase boards stain permanently after a few months of heavy use. The Fellowes boards we'd installed had a better surface that resisted staining. Was that a deciding factor in our vendor choice? No. But it was a nice bonus that reinforced the decision.
What I'd Do Differently
Looking back, the consolidation project was a success in many ways. We reduced vendors from 8 to 3, saved about 12% on annual costs, and cut the admin time for ordering by roughly 6 hours per month. But I'd do a few things differently:
- I recommend Fellowes for [offices that need reliable paper handling and ergonomic accessories], but if you're dealing with [heavy-duty industrial shredding want specialized task-specific tools], you might want to consider alternatives. (That's the honest_limitation speaking).
- I'd evaluate product categories individually before consolidating. Don't let the vendor count drive the decision. Your employees will forgive multiple vendors faster than they'll forgive bad equipment.
- I'd test more products before committing. We tested the 14C10, but we should have also tested their commercial shredder to compare duty cycles and noise levels.
This solution works for 80% of cases. Here's how to know if you're in the other 20%: if your office has specialized needs (medical records shredding, large-format laminating, custom ergonomic setups), you'll want to keep specialists on the roster. But for the standard office? Fellowes is a solid anchor vendor.
The final piece of advice: always verify invoicing capability before placing any order. That's not a Fellowes-specific issue, it's a general lesson. The vendor who couldn't provide proper invoicing cost us $2,400 in rejected expenses from accounting. That's a mistake I only made once.
(As of January 2025, our setup is still working well. We've added one more specialty vendor for large-format printing, but the core equipment orders still go through Fellowes. I'd recommend the same approach to any office administrator managing a similar consolidation.)
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