Our History
Consultants of Packaging Supplies (C.O.P.S.) was founded in 1987 by Joe Beaman to assist companies in purchasing their corrugated boxes at lower prices while maintaining quality and service at high levels. C.O.P.S. believes that by providing accurate pricing information to a company they will be in a better position to make a purchasing decision. C.O.P.S. understands that there are many occasions where a lower price can be obtained without jeopardizing the relationship that has been built with your current supplier. “I believe friendship is a two-way street”, says Joe, “You place your business with a supplier and you have a right to expect them to keep your costs in line.”
Over the past 20 years, C.O.P.S. has worked with over 200 client companies, including 20 of the Fortune 500. Conservative estimates show our clients have saved in excess of $93 Million on their corrugated box purchases by working with C.O.P.S. Our service is tailored to the needs of our clients, allowing the C.O.P.S. system to be relevant no matter the volume of boxes you purchase annually. We also believe in strict confidentiality and will not disclose any details of our relationship with our clients.
The initial idea behind C.O.P.S. goes back over 35 years, to a time when Mr. Beaman was a sales representative with a national corrugator. Driving back from a client meeting, he realized that clients who were purchasing roughly the same quantity of the same type boxes were paying dramatically different costs. The reason for the disparity was that some clients had access to more information than others. “It’s a salesman’s job to get as much of your company’s dollars for their product as possible, it’s my job to help you keep those dollars”, according to Joe.
Prior to founding C.O.P.S. Mr. Beaman developed extensive experience in the corrugated industry. He has over 30 years experience working on the side of corrugated suppliers. During that time he worked with large multi-national companies as well as small local operations. Early in his career Mr. Beaman was one of the co-authors of the Gaylord Blue Book, one of the first widely used pricing manuals in the corrugated industry. Later Mr. Beaman founded his own corrugated sales firm, where independent sales associates would bring him prospective orders and he would set the price at which they would be supplied. This business model is what ultimately led to the creation of the many sheet plants in operation today.
“The advantage that I have”, says Joe, “is that in today’s world a sales person asks for a bid on a corrugated box order and the computer tells the sales manager what to charge. The sales person doesn’t know where those numbers come from, but I do. That knowledge allows me to advise my clients on specific items where they are paying more than they should.”
