LPS

What do we do at LPS?

What is LPS’ new approach to Scientific Supply?

There are many things in life that you can do but realize there are others who can do the same thing faster, more efficiently and more proficiently.  Things like:  Cleaning your house.  Changing the oil in your car.  Investing.  Decorating a house. Doing your taxes, just to name a few.

If you work in a lab, you will need to purchase supplies and equipment to operate your lab.  If your lab reaches a certain size (you purchase more than one million dollars in lab supplies per year) you will hire people with special expertise in the lab supply market to negotiate contracts and ensure you are paying a competitive price and getting all the benefits a large customer deserves.  You may even get a person dedicated to your account who may work right in your lab!

Most labs never spend anything close to a million per year.  So should you expect:

  • - To pay the same as the large labs for the same item?

  • - To receive priority personal service or a dedicated support team?

  • - To be able to negotiate lower pricing based on volume?

  • - To get first preference for a crucial item when it is on backorder or allocation?

  • - To get the big distributors in a “bidding war” for your business, writing big signing bonuses and receiving annual rebate checks?

No small lab expects this to happen.  So you are left to fend for yourself in the market, knowing that you are a “small fish” swimming in an aquarium where the sharks get fed and you get what falls to the bottom.

The big lab distributors would like you to think you are getting a great deal.  They have a chat feature on their extensive website and a friendly voice will answer the phone if you call and enter your account number.  You may even have a telesales rep assigned who can issue you a quote!  You may even be offered a generic price contract with huge percentages off list price if you will pledge your loyalty to their firm.

At this point, your work is done!  You can sit back, relax and enjoy the feeling that you have done your due diligence, that you are paying a fair price, maybe not the greatest but that takes a lot of work that you don’t have time to do.  Your loyalty is then rewarded by the company and you can assing the task of buying lab supplies to clerical staff and focus on more important things.

So what IS our new approach to Scientific Supply?

We cater to the small and mid-sized lab

At LPS, we focus on the small to mid-sized lab.  We believe these labs deserve the same level of service and attention as big labs do.

We do not charge a fee for our services.

Many procurement services companies charge a hefty monthly fee for access to their programs and prices - as much as $5,000 per month or more.  At LPS, we provide the same types of service and we charge no fees.  We make a profit margin, which we make visible to our clients, and our profits come form those margins.

We know the lab marketplace.

Our staff has decades of experience in the lab market.  You may have worked in the industry for many years too but having someone you can rely on to offer alternatives and advice is a valuable asset.  Best of all, it doesn’t cost you a dime.

We help you solve your problems.  

When an item is out of stock.  When an item arrives broken or needs returned.  How do you find stock elsewhere?  Who do you call on to help you get a return and maybe even get the restocking fee waived?  At LPS, this is what we do, every day - we solve your problems.

We help you save money in three important ways.

The price of the item is, of course, what gets customers’ attention.  Since we buy directly from the manufacturers and have very low overhead, our prices are often far below what our clients pay their current supplier.  This is not always the case.  Big distributors have huge buying power.  However they seldom squander the profits on the small or mid-size buyer.

Shipping costs get a lot of attention too.  There is no such thing as “free shipping.”  In one way or another, someone pays to move boxes to your door.  At LPS, our clients who provide us with their FedEx or UPS account numbers enjoy free shipping when LPS isn’t charged.  In all other cases, you pay the shipping rate you have negotiated avoiding any freight markups.

The price to buy the item gets far less attention but is equally important.  The price per purchase order can range between $75 - $175.  Issuing a single purchase order to LPS where we buy from multiple vendors cfan drastically reduce your cost of acquisition.  LPS sister company ScanStore.com specializes in automation of the procure to pay (P2P) process.  We assist our clients in making their own systems more efficient.  That’s an LPS exclusive benefit

To learn more about how partnering with LPS can lower your lab supply costs, schedule an appointment for a 15 minute consultation.