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"There's a lot [of jobs done] on state contracts, and they'll have a price on paper that we can usually beat," he says.

There's a similar story at Kansas Farm Bureau Services, where Distribution Services Manager Eva Peterson says that, with care, it's possible to figure out which suppliers are ideal for a particular in-plant. Tapping primarily into Unisource and Nationwide, she says it wasn't always so easy for her five-employee in-plant to make sure it was getting the best price.