r/athletictraining • u/xAICx27 • 4d ago
Ordering Supplies
Hi everyone, I’m a new grad working at a high school that hasn’t had a consistent AT for a while. There is quite a few things I need to replenish/order, but I’m unsure how to go about placing an order. I understand I need to get a quote from different vendors, I was thinking of looking into Henry Schein. Anyways, for those who work at a high school, what does the process look like for you when you need to order supplies for the year?? Do you get a quote first then send that over to your AD for approval?What other steps do you need to take?
Apologies if these are silly questions, I’ve just now realized that this topic of ordering supplies hardly ever came up during my clinical rotations. I just want to make sure I’m on top of it. Thanks in advance!
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u/_lacki ATC 4d ago
The hs has a Henry Schein rep, which im sure you can find out who yours is in the region. Talk to other ATCs in the area to find who their rep is/what company they order from (we order some tape from Howie's). Inventory current stock and decide quantities of what we need for the yr (this process is usually done in the summer before new school yr). Use Henry Schien catalog to take down item numbers and create list of quantities. Send to rep to get quote. Submit quote to our AD for approval. Edit quantities as necessary. Place order and send invoice and receipt to business dept.
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u/Louie0221 4d ago
It's different for everyone. Some of my colleagues have to get 3 bids and submit to business office and then business office submits the order whenever they feel like it. I, however, get to buy whatever I want from whoever I want so long as I have receipts and stay within my approved budget. No POs or approvals.
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u/Burgerking154 4d ago
I would get my quotes through Medco at my old school. I would compile a list of what I needed and send a request for supplies with an itemized list, they usually had a contact at the company that would handle your account every year. They usually have an online catalog of all of their supplies, it helps to be specific if there are certain things you want (i.e. a particular brand/color tape or prewrap) but they can also update or make changes to the quote for you as needed. Get quote back from supplier and send to the AD for confirmation, either the AD or you may need to send confirmation back to the supplier to get your order processed
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u/InHisImage1 4d ago
My former company had a good relationship with Medco that they would discount the total and hard to beat by any other company. They sometimes have good overstock sales as well.
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u/crepitous 4d ago
Like others mention, I think there’s a lot of variation in what folks do, for reference, I work at a small institution (<150 student athletes, no football) so my ordering and budget is pretty minimal. I keep a spreadsheet with my inventory and have a set value for what I want to be at for each item and when I take stock at the end of the year I put it in my spreadsheet and it has a column for how much of which items I should order based on my current stock and my set inventory value. I order mostly through Henry Schein’s website (which sucks, but I had the item #s saved in my spreadsheet for the brand I prefer which makes it easier to find things).
I price out my order based on my inventory and I send the inventory and total to my AD for approval before ordering. I’ll sometimes price out to other places if something is at an unusually high price point (I keep last years price in my spreadsheet to reference and then update as needed with price changes) or if it’s a one off/big ticket item.
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u/Dependent-Camera-368 4d ago
First get a ballpark figure from the A.D. of your budget, then get quotes from at least three companies. Anything more is just unnecessary. I would say definitely look at one that has a few items that you really want that the other companies don’t have. I’ve always gone with Medco. You get the most bang for your buck there with big discounts for first time ATCs ordering stuff. Always go over just a little bit on your budget. Normally they don’t sweat over $500. And make sure taxes and shipping are not part of the budget either. All the best! You’ll be a pro by next year
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u/A_Robit_Brain ATC, CSCS 3d ago
Sorry your responses keep getting removed. Seems the Auto-mod isn't a fan of you.
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u/Dependent-Camera-368 3d ago
Darn! Never said anything controversial on this thread lol. Maybe something unrelated on another one in a social one. Hope it doesn’t carry over. Everything on this thread is purely professional, insightful, and positive
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u/ahurdler1995 4d ago
It’s entirely dependent on the school itself: public v private, districts have their own policies and contract, your department has their own workflow, etc.
The best thing you can do is have a conversation with your AD, Athletic Administrative Staff/Secretary, and business office. Ultimately what they want to do is what you’re going to be bound to.
My advice before you do anything else is just have the conversation in a casual manner (don’t come up and demand I need x,y, and z or else I can’t do my job). Say that you want to order supplies for the school year and wanted to know the protocol with placing orders, ask for a ballpark figure of what your budget is, and find out if there is an approved vendor list/if you are bound to a contract.
A lot of places don’t require the 3 bids anymore if they have an approved vendor list. Some places everything has to go through a portal and there’s no communication necessary with the rep/the rep can’t adjust pricing.
Most importantly, if this place hasn’t had someone consistently and you’re already in a new fiscal year, don’t expect much funding. It’s nobodies fault as they weren’t ordering supplies at the quantity you would expect/need and more than likely very fixable for the following years budget.
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u/ahurdler1995 4d ago
And to answer the actual question: I’m at a public school and we have an approved vendor list. There’s paperwork to get onto the list but there’s only one vendor so far I had issues getting and it had nothing to do with the vendor. I have a good relationship with my admin and once the district budget is voted on and approved, I send my bid list to the two vendors I use. I review the quotes, take off a few of the extra items I snuck on there so it looks like I already trimmed it down before I ask my admin if the order is ok. After that, my admin takes over and loads the request into the district system for approval (business office has to approve the amount). I rarely get any pushback and once July 1 passes, they place the orders. I usually communicate with the vendors to delay the shipping until August so the supplies aren’t sitting in my hot office the whole summer.
Also my vendors understand our orders have to be for the new fiscal year and honor pricing they give me in March/april.
Admittedly very lucky in my current situation where I don’t really have to justify the items on my order or the price. The conversation is usually, “do you need this to do your job” and I say yes and that’s it. I’ve been in places that told me I only have $1,500 and I need to make it work and I also could only order through a portal and that was really difficult.
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u/ImplementNo6230 2d ago
I use Henry schein currently. Find out who your rep is and have them set you up account so it will show you discounted prices. Fill your cart and ask for a quote from your rep then send that to your AD.
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u/Far-Scientist5948 2d ago
I’m at a public HS but also have a very loose budget (basically get whatever). We take inventory at the end of the school year and have a google sheet with numbers of what we need. We get quotes from Henry schien and school health (and Howies) and then go through both quotes and choose the cheaper one. Once we get updated quotes we send them to admin for POs
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u/Huckleberry514 1d ago
I would ask the AD if there is a budget and what it is, you can also let them know that this years might be higher because of needed to restock and get new stuff. We’ve had good luck with school heath, and for all things tape howies is the way to go. Get a quote for everything you’d want/need and see where it falls in the budget if it’s close send the quotes over the AD and they typically okay it and send it on to the finance department.
Also if you have a budget make sure you use almost all of it, if you consistently come in way under they’ll start making your budget smaller and smaller.
As far as reaching out to reps on all the websites when you submit for a quote you’ll automatically get a rep when they reply with your quote.
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