Free Laminator Rebate From 3M

It’s hard to appreciate how useful a laminator is until you have one and start using it. Until you’ve got the tool at your disposal, you may not think about how many papers around your desk or posted around the office carry important information that should be preserved in case they’re damaged or accidentally discarded. Laminating is easy and not only protects sheets of paper, but makes them feel significant. Now, you have an opportunity to get a Scotch laminator free!

Scotch Pro TL-906 Laminator

The TL-906 laminator has a short warm-up time, is easy to use, and has a feed mechanism designed to prevent jamming. It offers professional quality lamination in a small package. To claim a free one, all you need to do is buy five packs of laminating pouches, which are required to use the product anyway! This will qualify you for a rebate to get the laminator at no charge!

Rose Gold Scotch Tape and Post-It Dispensers

Two other rebates from 3M work much the same- buy the product to get the free dispenser! These dispensers go hand-in-hand with a sleek design and a fine rose gold color, and available with the purchase of one qualifying Post-It Note or Scotch Tape product. All three rebates run until June 30.

Save on Holiday Decorating and Gift Wrapping Essentials!

With Black Friday and Cyber Monday out of the way, a new phase of the holiday season begins- decorations! It's time to put up and dress the tree, string lights, and hang up the decorations. With any luck, the weekend was kind and you were able to secure some early gifts. All your seasonal décor and presents may be ready to go, but don't forget about the items you'll need to get them up, in, and looking their best. It's time to stock up on decorating and wrapping materials, and save money in the process!

Command Small & Medium Hooks

For holiday decorating, Command hooks and strips are a clean alternative to nails and pins. Hooks are sized for every project, from small hooks that hold a pound of weight to larger, general purpose products that hold up to 7 pounds. Strips can support picture frames that would normally require a screw or a nail in the wall. Adhesive strips attach to both the wall and the frame, and are easily removable from both once it's time for the frame to come down. From now through December 18, you can find a coupon on our Holiday Shop page to take $5 off a $25 order of Command products!

Scotch Magic Tape

Likewise, make sure you have everything you need to wrap presents, including wrapping paper and gift bags, scissors, and Scotch tape! Bags can be used as-is or decorated to add even more cheer. We also have a special holiday offer- a coupon for a four-pack of Scotch tape free with a $75 order.

Our Holiday Shop page also has some great gift suggestions, including phone accessories, portfolios, Contigo travel mugs and more!

Buy One Item, Get Cool Post-It or Tape Dispenser Free

We're always impressed with the latest dispensers 3M rolls out for its Post-It Notes and Scotch Tape. From fashion to sports to a simple aesthetic, there's something there for every taste. Two new dispensers are out now, and easy to get for free thanks to new rebates that do away with the amount you need to spend. Instead, you only need to purchase one qualifying product to get your hands on these:

3M Post-It Pop-Up Note Dispenser

This retro camera pop-up dispenser is the newest option and thanks to this rebate, yours with the purchase of just one pack of qualifying Post-It Note products. Qualifying products range from colorful 10 packs to cabinet packs that include a handy box for easy storage.

3M Scotch Tape Dispenser

Make your desk feel a little more scholarly with this globe tape dispenser. It holds standard 3/4” Scotch Tape rolls, and again only requires the purchase of one item to claim. Items are a range of Scotch Tape multi-packs from the standard Magic tape to glossy Transparent tape to Greener tape made of 65% recycled materials.

These rebates are available through the end of the year!

Tape Stop-Motion/Time-Lapse

Before you venture down this path, you must first watch this video...






Each of the big setups easily contains more than 100 full rolls of tape.  With that many rolls of tape in use you know that Johan Rijpma didn't splash out and spend money on the high quality Scotch brand tape, but probably went for something more generic.  Looking at the tape you can see the rolls aren't very transparent at all so he didn't even go for the fully "invisible" tape.

This video did start a bit of an inner office conversation about what is Stop Motion and what is Time Lapse.  Which we basically decided that Time Lapse and Stop Motion are almost identical with the differentiation that that Stop Motion involves an outside force moving or altering the scene that is being filmed.

One could argue that most of the video here is Time Lapse, but the portions starting around 1:30 clearly take place as the base is rotating.  You can notice at those particular times that the tape does seem to stop ascending as well, so not much actual time lapsed.

Highland Transparent Tap is Affordable 3M Tape

If you just need some inexpensive tape and don't need it to be invisible, you don't need to look any further than the Highland Brand Transparent Tape.  It is manufactured by 3M just like Scotch Brand Tapes but it is more utilitarian for offices and times when complete invisibility isn't a necessity.  Judging from the video, the tape used there isn't completely clear, and sometimes even has a yellowish tinge.  Unless you are wrapping Christmas presents or doing scrap-booking a little yellow color in your tape won't hurt anything.

If you've stuck with me this far and Time-Lapse really isn't your thing you deserve a reward.  Here's a bit of Stop Motion for you.

Hey Spies, Don't Forget the Scotch Tape

Hey all you James Bond wannabes, ready to pack for you next mission as you venture down your career path and gain a license to kill?  Don't forget your funny jet pack, your inflatable coat, your shoe phone, or your radio watch.  Add a new item to your list of spy supplies, Scotch tape.  Just get some of your standard every day tape.  You can get name brand tape or generic tape but just get some packing tape because you need wide tape.  Now as you are sneaking about an office building, if you see some frosted glass you'd like to peak through and have access to the side that has been treated, simply apply the tape to the treated side and you'll have mostly translucent glass.

YouTube Video Showing the Process

The science behind it isn't very interesting.  Frosted glass is usually created by treating one side so it is no longer smooth.  The bumps and ridges in the treated side don't allow light to shine through perfectly.  Applying the adhesive from the tape to the bumps and ridges gives the glass a smooth surface again and allows you to see more clearly than before.  People report, and I believe them, that using any liquid on the surface will give the same general effect.

Scotch Shipping Tape.  Cheaper than an Aston Martin DB5

We don't have any frosted glass in our office.  We don't have windows in the bathroom, and there just aren't many interior windows to begin with that would need some privacy.  But I really really wanted to try this out.  Luckily I had some beach glass on my desk and of course I had a role of transparent tape.  So I dutifully attempted to apply tape to both sides of a curved piece of glass and see the results.  Unfortunately, I didn't make a whole lot of headway and small piece of glass doesn't do much when you try to look through it, but I'd say it seemed to help light through a little better.  I'm not a scientist or anything.

Scotch Tape Gives You Super Powers

If you are counting the number of times I post content that is way behind the times prepare to put another notch in your bedpost.  But I was just pointed to an article in the New York Times from October of 2008 that caught my eye.

Scotch Tape Unleashes X-Ray Power

Apparently, when tape is unpeeled in a vacuum it unleashes a fair amount of energy.  Some of that energy is largely available as x-rays, but when unpeeled in a normal office environment so sadly you won't get to x-ray your co-workers.  Don't go trying to perform this experiment inside your Hoover Vacuum, they mean a proper scientific vacuum.  But technicalities aside, some scientists were able to create an actual x-ray image of a thumb using just scotch tape in the proper conditions.  The experiments with duct tape, but not masking tape (read the article for details).

Super Scotch Tape

So go ahead and live out your dreams of becoming a super hero and buy some Scotch Tape.  I can't promise you that you'll fly or have ice breath, but you can have x-ray vision if you have access to the proper scientific equipment.  But really, who needs super powers when you have the power to safely affix photos to your scrapbook with superb archival quality adhesive.

Girly Office Supplies

I've been married long enough to know that I don't know a whole lot about what kind of things the fairer sex are interested in.  Sex and the City?  Sex and the City The Movie?  Sex and the City The Movie Part 2?  I'll never understand the appeal.  I tried to watch part of an episode once, to try to keep up with the pop culture and see what the kids were watching.  After a couple minutes of them making baby noises at shoes and talking about something else boring I changed the channel to watch some robots kill people.  I accept that my tastes are not universal (see Lifetime Movie Network as evidence) and in the interest of fairness I present these Office Supplies for people like Sex and the City.

Tape Dispenser Shaped Like High Heeled Shoe

If you watch Sex and the City you might know enough about shoes to say that this was styled after such and such a shoe from such and such a season, but the only thing I know about high heeled shoes is they come with in varieties, expensive and uncomfortable (sometimes both).  This shoe shaped tape dispenser is made by 3M and since they are the Scotch tape people you know that they make a good dispenser.  It comes with one roll, and of course tape refills are easy to come by.

Post-it Dispenser Shaped Like Purse

Those marketing geniuses know that females are tempted by more than just shoes, some of them love purses too.  So they have created a Post-it dispenser that is shaped like a purse complete with pseudo-crocodile-skin-textured plastic.  It  comes with a special pad of Pop-Up Post-it Pads that are unavailable anywhere else (they alternate between hot-pink and bright-green).  You can buy plain-Jane pop-up refill pads, but if you want the special ones you can just buy another purse shaped dispenser.

Pink Stapler for Breast Cancer

Sadly, 3M stopped innovating on their Sex in the City themed office supplies and doesn't have a lipstick shaped pencil sharpener for us, but those guys over at PaperPro have created a great pink stapler that will look great on your desk next to your shoe and purse shaped dispensers.  This stapler does more than just proclaim to the world that you are a proud carrier of two X chromosomes, it helps raise some funds for Cancer research.

Free Water Bottle For Buying Tape

I just found out that Scotch is giving away a free water bottle just for buying the tape every office already needs.  I don't know the specific connection between Scotch brand tape and a Thermos brand bottle, but it is a pretty cool promotion.  Most people these days are trying to "Go Green" and save a little money if possible, and a good water bottle is a great step in that direction.  Fill up the water bottle at any number of easy to locate taps and take it along on day-to-day activities.  When the bottle is empty just refill it and carry on.  Reusing a plastic water bottle is "Greener" than buying and recycling plastic bottles from vending machines, grocery stores or gas stations because there is a good deal of energy needed to recycled that bottle and not all of it (like the cap or label) is truly recyclable.

Thermos Intak Hydration Bottle

The water bottle in question here is a Thermos Intak Hydration Bottle.  Those smart people over at Thermos know an occasional adult beverage might be consumed in this bottle so they call it a "Hydration Bottle" instead of a water bottle.  The promotional material shows a green bottle, but I don't think there is a guarantee of any color that will actually be sent.  The reviews for this bottle are generally positive, and those people had to pay for the bottles.  I'm sure than anybody who received the bottle for free would rate it even higher.  The product page lays out the details of the bottle pretty simply, but it is a BPA-free dishwasher-safe bottle with a water proof lid and a carrying loop.  BPA was in the news non-stop for a year or so as manufacturers removed it from items in their line-up. Some plastics would release BPA when heated and then kids would drink it and be exposed to potentially unsafe levels of estrogen, so manufacturers have mostly moved to BPA-free plastics.  The use of BPA-free plastics makes this bottle kid-safe as well.

Rebate Details Page

Nobody get this bottle completely for free though, some Scotch tape needs to be purchased and a rebate form needs to be filled out.  Buy any combination of two qualifying products; MMM 810K16 (Magic Tape), MMM 600K12 (Transparent Tape), MMM 38506 (Premium Packaging Tape), or MMM 35006 (High Performance Packaging Tape) and mail in the rebate form with the UPCs.  If the goal is to maximize the tape dollar to free water bottle tape ratio the Transparent Tape is the least expensive.  The rebate form allows for 2 rewards per envelope and 6 rewards per unique mailing address so purchasing 12 boxes of the Transparent Tape and mailing 3 rebate forms will generate greatest return.