One day, in the land of 3rd Floor Inland Revenue Office Slough, there lived a staple, his name was Stan. Stan the staple lived a happy, albeit a rather mundane life. He spent the majority of his little life in a box where he lived quietly with hundreds of other staples. Being afraid of the dark and rather claustrophobic, Stan spent most of his existence frozen still, so scared in fact that he clung tight to his friends. As there was nothing to see in the dark and none of the little staples ever went anywhere, there really was nothing to say and so life inside the little box was unnaturally quiet. Stan spent most of his days wondering about the meaning of his stapley life, where did he come from, why was he here, the usual stapley nonsense.

Stan was unable to remember much about life before the box, except for occasional terrifying flashbacks of a bright orange light and a strong heat that made him feel all woozy and stretched inside. He had a faint but frightening memory of a sort of jaw slamming down which was then softened by the inkling that he was once connected to his other stapley brothers and sisters a lot more than he was now; he often wondered if any of the other staples ever felt the same.

Despite his fears, Stan grew accustomed to this life inside the box, and began to worry that he should ever have to leave it. He’d once heard rumours that thousands of his ancestors had been forced into cold machines which held them pushed against its walls by springs. He was told of how one-by-one they were brutally used as cannon fodder, individually beaten by the machine until their bodies were mangled beyond recognition, their legs left crippled to the point where they relied on paper for support so heavily they never let go. Stan feared this life more than anything and as days turned to weeks, and weeks turned to years, Stan became agoraphobic.

As if agoraphobia, claustrophobia and nyctophobia were not enough, Stan sank into a deep depression. Unable to leave his box he couldn’t seek medical help and although he felt very attached to his brothers and sisters, he just couldn’t open up to them and so his sadness began to destroy him. He so feared the destiny of his ancestors that he gave up the will to live. He spent days on end trying to hatch a plan where he could end it now, save himself from the hell that was ‘The Machine’. Unable to leave, unable to move, unable to see, unable to speak, all there was for Stan to do was lick himself. So Stan licked; he licked himself all day and all night and he continued to lick for days and days until he began to decay. Decay turned to rust and still Stan would not stop; his plan was working. Stan licked himself so much that he rusted right through and on that fateful day, our little Stan crumbled. Stan was gone, lifeless, finally useless to the machine…

And the moral of this story is, if you’d like to save your staples from the slow and painful death that our Stan endured, then make sure you use them before they become depressed!

Find a massive selection of small staples and an impressive variety of large staples here at Office 365 where you can enjoy excellent customer service, next day delivery and unbeatable prices!

With Christmas looming scarily soon, it really is time you pull your socks up‼ Organise your gifts, food, booze, music, fun and games now and you can actually enjoy this festive period. On the other hand, you could leave it all to the last minute and then PANIC! But this option is by far the more stressful one and will only detract from the merry cheer you could otherwise be enjoying!

Office 365 has a selection of products which can certainly help you this Christmas. We have a surprising range of gift ideas and stocking fillers, considering we’re a ‘stationery supplier’! With a variety of posh Porter and Woodman hampers, luxury and stylish pens, a beautiful array of artists supplies, a smart selection of desk lamps, various collections of picture frames, beautiful desk diaries, Christmassy nibbles for the office, branded printers, high quality monitors, high tech scanners, digital dictionaries and much more, our products are sure to bring a smile!

A popular choice for stocking fillers and token office Christmas gestures are Heart Post-It Notes. An unbelievably simple item which has quite a profound affect! These shaped Post-It notes really give a sense of fun; used in homes and offices across the globe, these repositionable notes are ideal for various different applications. For example, use these notes to write messages for colleagues or family members, as bookmarks, to mark pages for reference, to jot down telephone messages, to doodle on, for taking notes during calls and enquiries, the list is endless.

Take a look at these vibrant heart shaped Post-it notes featured to the right.

• Heart Shaped Post-it Note pad
• This fun heart shape helps get your messages noticed
• Add personality to your messages
• Pink tones
• 225 sheets per pad
• 70mm x 70mm
• 23% off – Just £3.58

What’s more, as these are part of our Breast Cancer Awareness range, Office 365 will donate money from the sale of each one sold! Alternatively feast your eyes on our Arrow Post-It Notes to your left.

• Arrow Shape die cut pad
• This fun arrow shape helps get your messages noticed
• Neon Orange and Green tones
• 225 sheets per pad
• 70mm x 70mm
• 23% off – Just £3.58

The Green Bit

3M, the makers of Post-it, is a company committed to sustainability. This isn’t a new initiative or a recently introduced strategy. For more than 30 years, it’s the way they’ve done business. All Post-it notes and easel pads are made with paper from well managed forests where trees are re-planted, plus recycled Post-it notes and easel pads are made from 100% recycled paper and contains 30% postconsumer content. Post-it promise to;

• Solve their own environmental pollution and conservation problems
• Prevent pollution at the source, whenever and wherever possible
• Develop products that will have a minimum effect on the environment
• Conserve natural resources through the use of reclamation and other useful methods
• Assure that their facilities and products meet and sustain the regulations of all federal, state and local environmental agencies
• Assist wherever possible, governmental agencies and other official organisations engaged in environmental activities

3M have conducted recycling trials on Post-it® Notes at recycled paper mills. The adhesive on the paper does not interfere with paper recycling because the adhesive is substantially removed in the paper deinking process. The dyes in the paper are removed in the deinking process. The 100% recycled content notes contains 70% preconsumer and 30% postconsumer fiber. Post-it® Easel Pads are also available with 30% postconsumer content paper.

There are many working environments that deal with deliveries, outgoing post, packaging and so on. This is particularly true for warehouses and factories, however most businesses have a post room or mailroom that deal with outgoing mail daily. If your company are wholesalers or internet based retail companies, then the main objective of your business is to send out orders. In order to do so you’ll need the right materials and equipment. One of the vital products you’ll need to consider if the items you’re sending are of a delicate nature is labels. It is your responsibility as the supplier to make sure that your packages are sent out with care and clearly labelled so that the delivery person or company are aware of how to treat the package. Then, should there be any damage to the parcel when it arrives with the customer, you can seek responsibility from the courier, rather than incurring costs yourself, as you clearly advised them that the item was fragile. For the minimal price of handle with care labels and fragile labels, you can save yourself quite a penny!

Our Handle With Care Tape featured is ideal for mailrooms and warehouses sending out continuous fragile items.

• Text is ‘Handle with care’
• Printed polypropylene tapes
• Red wording on white tape
• Ideal for companies with quality systems such as ISO 9000
• Packed 6 rolls
• 50mm x 66m
• 25% off! – Just £14.55 for a pack of 6!

Simply peel off enough tape to reveal the text ‘Handle With Care’, or alternatively use the tape to secure your packaging closed whilst doubling as a warning message. Another similar alternative is our Fragile Tape featured to your left.

• Text is ‘Fragile’
• Printed polypropylene tapes
• Red text on white tape
• Ideal for companies with quality systems such as ISO 9000
• Packed 6 Rolls
• 50mm x 66m
• 55% off! – Just £8.78 for a pack of 6!

If you’re going to take the time to produce an excellent piece of work, a lengthy assignment, a suave showcase of your work or maybe you’ve finally finished writing your novel, it is almost as important as the work itself to present it well. Picture the scenarios; on the one hand you could hand you can breathe a sigh of relief as you finally finish and hand in your project to the boss/lecturer, a heap of ruffled paper just waiting to blow around the office the minute a desk fan is switched on, a target for coffee ring marks. Ok, so maybe there’s nothing wrong with this, but there certainly isn’t anything great about this either. Work presented in this way will not be taken as seriously as if it had been handed over with a little more thought given to detail. The second scenario is you reach the end of your assignment and literally jump for joy as you simply slip it inside a presentation ring binder and watch as your bosses/lecturers lifts, impressed by your dedication to presentation. What’s more, your work is safe from damage or being jumbled up with other paperwork.

Here you’ll find our Elba Polyvision A4 Maxi Presentation Binder popular for its ability to be personalised.

• Attractive and professional presentation binder
• Clear A4 size pockets on front and back cover and unique wrap around spine for complete personalisation
• Unique wrap around spine pocket
• Made from high quality clear polypropylene material
• Product is Maxi in size to fit all dividers
• Fully customisable for FREE using www.elbaprint.com
• 4 O-Rings
• Capacity: 16mm
• Size: A4
• Packed x10
• 28% Off – Just £54.98!!

Thanks to Elba’s dedication to please, you can be sure of the best possible quality presentation ring binders. The Elba brand is synonymous with quality at affordable prices and with their commitment to quality, you’ll see this reinforced through the achievement of the international standard BS EN ISO 9001:2000.

The Green Bit

Today Elba are able to offer all major products in eco-friendly plastic. Elba is also committed to its published environment policy and has ISO 14001:2004 certification. For example, their Touareg range is an environmentally friendly range of filing products made entirely from recyclable board and polypropylene. The pulp used to make this board is produced from sustainable forests and is certified totally chlorine free. The polypropylene range is made using material mixed with natural wood fibres which enhances the visual impact of the range.

Many individuals and industries now use computers in areas where we used to depend on our own artistic and creative skills; the computer and many other computerised gadgets have very much taken over, however there are still certain areas and professions who will remain dedicated to the personal touch. Artists, pupils, teachers, designers, cartoonists, architects and more will allow tools such as the trusty fineliner to live on! The thing about fineliner pens is that they can be used by people of all ages and abilities for every possible type of writing or drawing job! And the reason we continue to rely on them is thanks to the ease of use and perfect results they deliver us each time.

Many people choose fineliners for their children as their artistic skills develop and improve. The stereotypical wax crayon or felt tipped pen will soon be outgrown as youngsters strive to create better detail and finer accuracy in their art and design work. The fineliner is limited by colour, you’ll always find a fantastic selection of bright and bold colours available for vivid artwork. They are simply ideal in school or college for standard tasks such as writing thanks to their smooth action which enables students to take notes on lessons with speed and accuracy.

Many artists and graphic designers use ink for their designs, drawing and sketching and opt for the fineliners thanks to its ability to create fine, detailed work. They are often used to create caricatures and fashion designs as well as adding detail to watercolour paintings! Thanks to the extra fine nib, a fineliner will produce an accurate, even line, with bold consistent coverage as the ink tends to flow onto the page with more ease than say a rollerball or ballpoint pen, plus these alternative pens do not have anywhere near the same selection of different colours available.

Our fineliner pens black variety is certainly the most popular among our customers. A great example of a quality black fineliner is the Stabilo Point 88 Fineliner featured.

• Ideal for details, sketching and scribbling
• Water-based, odourless ink with high degree of luminosity
• 0.8 tip gives line width of 0.4mm
• Black
• Packed 10
• 23% off – Just £7.36!

STABILO GREEN

Stabilo want to preserve nature and the environment for subsequent generations. That’s why they continually optimise their production and working conditions. Stabilo pencils are continually adapted to the latest product requirements and are often pioneering for the entire industry. As a logical consequence of their environmentally aware approach, Stabilo have developed a dedicated product line: STABILO GREEN pencils are made from renewable woods, obtained from controlled, environmentally responsible forestry operations. By introducing their own range of sustainable, high-quality pencils made from renewable woods they are making an important step towards increasing environmental protection. In this, Stabilo works closely together with the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), which certifies the pencils in the STABILO GREEN line.

LIVING RESPONSIBLY

Every company bears a heavy responsibility – towards people and the environment. Because modern production processes use precious resources. That’s why Stabilo converted early on to environmentally friendly solutions. And they’re proud of the figures and results. At their international production sites, Stabilo pay painstaking attention to ensuring that they handle natural resources such as water and wood in a responsible way, save energy or consistently increase their recycling rates. They employ state-of-the-art technology to minimise the effects on the environment.

With so many different brands of envelopes available and even more styles, colours, seals and features, envelope shopping is no easy task. Product selection is one of the reasons we began the Office 365 blog. We found our customers often preferred us to select something appropriate to their needs to save them time looking and to ensure a product they would be happy with. Our blog features an individual product category and selects a particular item within that category which we feel our customers would be happy with. More often than not, this item will be one that has received excellent reviews from our customers already; today’s featured envelope is no exception to this rule.

We’ve been searching for the best in our range of DL envelopes with windows and have come up with a real gem. Not only does this item boast high quality combined with environmental friendliness, but it also comes with a teensy price tag! In most instances, quality comes at a price, but here at Office 365 we cut our prices right back so that we can be confident in our price match policy. However often you’ll find items which have been further reduced, like for example our Basildon Bond White DL Envelopes With Windows.

These beautifully crafted watermarked envelopes featured boast the following qualities;

• Basildon Bond windowed business envelopes
• Opaque and featuring the distinctive Basildon Bond watermark
• Designed for use with Basildon Bond quality watermarked A4 paper
• Peel and Seal
• Size: DL, 110 x 220mm
• Window: 39 x 93mm, 19mm in, 18mm up
• 100gsm
• Colour: White
• Packed 500
• 100% recycled!
• 38% off – Just £23.63 for 500!

What more could you possibly want from an envelope? If you’re stocking up for the office or mailroom, you may want to consider ordering in bulk to save further orders in the year. Not only will this save in the repeat cost of delivery, but buying just two packs will remove the delivery charge completely. Another perk to shopping with Office 365 is our willingness to offer quotes on bulk orders; interested, get in touch at 0870 766 1624, or simply select ‘get a quote’ at the shopping basket.

Many of us a trying something new for Christmas this year; we all seem to have been faced with the same problem, what do you buy for someone who has everything? Thanks to the internet and its ever increasing market for online gift shopping, we are now seeing more and more websites aimed at ‘alternative gifts’ for him and her, innovative ideas, gifts which they certainly wouldn’t have received before. For example, the popularity of these ‘Red Letter Day’s’ gifts has gone through the roof, plus quirky gifts such as making your friend or loved one a lord or lady of a plot of land someplace in Scotland have really taken off. You’ll also fine ideas such as ‘name a star’, adopt a rescued animal, ‘name a rose’ and many more. Another amazing gift which has taken the market by storm these past couple of years is hot air ballooning, which makes for a wonderful gift idea this Christmas.

However what all these gifts have in common is that they are not wrap-able presents. Ok sure, so when your voucher or certificate arrives in the post, you could wrap it yes, but then it’s likely to be torn in the unwrapping process. Alternatively pop it inside an envelope, but then that spoils half the fun of unwrapping. The best way to gift wrap presents such as these is to present them well in the first place. Have you considered purchasing a plastic folder? In doing so, you will not only be making your gift look more high class, special even, but you will also be protecting it which means it can be wrapped up for full enjoyment!

Try our Rexel A4 Polypropylene Active Tab Folder with Seal featured below, a fantastic and affordable option for storing or presenting important documents.

• Easy access – no need to open binder mechanism when inserting folders
• Specially designed creases in front flap and gusset will stop distortions and splitting when full to capacity
• Assorted packs contain two each of red, blue and one of green
• Will store up to 150 sheets of paper
• Wrap around printable tab secures contents
• Size: A4
• Portrait
• Clear
• Packed 5
• 44% off – Now just £3.26 for a pack of 5!

The Green Bit

Rexel are an Acco brand, part of a company who are committed to providing and conducting its business in an environmentally responsible manner, ensuring that their products, packaging and operations are safe for their employees, business partners, customers and ultimately, the environment. They strive to continuously improve their processes and products to ensure innovation, quality and value for money without compromising on their environmental responsibilities.

Their core objectives are to reduce the amounts of material that they use whether in their products or their packaging, identify plastics to aid separation and recovery and recover parts and establishing re-usability potential, recycle as much as possible, use significantly more recycled materials in their processes while promoting and supporting the recycling of their products by their business partners and consumers. They also aim to recover the energy produced from waste by safe, effective disposal, return materials back to nature and review what they have done to try to improve their processes even further. As a testament to their commitment to be more environmentally driven and focused, many of Acco’s products have been verified by the MBDC Consultancy and awarded the Cradle to Cradle certification. This certification provides a company with a means to tangibly, credibly measure achievement in environmentally-intelligent design and helps customers purchase and specify products that are pursuing a broader definition of quality.

With just 43 days until Christmas left, people are beginning to become more frantic in organising themselves and their finances ready for the festive period. The shops are laden with decorations, Christmas paper, cards, mince pies, chocolates and every wrapper in sight has a jolly old picture of father Christmas on it. The local councils have all hung their decorations in the street and the music has begun. Oh boy, all this and it’s only November!

Well for those of you who are evidently more organised then I am, you may be needing rather a lot of sticky tape to wrap those pressies you’ve been stocking up on! Many of us take pride in the way we wrap our presents, buying quality paper, ribbons and tags. After all, a well wrapped and beautiful looking present is far more fun to receive and open! So if you’ve gone to all that trouble, then maybe you should consider using invisible tape to wrap your gift? Invisible tape works like magic. It disappears when applied, can be written on, typed on and doesn’t show on photocopies. So if you have beautiful paper, why spoil it with sticky tape lines, when you can seal the gift without any signs at all?

Take a look at our Scotch Tape selection at Office 365, we have a great selection of different sizes available, dispensers, plus repositionable varieties too. Take for example our Scotch Removable Magic Tape Featured. We all know how difficult it can be to wrap fiddly presents, large boxes and so on, particularly with only one pair of hands. That’s why Scotch designed this clever tape; if your tape sticks where you don’t want it too, simply lift it and position again!

• Scotch Magic Tape that can be removed cleanly once applied
• Can be repositioned again and again
• Invisible when applied can be written on
• Does not ghost when photocopied
• 19mm x 33m
• 1 roll per pack
• 29% off, now just £2.68 a roll!

The Green Bit

Scotch are a 3M brand, part of a company who have a long standing commitment to sustainable development through environmental protection, social responsibility and economic progress. For 3M, this means meeting the needs of society today, while respecting the ability of future generations to meet their needs. They recognise that the company’s long-term success springs from adopting and implementing the principles of sustainable development: stewardship to the environment, contributions to society, and to the creation of economic value and worth. At the same time, they recognise that only by continuing to be a viable and successful enterprise can they continue to be a positive contributor to sustainable development.

Continuous improvement is a vital component of the company’s environmental performance. 3M believes in setting aggressive corporate environmental goals and have been articulating their environmental objectives since the early 1990s. In 2005, 3M set a new group of goals for the period of 2005 to 2010. These are stretch goals that are built on 3M’s reductions achieved through 2005. The current goals, which are indexed to net sales, are as follows:

• Reduce Volatile Air Emissions by 25%
• Improve Energy Efficiency by 20%
• Reduce Waste by 20%
• Complete 800 Pollution Prevention Pays (3P) Projects

Never underestimate the importance of good lighting in the office. As an employer you are responsible for the wellbeing of your staff while they are at work. This means that your employees comfort needs to be considered and this covers a wide spectrum, lighting being one area.

A dimly lit room creates a negative mood in most situations. You must consider that if there is poor lighting, the eye muscles will have to work harder and in turn work productivity is diminished. You can also expect your staff to complain of headaches and tiredness resulting in time off work and a loss in your time and inevitably money! It is recommended that lighting levels in the office must be a minimum of 450 Lux (Lux is the ‘International System of Units’ unit for lighting). Be aware of screen glare, this can obviously cause problems with reading the monitor and so if overhead lights are reflected in the screen turn them off! Instead use a different form of lighting, for instance uplighters or desk lamps.

The perk to using a desk lamp is that individual workstations and team arrangements can have their own lighting focussed in areas where it is needed. Lighting can be adjusted to the individual, rather than the room which can save in energy costs too! With good working light you can be sure that productivity will increase, concentration will be enhanced and you will see a reduction in errors.

When choosing your desk lamp remember you will have 4 choices of light sources, each one offering different qualities;

• Incandescent Lighting – The standard light bulb offering affordability to all, a range of fitting options and an approximate life span of 1000 hours.
• Halogen Lighting – A great alternative to the incandescent light bulb offering 5 times as much light and a life span which is twice as long. Producing a very bright ‘sunlight’ light, these bulbs are very small and must not be touched by the hand – when fitting use a rag or cloth of some kind to protect the bulb from your skin; your skin touch will lessen its life span.
• Fluoroscent Lighting – An efficient light source offering low power consumption and a life span of about 8000 hours!
• LED (Light Emitting Diodes) Lighting – With the longest life span of approximately 100,000 hours, this form of lighting will save you a fortune in the long run!

Clock watching is a worldwide pass time and it normally takes place in the office. This is for 1 of two reasons; you’re overwhelmed with work and there just isn’t enough hours in the working day to get it all done, or you’re board silly and just want to go home. Clock watching can occur in various other scenarios too, for example;

• In the school when pupils literally watch the second hand go round in anticipation of the bell
• Clock watching at home while you wait for your partner to get in from work as you’re running late for your dinner booking
• Clock watching while you wait for your partner to finish getting ready as you’re running late for your dinner booking
• Clock watching in the dentist or doctors surgery as you wait for your ‘turn’ which should have been 30 minutes ago
• Clock watching as you wait for the conference call/estate agent call back/answer to your job interview/news on the birth of the baby etc

The list is endless.  However if we all did a little less clock watching and a little more keeping busy, the time would go a whole lot quicker! Wasn’t it Confucius who said: “It does not matter how slowly you go, so long as you do not stop.” And how right he was too! So if you’re at work and you find yourself clock watching, stop! Instead pull your socks up and do your work, you’ll find your day passes much quicker and you may even be lucky enough to keep your job. Just think, work hard and you will be rewarded, be rewarded enough and you’ll have the means to play hard!

Stop procrastinating! Do not put off until tomorrow, what you could do today. Just think, you could have your mind free from clutter, free from stress and the pressure of a long list of things to do. Just do it! Time management really is a crucial skill which is important to learn if you want to be successful in the workplace and in most walks of life. Maybe it’s time you consider positive clock watching?

Prioritise your work and then divide it into your working day. Make a list e.g. 9:00am – Check e-mails 9:15 – Respond to urgent customer e-mail queries 9:45 – Process orders etc. Remember to prioritise the tasks on your list into order of their importance. As each job is completed cross is off your list, the feeling of satisfaction and organisation is so great it’s almost addictive! If you can maintain a system like this, you can be sure that not only will you’re days fly by, but you’ll impress the boss too!

Is it time you invested in office wall clocks to give your staff a better chance at keeping on top of their work load? If so you won’t be disappointed at Office 365. We have a long list available from many leading brands, and if you’d like to order a few, then we can give you an unbeatable price. Take a look online or get in touch on 0870 766 1624.