PRINCIPAL ISSUES
Buying En Masse IBPI hosts annual meeting in Orlando, Florida by: Brent Hoskins, Office Technology Magazine
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ager to learn more about the products and services of various vendors — and to collect their rebate checks — members of International Business Products Inc. (IBPI) met March 10-12 at Disney’s Yacht & Beach Club Resort in Orlando, Florida. The annual meeting was held on the eve of Spring Break, the March 13-14 educational and networking event hosted by BTA Southeast in the same venue. IBPI (www.ibpi.net) is a buying group offering office technology dealer members best pricing from vendor partners. Each year, members gather for a day and half of meetings, rotating from table to table as vendor partners discuss their latest offerings. In addition, based on the overall volume of purchases by dealer members during the prior year, member dealerships receive rebate checks. “IBPI was established 33 years ago by 51 dealers who got together and started our first vendor program,” said Mark Grice, IBPI executive director, as he welcomed attendees during the opening reception. “Today, we have more than 470 members with total revenue of more than $6 billion. Since last year’s meeting, we have added 31 new members to our group. The dealers here tonight and for the next couple of days have total revenues of $1 billion.” Grice highlighted two key milestones achieved by IBPI during 2019. “The first one is that IBPI members purchased $85 million worth of products and services from our IBPI partners in 2019,” he said, noting that members had purchased $1.2 billion in products and services from IBPI vendor partners since 2002. “Secondly, tonight we are distributing the third highest rebate amount to our members in IBPI’s history — more than $660,000 back to our membership.” The next day, as dealers met with vendor partners, Grice spoke to Office Technology about the organization. “A member dealer pays $500 to join; that buys one share of stock in IBPI,” he said. “The $500 is held in escrow — apart from IBPI’s operating account. While a member, that dealer will enjoy industry best pricing, as well as a rebate on purchases. Plus, each member is invited to our annual event and IBPI pays for a two-night hotel stay.” When IBPI is negotiating a contract with a vendor, “we say ‘we want our members to have your very best pricing in our industry,’” Grice said, noting that some dealers may have already negotiated the best price with a vendor before joining IBPI. “We just say, ‘give us your best price.’ We don’t want anybody else getting a better price than IBPI members.”
Above: Attendees of the recent IBPI meeting in Orlando, Florida, met with a number of vendor partners over a day and half, rotating from table to table. Right: IBPI Executive Director Mark Grice. What companies are vendor partners of IBPI, offering members best pricing? Currently, there are 27 of them: ACM Technologies Inc.; ARLINGTON; Capital Networks; CET Group; Clover Imaging Group; Continuum; EDA; Electronic Systems Projection; Evo B2B Group; HALO; JVP Logistics; Katun Corp.; Laser Pros International; Mars; Merchants Fleet; NA Trading and Technology; Nerdio; Polek & Polek; Pulsar360; Ross International; Sherweb; Solar Winds N-able; Static Control; Taylor Business Group; TIAA Bank; TonerCycle/InkCycle; and TSAworld. IBPI is under the direction of the organization’s board of directors. The officers and other board members are as follows: President Chip Miceli, Pulse Technology, Schaumburg, Illinois; Vice President John Eckstrom, Carolina Business Equipment, Columbia, South Carolina; Secretary/Treasurer Debra Dennis, CopyPro Inc., Greenville, North Carolina; Kyle Elliott, Spectrum Technologies, El Paso, Texas; Mike Blake, Corporate Business Systems, Madison, Wisconsin; Jim George, Donnellon McCarthy Enterprises, Cincinnati, Ohio; Roger Hendrix, Hendrix Business Systems, Matthews, North Carolina; José López, Barlop Business Systems, Miami, Florida; and Greg Quirk, JQ Office Equipment, Omaha, Nebraska. n Brent Hoskins, executive director of the Business Technology Association, is editor of Office Technology magazine. He can be reached at brent@bta.org or (816) 303-4040.
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