Can Sunnyside Save Money On Cell Phones?

A review of recent claims vouchers for the City of Sunnyside shows that the City is paying for cell phones from multiple carriers.  AT&T Mobility, Nextel Westcorp, and Verizon are all providing cell phones to the City.

Most citizens are familiar with cell phones for personal use, and are aware that “family plans” are available with a reduced cost for additional phones.  In my personal experience, businesses can also achieve savings when obtaining multiple phones.  It does not appear that a consolidated approach to cell phone acquisition has been taken at City Hall.

With a little contract management, the City could potentially negotiate better terms by obtaining all its cell phones through one carrier.  New laws requiring cell phone number portability make this even easier.  Staff would not need to change their phone number if the provider of the service changed.  In the past, this was a stumbling block for some people and businesses wishing to change carriers.

Several years ago, I worked with a small non-profit organization that had 10 cell phones.  We shopped around and found by getting all 10 from the same carrier, that we could save 50% over what we were previously paying for a hodge-podge of carriers.  More recently, when I worked as an Independent Contractor, I got a business discount of 18% off the retail price for a “family plan” for three phones that I still maintain.  This discount is not available to the general public, but is a way the carrier markets itself to business customers.

I don’t know the exact number of phones required by the City.  However, by buying “in bulk” a discounted rate could possibly be negotiated.  In addition, by consilidating the purchase, the number of vendors for the City would be reduced.  This in turn, would make managing the contract easier.