Promoting Business with Avery Labels

Avery labels are a juggernaut in the office supply world. Everybody knows how easy it is to find a template for your labels, create your design and print it out on your inkjet or laser printer. Most of the time, these labels are for mailing or shipping. Sometimes they're multipurpose labels that differ only in function and size, not in shape. A few stragglers might even be creating custom labels for CDs and DVDs, assuming anyone still burns CDs and DVDs.

Nothing wrong with taking care of the essentials, but it only scratches the surface of all the opportunities Avery presents for creating custom content. Small businesses looking to create custom printing for splashy presentations, promotional campaigns or giveaways may think they have two options- overpay a printing company or keep dreaming. Avery has cards, labels and templates that take all of these and make them just as easy to create as a typical shipping label.

Avery Textured Arched Labels

With a unique texture and an arched side, think of how much a presentation would stand out. How about ovals on brochures? Square labels of any size are great for adding QR codes to materials. For giveaways, use these labels on bottles, bags or boxes, perhaps with custom tags attached.

Door Hangers w/ Tear-Away Cards

For reaching out to new customers, print your own door hangers that include tearaway cards that may include coupons or contact information. Avery also makes brochuretemplates with the same tearaway features. And again, all of these have downloadable templates and designs on avery.com.

Getting Lamination Under Wraps

Look around at all the papers you've got on and overlooking your desk. How about the entire office, like something on a billboard or crucial information resigned to a Post-It note? Some of that's important, right? Shouldn't there be more care taken to preserve this information, at least to showcase it and announce that yes, this is significant? It's the sort of thing begging to be laminated.

A laminator is one of those pieces of equipment around the office that everybody is aware of, but rarely gets used to its full potential. Part of the issue is that until you actually sit down and use a laminating machine, the concept of permanently encasing something in plastic seems expensive, time-consuming and complicated. None of these are true.

Swingline Fusion 1100L Laminator

There are three types of laminators-hot, cool and roll. Hot and cool laminators have the same external mechanics, where you insert the item to be laminated into a special pre-sized pouch and insert the pouch into the machine. That's it. Hot laminators use a thermal adhesive and typically create the strongest bond, while cold laminators use a pressure-sensitive adhesive and are recommended when the contents being laminated might melt or bleed in high temperatures (such as ink). Some machines even allow you to choose between hot and cool lamination.

The only choice to make is the thickness of your laminating pouch. Pouches are available in different thicknesses (measured in mil) and, depending on the maximum thickness your laminator will allow, you can choose how bendy or rigid you want the finished prouct to be.

Scotch Roll Laminator

With roll laminators, you don't need pouches as the film is already loaded in the machines. With many of these, documents are loaded in and cranked manually, making it a little trickier to get a perfect, smooth lamination. The advantages are that, like the cool laminator, there's no risk of melting ink and since there are no pouches to worry about, you can laminate longer items like banners.

Why Pay For Free Shipping?

The annual fee for Amazon Prime has increased to $99 a year. The program's main feature is offering free, fast shipping on a large number of the site's items. At first, it sounds like a fair product, selling some piece of mind and ensuring that you don't have to compare shipping options or expenses. At some point, however, there has to be a realization that paying a hundred dollars for free shipping is... a bit off.

We generally like the philosophy that free shipping should be something that's, you know, free. That's why we keep it simple: unless you're buying something ginormous that requires a freight truck, if the order's over $45, it ships free. Below that, it's $8.99, still a far cry from $99. It's easy to get to the magic free shipping number. Look around our site and find a bunch of stuff that you need, or even just one thing that you really, really want... like a memory foam back rest for your office chair.

Go On... Treat Yourself. You Deserve It.

"But What About the Fast Part?" I hear you hypothetically asking. Note the shipping time on that back rest. That's right. Thanks to a network of distribution centers all over the country, there's no need to pay more for expedited shipping. A large majority of customers get their orders the next business day at no additional cost. Better yet, we offer free returns on select brands of dry erase boards, chairs and shredders, meaning that if you don't like what you get, the shipping back to us is also free.

Tombow Adhesive to the Xtreme

Crafters have stood by Tombow's adhesive tape since forever. That's not going to change any time soon. It flows smoothly, distributes adhesive evenly, and is so much easier to use than glue sticks or anything similar. One of its (few) limitations, however, is the strength of the adhesive. It works great attaching papers and photos to books or boards, and that's all it's normally asked to do. But when it comes time to work with heavier craft materials, the first inclination is to reach for the glue gun or something stronger. Wouldn't it be great if the convenience of Tombow dispensers could be used on projects requiring strong adhesive?

Tombow Xtreme Adhesive

Feel free to insert a fanfare of electric guitars. Tombow's Xtreme adhesive is packaged in a dispenser similar to the classic Mono or craft adhesive, but the tape itself is super-charged (insert cheesy lightning effects) to be up to five times stronger than the average adhesive tape dispenser. Along with everything the standard Tombow adhesive will rock, the Xtreme model allows you to work with wood, glass, fabric, plastic and a variety of other materials. This extreme video shows it in action:

Totally Extreme Xtreme Demo

With this new product, crafters can now easily incorporate award ribbons, small medals and other memories, adding dimension to any project. The Xtreme adhesive is permanent, archival, and acid-free. Most importantly- it's refillable. In addition, buy at least $75 worth of qualifying Tombow products (including both the Xtreme and original adhesive tape runners/refills) and Tombow will send you a gift card!

The Smarter Notepad

Smartphones and tablet computers have quickly become a regular part of every facet of life. Many office supplies have responded in kind. New printer models are compatible with apps that allow wireless printing from a phone or tablet. The stylus that worked on older PDA devices but doesn't handle capacitive touchscreens has evolved into a legitimate alternative to poking and swiping with your finger- wonderful news in this weather.

The latest office supply to hop on the smartphone bandwagon? Would you believe the regular old notepad? For all the conveniences smartphones and tablets provide, it still hasn't replaced the classic pen and paper. There are always times when it's easier to jot something down on a Post-It or brainstorm ideas by hand. But what happens when you want to refer to those ideas? The Ampad Shot Note makes written words accessible again.

Ampad Shot Note Notepad

Most people still prefer to take notes by hand, especially in the classroom or in business meetings. The problem is accessing the notes afterwards. The Shot Note uses markings at each corner to frame the sheet for the phone or tablet to scan. This photo is loaded into an app on the phone and can be logged, searched or e-mailed any time. It's great for the office, perfect for the classroom and can even help around the house.

Ampad Shot Note Easel Pad

The Ampad Shot Note is also available as an easel pad, sketch pad or wirebound notebook. For a limited time, buy $35 purchase of Shot Note products and get a $10 Starbucks card!

Tax Season's Greetings

There's an old notion of getting a visit from the tax man. As if today's income tax is some reverse Santa Claus taking a percentage of toys from boys and girls based on income level and number of dependents. We should be so lucky. There is no gentleman knocking on our doors and handing us a bill. It's up to each individual to recognize that it's that time of year. They have to do their own math to figure out what they owe (or pay someone to determine what to pay). Most importantly, everyone needs to have the pertinent information available in order to prepare their taxes.

For businesses, that means they not only need to have their own finances in order, they need to provide W2 forms for their employees. The sooner they're sent, the happier the employee.

Tops Laser W-2 Forms

For smaller businesses that don't outsource their payroll, Tops makes it easy to order and print their own essential tax forms. These W-2 forms are compatible with laser printers and can be printed directly from payroll software. Tops also provides envelopes to ensure security, along with 1099 forms and matching envelopes.

The real key to avoiding stress at tax time is to be prepared in advance. Throughout the year, keep all tax information in some sort of file. Track deductions throughout the year with a planner rather than try to go back through old receipts and figure out which purchases are applicable. This helps in the event of an audit as well, as that kind of documentation is hard to forge in hindsight when planners from the previous year go out of stock. If you're filling out the forms by hand, you'll also want a calculator, a reliable pen with anti-alteration features, and, let's not kid ourselves, correction tape.

Nature's Undo Button

Finally, with so much sensitive information out in the open, some of it may need to go away when the filing's done. Households and businesses alike will want to make sure their shredder is up for the task.

More For The HR Crowd

Last time, we tackled the task of simplifying the payroll process, making sure employees are credited for the exact number of hours they've worked and that someone doesn't have to spend all day adding those hours up. Now we come to the more human side of HR, where we look at identifying personnel, making it easy to tell if somebody isn't where they're supposed to be.

Whenever personnel are expected to wear identification, the first thing to determine is what kind they need. "Badges" might only be part of the answer. Simple adhesive "Hello My Name Is" style badges might work for one-day affairs like banquets and luncheons, but won't work for more than a day and are inappropriate for events requiring more security. PVC cards and  badges on card stock are far better, but make sure to buy the right holders (mind the size, orientation and hole position). Do you also want durable lanyards, less obtrusive (but also less visible) card reels, or cheaper neck cords that can be purchased with the holders?

Durable ID Card Holder

Badges for any customer-facing position carries its own set of challenges. Those not only need to be clear and professional, but with a degree of comfort and class that goes beyond holders and lanyards. Before you head to the print shop, consider DIY options that let you print off labels on your own computer and embed them inside sleek magnetic badges at a fraction of the cost.

Dymo LabelWriter 450

Printing for shorter events like conferences or conventions poses its own set of challenges. When badges need to be printed quickly, consider a Dymo label printer to generate names to be applied to premade badges quickly. Alternatively, visitors to a company can be given access badges that void themselves after a day, preventing the badge from being reused inappropriately.