In a bid to cut down on petty theft in one company I worked for they introduced a book to be signed and countersigned whenever any took out any stationery. In addition, it was minimum quantities only. As a result it took several pounds worth of staff time to obtain a pen costing a few pence. Good cost control there ....

Another company I work for had a guy in charge of the stationery who would not give you a box of staples, not even one 'row' of staples (may 100?) - he would break it into three pieces and you would get 25-40 at a time. Again, huge staff overheads to manage a small cost.