Procurement Professional is the official publication of CIPS Australasia

#100 - What to accept from suppliers at Christmas

11 Dec 2009

The time of year presents Bristow and busy buyers numerous tricky personal and professional dilemmas.
The buyer will leave office party ettiquite, gifts for the boss and misstletoe etchnique to others.
But the annual dilemma of when to accept gifts from suppliers and when to decline can haunt honest professionals.

Different orgainsations have differnet rules. And if in doubt DECLINE politely citing the official or unofficial policy at your workplace.

But no one seriously suggests professional buyers are swayed by token getsures at Christmas. But where is the line?  The Buyer has blogged before on this topic – and the rules and guidelines don’t change just because it is Christmas [see blog #12].

Simply, if you feel any disquiet at all or, importantl;y, if you think othersmay judge you – don’t accept.  
If a gift it arrives in the post or by courier – it is okay to return it if you must. You may look churlish – but better to be churlish to one, than greedy to many eh? Or, worst case, dedclare it openly and prepare to share with the team in the office, or donate to charity.

Only if it is trivial should you trouser the gift.....
 
Of course, it is okay to offer gifts to others – in the spirit of Christmas and building relations with valuable suppliers. They won’t decline though.

The Buyer - Posted 11th December 2009

The views of THE BUYER are personal and are not necessarily those of Procurement Professional magazine, BTTB Marketing nor CIPS.