When to Reorder Mailbags and Forms: An Order Quantity and Reorder Point a Small Branch Can Actually Run
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: A branch office does not run out of forms because it uses them; it runs out because nobody computed when to reorder. This paper applies the standard inventory results with stated local numbers. For printed forms used at 42.0 a day with a 12.0-day supplier lead time, the economic order quantity is 1256 units (12.2 orders a year, 29.9 days of cover each), and the reorder point is 565 units — 504 to cover the lead time plus 61 of safety stock for a 97.5 percent cycle service level. A five-item table (forms, mailbags, twine, seals, ink) shows the pattern that surprises most branches: for cheap, bulky consumables the reorder point is dominated by lead-time demand, not by variability, so the highest-value intervention is shortening or stabilising the lead time, not refining the safety stock. SIMULATED, NOT MEASURED.
Author: Aldred, William Alexander
Language: English
Field: Decision Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7225722347
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