New Office Opening: The Paper Checklist

Do not wait until opening morning

A new office needs more than desks and enthusiasm. Confirm the documents people will actually use: invoices, purchase forms, customer letters, shipping paperwork, HR forms and internal records.

Standardize the basics

Choose approved everyday copy paper, legal paper where needed, letterhead stock, envelopes and any carbonless or preprinted forms. Record the specifications and who is allowed to order them.

Control branded items

Do not order twelve months of letterhead before the address, phone number and legal entity are final. Obsolete paper is still an expense even when it looks very professional in the recycling bin.

Assign ownership

One person should own routine replenishment. Accounting should know the purchasing process. Managers should know which exceptions require approval. Everyone else should stop creating personal supply systems in desk drawers.

A clean opening is mostly preparation. The paper is not complicated. The lack of ownership is.