Pilot Pens, Calculators & Printers: The Office Reorder Checklist

If you're the person who just got told to "handle office supplies" and you're not sure where to start, this is for you. It's also for you if you've been doing this for years and still get the 4 PM "we're out of pens again" message.

I took over purchasing for our company in 2020. Back then, I thought, how hard can supply ordering be? Order pens, order paper, maybe buy a printer once in a while. Three years and roughly $150K in orders later, I can tell you: it's not hard. But it's incredibly easy to get wrong.

This is the 7-step checklist I run through every quarter. It covers the three categories my office buys most: Pilot pens, calculators, and printing equipment. Plus the mistakes I've made along the way so you don't have to repeat them.

Step 1: Take a Physical Inventory

The spreadsheet from last quarter will lie to you. People hoard. Someone has 30 Pilot pens in their desk drawer who still asks for more. Meanwhile, the supply closet is full of pens nobody wants to use because they're "weird." This is office life.

Walk the office. Open drawers. Check cabinets. Look under the reception desk. List what's actually below 20% remaining—that's what you're ordering. Everything else can wait.

Skip this step and you'll over-buy, and pens dry out and cartridges expire. I learned that with a 400-pen "bargain" in 2021 that we never got through.

Step 2: Ask the People Who Use the Supplies

Send a message to the team a week before ordering: "Restocking supplies on Friday. Anything you need?" You'll get three types of responses:

1. Specific requests ("Pilot G2 in blue-black, please")
2. Vague requests ("we need sticky notes")
3. "Whatever is fine"—and they're lying. They have preferences, they just don't want to seem picky.

Take all three seriously. The vague ones need a follow-up question. And the "whatever is fine" people will complain the loudest when they get a pen they don't like. That's just how it works.

Step 3: Stock Pilot Pens That Fit Your Team's Writing

This is where most purchasing guides go wrong. They order "pens" in bulk without thinking about what people actually do with them.

My baseline is always the Pilot G2. It's the workhorse—smooth writing, durable tip, no hand cramps after a full day of use. But here's the thing I've learned the hard way: the Pilot G2 pen color names matter. When someone says "the blue one," they could mean standard blue, or blue-black, or the navy shade, depending on what they've used before. I've ordered the wrong blue and heard about it. Ask for specifics.

Keep a small stash of something bolder, too. Presenters, envelope-addressing, last-minute poster board duty—I always order the Pilot V Sign pen liquid ink 2.0 mm tip for those. The liquid ink flows smoothly, and the 2.0 mm tip gives you a line you can see across a conference room. It's saved more than one rushed presentation.

Real talk: Pilot pens aren't the cheapest pens out there. I'm not going to pretend they are. But they're the ones that don't come back to bite you. I once bought a bulk pack of cheap pens to save money and spent a month listening to complaints about scratchy writing and ink globs. The time spent handling those complaints wasn't worth the savings.

Step 4: Sort Out the Calculator Situation

You'd think calculators would be simple. "Everyone has one on their phone." And then the accounting team needs to verify numbers without pulling up fourteen browser tabs.

Keep a couple of basic calculators on hand for the front desk and shared areas. That handles the obvious stuff. But here's the less obvious part: know what your team actually does.

Our engineering team once asked for an eigenvector calculator. First reaction: isn't that a math thing? Yes. And they needed it to verify matrix calculations for a project. A free online tool did the job perfectly—no software purchase needed.

Then there was the lease renewal conversation. Finance used a cap rate calculator to compare whether we should renew or buy office space. A quick tool gave them the numbers they needed in minutes.

The point is: don't buy calculator software or fancy hardware unless someone explicitly asks. Free web tools handle 95% of office math. The other 5%—your finance or engineering folks will know exactly what they need. Ask before you buy.

Step 5: The Printer Question

Printers are the office supply no one thinks about until one dies at 11 AM the day before a client visit. I've been that person.

First, know what your office actually prints. Standard text documents? A normal multifunction printer will be fine. Color-accurate marketing and presentation materials? That's a different conversation. For anything going to a professional printer, 300 DPI is the standard minimum resolution for quality output.

If you catch yourself searching "where to buy a printer near me," here's my take: shop local if you need it fast or want to see the machine before buying. Local stores may cost more upfront, but the service relationship helps when the machine jams at 4:30 PM. For standard models, online retailers are fine—just compare the full cost, including shipping and replacement ink.

There's a third option that's often forgotten: online printing services. If you need a few hundred brochures or flyers, you don't need office equipment that can handle it. These services work well for standard products—business cards, flyers, quantities up to thousands. They're not a good fit if you need custom die-cut shapes, unusual finishes, or same-day in-hand delivery. Know your needs before you choose.

Step 6: Compare Total Cost, Not Just Price

Unit price is the number on the website. Total cost is what you actually pay. The difference can be hundreds of dollars.

• Shipping and handling fees
• Setup or processing fees
• Minimum order requirements
• Restocking fees—ask me about the $200 mistake I made in 2022
• Turnaround time versus when you actually need the order

I've had online prices look unbeatable until shipping made the local store cheaper. And local stores that looked pricey until next-day delivery was included.

Also: if you're under time pressure—like the toner rush order before our sales kickoff—you may have to make a call on less information than you'd like. That's okay. Do your best, use vendors you trust, and move on.

Step 7: Order, Track, and Verify

Place the order. Get written confirmation with the order number and the delivery date. Put the delivery date in your calendar.

The phrase "as soon as possible" means nothing. I say "ASAP" and the vendor hears "whenever it shows up." Result: delivery two weeks later than I expected. Now I say "I need this by Friday, June 14th" and get that specific date written on the order.

When the delivery arrives, count the boxes and check products against the invoice. I've caught two short shipments this year alone. You can't chase missing items a month later.

What I Still Get Wrong (So You Don't Have To)

The most frustrating part of supply management is that the same issues recur despite clear communication. You'd think a written order with a specific date would be enough. Apparently not.

• Set a quarterly reminder to reorder before everything runs out.
• Don't buy cheap just to save money in the moment. Quality pens like Pilot are worth it.
• Don't buy in bulk just to get a discount. Think about shelf life.
• There's no perfect setup for every office. If your team has moved to styluses or a fully paperless workflow, spend more on what fits and less on what doesn't.

This checklist works for most offices. If you're in a creative studio, a hospital, or a school, your list will look different. And that's fine—the process is the same, the products just change.

Looking back, I should have built this system years before I did. At the time, ordering pens and printers seemed like the easy part of the job. It wasn't until I started following this checklist that the "we're out of everything" emergency texts actually stopped.

There's something satisfying about a supply closet that's actually stocked. It's not the most exciting part of office management. But when someone asks for a Pilot pen and finds it right where they expected it, that's the payoff.