How a $2,400 Mistake Taught Me to Stop Guessing About Packaging Suppliers

It was a Tuesday in September 2022 when I approved the order that would eventually cost us $2,400 and my manager's trust for about three months.

I'd been handling facility supply orders for our property management company for just under two years at that point. Janitorial products, paper goods, food service disposables—the unglamorous stuff that keeps buildings running. I thought I knew what I was doing.

I didn't.

The Order That Changed Everything

We needed restocking for four properties: paper towels, trash liners, the usual. Our regular distributor—we'd been using Imperial Dade for about 18 months—was backordered on the specific trash liner size we needed. Two-week delay, minimum.

Here's where I got clever. Found another supplier online. Prices looked good. Actually, prices looked great—about 15% under what we'd been paying. I figured I'd save the company some money and solve the backorder problem simultaneously. Win-win, right?

I placed the order. 2,000 trash liners, 1,500 paper towel rolls, some miscellaneous cleaning supplies. Total: around $3,100.

The delivery arrived on time. I'll give them that.

When "Compatible" Doesn't Mean Compatible

The trash liners were labeled as the right size. They weren't. Close—maybe 2 inches shorter in height. Doesn't sound like much until you're trying to fit them over 55-gallon drums and they won't stay put. Our maintenance teams at all four properties reported the same thing: liners slipping, tearing, creating more work than they solved.

The paper towels? Wrong core size. Wouldn't fit our dispensers. 1,500 rolls sitting in a storage room, basically unusable without buying new dispensers for every restroom across four buildings.

I called the supplier. Their response, paraphrased: "The specs on our website are accurate. Your dispensers must be non-standard." They weren't. I'd just failed to check compatibility before ordering.

Total wasted: approximately $2,400 worth of product. Plus the rush order I had to place to actually get usable supplies to our properties. Plus the expedited shipping on that rush order.

Plus the conversation with my manager where I had to explain all of this.

What I Got Wrong (The Uncomfortable List)

I've had three years since then to think about what happened. Here's my honest assessment:

I prioritized price over verification. That 15% savings looked attractive. I didn't ask why it was cheaper. I didn't request samples. I didn't even call to confirm the specs matched what we actually needed.

I assumed "industry standard" meant universal. It doesn't. Trash liner dimensions, paper towel cores, dispenser compatibility—there's more variation than I realized. What works in one facility setup might not work in another. Our buildings used equipment that was, apparently, slightly different from what this supplier's products were designed for.

I didn't have a backup plan. When our regular distributor had the backorder, I panicked. A two-week delay felt like a crisis. Looking back, it wasn't. We had enough stock to cover maybe 10 days. I had time to do this right.

The trigger event in September 2022 changed how I think about vendor switching. One bad order, and suddenly my "I know what I'm doing" confidence evaporated.

The Checklist That's Caught 47 Errors

After the disaster, I created a pre-order verification checklist. My manager approved it. It's now required for any order over $500 or any new vendor, period.

Here's what we check:

Spec verification. For paper products, that means confirming core diameter, sheet dimensions, and dispenser model compatibility—in writing, from the vendor. Not just reading the website. Actually getting confirmation.

Sample request. For any product we haven't ordered before, we request samples. Yes, this adds time. Usually 3-5 days. Worth it.

Return policy review. Before placing the order, we document what happens if the product doesn't work. Some suppliers have 30-day returns, no questions. Others—like the one I used—have "all sales final" buried in their terms. Now we know before we buy.

Reference check. For new distributors, we ask for references from customers in similar industries. Property management, facility maintenance, that kind of thing. If they can't provide any, that's a red flag.

It took me 3 years and about 150 orders to understand that vendor relationships matter more than vendor pricing. The checklist is part of that understanding.

Since implementing it in late 2022, we've caught 47 potential errors before they became expensive problems. Wrong specs, incompatible products, unclear return terms—all flagged before we committed money.

Why I Went Back to the "Expensive" Distributor

We're still using Imperial Dade for most of our facility supplies. Their prices aren't the lowest. I know that. I've run the comparisons.

But here's what I've learned about total cost:

Total cost of ownership includes: base product price, shipping and handling, potential reprint costs (or in our case, reorder costs), and the time spent fixing problems. The lowest quoted price often isn't the lowest total cost.

When I factor in the $2,400 I wasted, plus the rush shipping, plus the hours I spent dealing with the aftermath—that "15% savings" cost us roughly four months of the difference in pricing. Not a good trade.

There's something satisfying about an order that just... works. After all the stress of the 2022 disaster, finally getting our vendor process systematized—that's the payoff. No more 2am worry sessions about whether the supplies will fit the equipment.

A Note on Switching Distributors

I'm not saying never switch. I'm saying switch carefully.

Distributors like Imperial Dade, Bunzl, and others in the packaging and facility supply space all have different strengths. Some prioritize breadth of product line. Some prioritize speed. Some prioritize pricing on specific categories.

The question isn't "who's cheapest?" It's "who's cheapest when I include the cost of things going wrong?"

For me, that math favors working with distributors who've already proven they understand our specific needs. Is that worth a 10-15% premium? After September 2022, I'd say yes.

I'm not 100% sure this approach works for every procurement situation. Take this with a grain of salt—my experience is in property management, not manufacturing or healthcare or food service. Your numbers might look different.

But if you're handling facility supply orders and thinking about switching vendors purely for price? Run the full calculation first. And maybe request some samples.

That's the lesson I paid $2,400 to learn.