A commercial cleaning supply distributor that runs on a schedule

Why Clockwork

What changes when you consolidate

• One invoice a month. Multiple sites, one statement. Accounting stops chasing four vendors.
• One delivery schedule. Weekly, monthly or as needed — set around how fast you actually use things.
• No minimums. You don’t pad an order to hit a threshold.
• Someone who knows your building. The same people notice you’re low before you do.

What consolidating actually saves

The pitch for buying from one supplier is usually made in vague terms. Here is what actually changes, and roughly where the money is.

• Administrative time. Four suppliers means four order processes, four sets of delivery paperwork, four invoices to code and approve, and four sets of chasing when something is wrong. For most buildings this is the largest hidden cost of a fragmented supply chain, and it sits with whoever does the ordering — usually someone whose actual job is something else.
• Minimum order padding. A supplier with a $200 minimum gets an order with $160 of what you need and $40 of what you might need eventually. Repeat that across four suppliers and you are financing a storeroom of slow-moving stock. We have no minimum, so an order is what you need and nothing else.
• Delivery coordination. Four suppliers deliver on four schedules, usually when it suits their route rather than yours, and each one needs someone to receive it. One delivery on a known day is one interruption instead of four.
• Price visibility. Spreading spend across four vendors means no single one sees enough volume to price you properly. Consolidating the whole basket is usually what moves pricing, more than negotiating any individual line.
• Stockouts. A supplier who sees your whole usage pattern notices when something is running short. A supplier who sells you one category out of five does not.

How a standing order is set up

Local branches, national catalogue

Six branches — Morden, Winkler, Altona, Carman, Portage la Prairie and Brandon — so you’re on a delivery route, not a shipping estimate. Behind the branches is a national distributor, so if it isn’t on our shelf we can usually get it.

Manitoba tax, handled properly

Manitoba businesses pay GST at 5% and Retail Sales Tax at 7% on most supply purchases. Two things are worth knowing.

• RST exemptions are a real thing and they are commonly missed. Certain purchasers and certain uses are exempt from Manitoba RST, and if you qualify, that is 7% off every invoice. We set the exemption against your account so it applies automatically rather than needing a credit note every month. If you are not sure whether you qualify, bring it up — it is a straightforward question with a yes or no answer, and we would rather have it right from the first invoice.
• Consolidated monthly invoicing. If you order across the month, you can take one invoice at month end covering every delivery rather than one per drop. That is fewer documents for your accounts payable to process, and it makes month-to-month spend easy to compare.

We are not tax advisors, and your accountant is the right person to confirm your exemption status. But we see the question often enough to know it is worth asking.

What we supply

Who we work with

Manufacturing and fabrication, food and ag processing, trucking and warehousing, schools and daycares, clinics and care homes, grocery and retail, hotels and restaurants, cleaning contractors, dealerships and body shops, municipal offices and rec centres.

Questions worth asking any supplier

If you are weighing suppliers — us included — these are the questions that actually separate them.

• What is the real lead time on a stocked item, and on a non-stocked one? Everyone says “next day.” Ask what happens when it is not in the branch.
• What is the minimum order, and is there a delivery charge under a threshold? These are often two separate costs and only one gets mentioned.
• Who do I call when something is wrong? A named person at a local branch and a 1-800 queue are very different answers.
• Will you price my whole list, or just the easy lines? A quote on the ten cheapest items tells you nothing about the other forty.
• What happens to pricing after the first order? Introductory pricing that drifts upward is a common pattern. Ask whether the quote holds, and for how long.
• Can you supply safety data sheets for everything you deliver? If the answer is anything other than yes, that is a compliance problem waiting for you rather than them.