"I wonder what % of purchases go unused for whatever reasons."
the same happens in big companies. W have budget cycles so we buy test equipment when the money is in the budget even at the risk of it never being used. Otherwise you can't buy stuff when you actually need it because at that time the budget isn't there.
Same with hiring people. We are letting good interns go because there is a hiring freeze. 8 weeks later we scramble to find new hires because now we have headcount.
Not sure how to do better but it just shows that planned economies tend to produce waste, be it in a corporation or in a communist state.
Why not just give them a savings "buffer account" for the budget? Let them build up the remnants so that the available funds can build up some. Obviously you need to watch it still and be sure "underbudgets okay with surplus" don't deplete it entirely or too much builds up (as in multiples of the budget).
the same happens in big companies. W have budget cycles so we buy test equipment when the money is in the budget even at the risk of it never being used. Otherwise you can't buy stuff when you actually need it because at that time the budget isn't there.
Same with hiring people. We are letting good interns go because there is a hiring freeze. 8 weeks later we scramble to find new hires because now we have headcount.
Not sure how to do better but it just shows that planned economies tend to produce waste, be it in a corporation or in a communist state.