Ruth Brown

SDSU offices will now be getting their office supplies through a means other than SDSU’s Stores, the inventory supply store for campus offices.

“The business model we used to use with inventory has changed a lot,” said Wes Tschetter, chief financial officer. “We can order directly from the Internet now and that is a much more efficient way of getting the supplies that are needed.”

Tschetter said the Physical Plant was the biggest user of Stores. Stores was where they purchased all their cleaning supplies that are used in campus buildings.

“The bookstore will carry emergency supplies for campus offices and the print lab will be where paper can be picked up or delivered from,” said Tschetter.

Some SDSU employees using the new supply ordering system say it is more time-consuming.

“To order, you have to look up the number of the product you want and the descriptions (of the products) are not very good,” said Mona Tunender, secretary in The Union who uses the new order process. “The whole process can be extremely time-consuming.”

Deb Gulbranson, The Union accounting assistant, agreed the process does take a long time.

“It can take anywhere from five minutes to an hour, depending on what you’re ordering and if you need to look up the number,” said Gulbranson.

Stores carried supplies for all offices and departments on campus, including office supplies, hardware supplies cleaning supplies, like disposable paper towels.

“The employees that worked at Stores have been relocated,” said Tschetter. “One person retired, two moved over to the Physical Plant and one will be working in the print lab.”

When SDSU’s departments order supplies online, they will get an 18 percent markup and they are delivered without charge.Gulbranson said if you order the wrong product by mistake, returning it can be frustrating.

“There is a two-day turnaround, but the process to return it can take a while, and that gets frustrating for us,” Gulbranson said. “We’ll keep some supplies on campus for convenience, like banker boxes, tapes, paper towels and those kinds of things,” said Tschetter. “Those will be available either at the Physical Plant or the print lab (in YProxy-Connection: keep-aliveCache-Control: max-age=0

ger Hall).”

TschProxy-Connection: keep-alive Cache-Control: max-age=0 ter said about 25-30 products will be kept on campus for convenience.

“It’s a bold step, but this is something we have been thinking about doing for a while now,” Tschetter said.

The building Stores used to be located in will be used for shipping and receiving, as well as for storage by the Physical Plant.

“It’s a big change, but we’ll find a new way to let the different offices get what they need,” Tschetter said.

Gulbranson said she thinks the new process will be “rocky to start,” but it should get easier, and she is confident “it will run more smoothly” in the future.

Tunender said while the process is time-consuming, people will adjust with time.

“I think a big part of it is that people need to just be open to change, and I really think that people in most of the offices should adjust pretty well,” Tunender said. “My office is doing well with it.”