[notatoad]

let's assume they're assigning a stapler to every single employee, at $15 per stapler, and a stapler has an average life of 10 years. at their current 190k headcount, they're spending ~275k per year on staplers.

that definitely seems like the sort of expense a company should review from time to time. assume that tape is a similar expense, the person who changes the policy from "we give you a stapler and tape whether you want it or not" to "if you want a stapler just come and get one" has saved the company 2-3x their annual salary. i'm sure there's plenty of staff at google who are less effective than that.

[joshuamorton]

275k/year is less than one FTE, even given your favorable estimates of a really fancy stapler given to everyone when they walk in the door. (Bulk mediocre staplers are like $3, but a 10 year estimate is high, so we'll take it).

Presume an employee proposes this change. Some additional people have to approve and implement this new policy, updating documentation training and budgets and adding it to some inventory system and now you've spent in total, weeks or months of collective effort to maybe come out ahead but maybe just break even.