If you have ever been tasked by the boss to purchase a new piece of office equipment, you understand the hidden pressures of making sure you get it right. The last thing you are going to do is buy the first thing you see. Likewise, you probably won’t spend a week comparing items that are relatively inexpensive to purchase.

One of the factors that few people take into consideration when buying office machinery or equipment is the value of their time. Whether you are working on an hourly basis or are salaried, your time still has a dollar amount associated with it. The longer you take deciding which new item to purchase, the more expensive that item becomes.

And nothing is harder to factor into your calculations than a dollar figure for the time you spent mulling over what to buy.

A good rule of thumb is to work fast, obviously. But you don’t want to rush and generate an environment that could foster mistakes. By being smart about your comparison processes, you will quickly make a list of pros and cons for each benefit and feature associated with the equipment. Adding to these list would be the your time costs. This way when you present your findings to your supervisor, you’ll have a truer indication at the bottom line of each item under consideration.

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