Common Sense Purchasing: Hard Knock Lessons Learned From a Purchasing Pro Paperback – February 19, 2004

Dr. DePaoli clearly has loads of real-world experience, and it comes through from the first chapter of this book which stresses the importance of relationships over everything else. The format is readable and easy to apply. Other books have more depth on process, but the strength of Common Sense Purchasing is the distilled wisdom that is extremely worthwhile. It's a great gift for executives outside procurement organizations to understand a smart approach to the field. Highly recommended!

When I am reading the books that may end up on the Buyers Meeting Point Endorsed Publications list (in the Procurement Library), I often find that they are missing a certain... something? Now I know what it is - cartoon illustrations! All joking aside, I am now in a position to recommend a book that contains solid procurement advice and pictures. Read all the way to the end of this interview to see my favorite from the book.Common Sense Purchasing is structured around 100 lessons, the kind of lessons that are easy to agree with, but not always so easy to consistently put into practice. My personal favorites are:* #3: Plan or Perish. Make sure you have a strategy first. Not technology first.* #12: Do your homework with suppliers and industries.* #21: Pick the right metrics [for procurement performance]. The right ones.Following each lesson are examples and other ideas backing up why the lesson is important and how to execute its advice.If you need an additional reason to buy and read this book, it is the price. Common Sense Purchasing is available new for purchase on Amazon for $9.99. This is a significantly lower price than many of the more academic books out there. The price and the content are both accessible and down to earth.

I must confess that I only read about half of this book. I realized that it was not really useful to me. It would be good advice for someone in charge of purchasing a large amount of items for a large company and needs to groom relationships with suppliers. As a manager of a very small business, this information was not for me. It seemed like practical advice for someone in a larger business. I just couldn't relate to the topic. I was provided with a complimentary copy of this book, through Reading Deals, so I could give an honest review.

Great review of procurement environment, although its a review for a Proc Manager ( strategic) rather than a Purchasing clerk, good tips anyway.

I'm sure there is some valuable information somewhere in this book. I had to stop reading about half way through because it was so poorly articulated. My assumption is that when this book was written they were rationing out commas and there was an editors strike. There are poorly drawn comics throughout the book which have very little to do with the content.I am very disappointed in this purchase.

nice book

A book of few words but great truths, good for anyone who wants to know the real world of purchasing

When I seen this, I misunderstood and thought it was for major purchases that people would make in their life, and not businesses. What a surprise, but a nice one. Once I started reading it and seen I misunderstood though, I still wanted to read further, then finish it. All in all, I felt this was an informative book and had a wealth of information for someone starting out, or needing tips/advice/things to try. It covered many areas and angles. Personally, I don't agree on everything but still, it is good information to consider. For example, one statement where he states to do a "pretend road test" on a supplier to "save you mountains of headaches and resistance to change." From my experience, in my opinion, that is not going to keep something from happening the next time, or even a year or more down the road. One cannot know what is going to happen in the future, and sometimes things happen that are out of a person's control and would not indicate a bad relationship. Personally, I feel something like that would take more than one pretend road test, and to me, trust is earned, not given, which is not done overnight. I would recommend this book to anyone needing advice or starting out."I was provided with a complimentary copy of this book so I could give an honest review."

Totally wasting money and time

Brief and easy to read