Incontinence supplies are among the highest-volume consumables a facility buys, which makes them exactly the category where unit price misleads buyers most. The cheapest brief on the invoice can be the most expensive product on the floor. Cost-per-use, not unit price, is the metric that tells the truth.
The math is simple and revealing. A higher-absorbency brief that reliably lasts an overnight shift at a higher unit price can beat a cheaper brief that gets changed twice in the same window — fewer units, less labor, fewer leaks, and less skin breakdown. Divide the delivered cost by the actual number of changes the product supports, and the ranking often flips.
Cost-per-use also reframes the supplier decision. Once you measure on real usage rather than sticker price, the value of a distributor that carries the right high-absorbency products at wholesale volume — with standing orders so the line never runs thin — becomes obvious. The right product sourced right beats the cheap product re-bought constantly.
This is the procurement logic behind consolidating high-turn consumables, which we lay out in our wholesale medical distributor guide. Run the cost-per-use math first, then choose the supplier that wins on it.
Measure cost-per-use, source the winner at volume, and stop letting unit price pick your incontinence line for you.