With just twelve days to go until Christmas, it’s high time you consider your festive approach to business. Are you planning on using the seasons cheer to advertise a sale? Alternatively you’ll be making changes to the business as of 2012 and would like to let your customer know. Maybe a gesture of goodwill, you’d like to send your customers a Christmas card or thank you letter. Many companies use this time of year as a way of selling themselves and getting their name known and with less than two weeks to go, you haven’t much time to get organised! With this is mind, here at Office 365 we’ve reduced the burden for you by suggesting the perfect envelopes.

A4 envelopes (otherwise known as C4 envelopes) are designed to enclose an A4 sheet of paper perfectly without folding it. It is for this reason that the C4 envelope is perfect for sending large photographs, designs, certificates and any important document that you wish to arrive in pristine condition. A4 envelopes measure 324mm x 229mm (12¾” x 9″) and are available in options such as A4 white envelopes, A4 brown envelopes, heavyweight, medium weight, lightweight, recycled, gusset, non gusset, manila, window and no window options, plus in many different seals and styles. Here at Office 365, you can choose from brands including 5 Star, New Guardian, Plus Fabric, Basildon Bond, Uno, Croxley Script and Ecolabel brands.

Our number one choice during this season would be the 5 Star C4 90gsm white envelopes. The thought process behind this choice is based on affordability and flexibility. Many companies like to print a festive message or image on the envelope and so the white option would give better results. We choose 5 Star because of their renowned value for money, without sacrificing on quality. This is important at this time of year as companies send out such large quantities of post; they must make sure that they can purchase a large quantity of envelopes without breaking the bank.

These particular envelopes boast;

• Short flap/pocket style
• Choice of sealing methods – gummed or press seal
• Pockets
• C4 324 x 229mm
• Press Seal
• 250
• 90gsm
• 81% off‼ – Now just £11.51 for 250 envelopes!

5 Star products are one of the best-known office products brands in the UK and with 15 years experience behind them; they are now experts in their field. Offering a 12 month no quibble quality guarantee, their value for money certainly doesn’t affect their standards! They deliver unbeatable price and quality, across the most popular everyday product lines, plus they’re also one of the most widely available ranges of office products.

Each 5 Star product now has attractively designed packaging for clearer product display and product information, plus they also have a fantastic choice of ‘Green’ options for those who are economically aware.

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.

It is common procedure for businesses to use Internal mail envelopes when sending documents within the office. Whether your business is spread across multiple floors or simply a couple of rooms, you tend to find that your staff are split up into teams or groups who deal with separate aspects of the company. In order to keep communication going and business running smoothly, these teams will need to keep each other informed of all changes and progress. The best way to do this is with internal mail envelopes.

Rather than sending a simple document to the right department which will inevitably become lost within the numerous other heaps of paperwork on peoples desks, send it in one of these specialist envelopes. The envelope itself separates the contents from other paper work thus preventing any confusion, whilst also acting as a record of date sent and the department in which it came from. Using this method will also double as a security measure for when you are sending sensitive or confidential information.

Designed for hard-copy communication and document transfer, the envelopes are also available in various colours in order to distinguish departments and differentiate the post from external mail. They have been developed with consideration towards durability due to the fact that they are intended for repetitive use and so are made using hard wearing materials. With multiple addressee boxes – normally approximately 50 – each time the envelope is used the sender will then cross out the previous addressee and write out the new one in a fresh box. A clever little trick to make your envelopes last longer is to place labels over the boxes when they have all become full returning the envelope to a new state. They are available with various different closure methods, each designed to be repeatedly used, such as specialist tacks and adhesives, tuck in flaps and string and washers. You will find that this type of envelope has multiple holes punched into it; these are to indicate whether the envelope contains any paperwork.

Our range includes;

• 220×110 (DL Size) – Available in our New Guardian Rage
• 229 x 162 (C5 Size) – Also available in our New Guardian Range, plus our antimicrobial range from Oxford Biocote
• 254 x 178 – New Guardian
• 250 x 353 – Available in the Oxford Biocote range
• 260 x 330 – Also available in the Oxford Biocote range
• 324 x 229 (C4 Size) – Available in our 5 Star, New Guardian and Oxford Biocote brands
• 381 x 254 – New Guardian

The C4 envelope is most likely one of the top ordered envelopes in the office. Many companies prefer to send out their documents in pristine condition, unfolded. Unless you are sending a bog standard one page letter, then consider A4 envelopes as they will allow you to send those long reports in a condition which the recipient will be impressed by. Often this goes with the territory; for example if your line of work involves sending out photographs, certificates, legal documents, brochures, artwork, designs or any kind of document to win over a prospective client or customer, envelopes for A4 paper are the way forward.

You will also benefit from considering the weight and quality that you’d like from your envelopes. Will you be sending out numerous documents which do not hold any legal attributes, which are not intended to impress? If so, then you may like to consider the most cost effective option. If this is the case, then we highly recommend the featured 5 Star White C4 90gsm Envelopes.

• Short flap/pocket style
• Choice of sealing methods – gummed or press seal
• Pockets
• C4 (324 x 229mm)
• Press Seal
• 250
• 90gsm
• 81% Off – Just £11.51 for 250 envelopes!

Alternatively, if what you’re looking for is an envelope which will give off a sense of class and quality and which will only encourage the recipient to use your businesses services, then we suggest our Plus Fabric 120gsm C4 White Envelopes featured.

• Available in C4 and C5
• Available in small box quantities
• C4 (324 x 229mm)
• Peel and Seal
• Pack 250
• Easy Open device allows a clean opening tear to the envelope, but does not compromise the strength of the product
• 120gsm
• 39% off – Now just £35.99!

C4 envelopes are possibly the most widely used office envelope there is. Being one of the International Standard ISO 269 Sizes, the C4 envelope is commonly for sending documents of more than a page to prevent the need for folding. They are the equivalent of an A4 sheet of paper and so are often referred to as A4 envelopes. North American envelope sizes differ however and so the equivalent size to the C4 envelope (229mm x 324 or A4) would be their Catalogue envelope size 10 ½ which measures 229mm x 305mm.

If you or your business frequently send important or official documents, certificates, photographs, brochures, designs, artwork or reports, you may want to consider investing in an envelope which does not require you to fold the intended contents. Sending a clean, crisp document can only look positively on you; unfolded paperwork can look professional, neat and will be taken more seriously. C4 envelopes with windows mean that not only do you not have to fold the contents, but you also do not have to write out a label for the envelope either! There will always be the need to send an item without folding it first and for those scenario’s, make sure you don’t get caught out! This site has more on International Paper & Envelope Sizes.

Take a look at these for example; our Plus Fabric White C4 Pocket Envelopes offer many surprising qualities and at a price which won’t break the bank! These environmentally friendly envelopes feature;

• Availability in both C4 and C5 sizes
• Availability in both large and small box quantities
• C4 (324 x 229mm)
• The convenience of a ‘Press Seal’ closure
• Boxed 250 (available also in packs of 125)
• The quality of 120gsm white paper
• A staggering 48% off the RRP!
• Now just £30.37!

The Green Bit

All Plus Fabric Envelopes carry the EU Eco-label (also known as the EU Eco-Flower) which is an independent accreditation that considers environmental factors that other labels do not, addressing the growing demand for environmentally friendly products.

Products displaying the EU Eco-label use less energy, consume fewer natural resources (e.g. water and raw materials), have lower impact on air quality and ultimately contribute to ozone layer protection and environmental safety.

Unlike other labels, the EU Eco-Label covers the following criteria under environmental label accreditation schemes; Scope, recycled fibre use, wood raw material, chemicals, energy use, emissions, waste management and recyclability.

For some reason or other the demand for envelopes seems to have rocketed in recent weeks with sales and enquiries through the roof! Could this be due to a surge in new company policies, altered interest rates, sales and promotions and other notifications and changes that customers, clients and suppliers need to know about? As we’re not a nosey bunch at Office 365, I suppose we’ll never know!

So what we’ve decided to do is raid our stocks and test each and every one of our envelopes based on strength, quality, price, convenience of sealing method and environmental qualities. To make the test fair we used only C4 envelopes throughout so results will be for the best C4 envelopes.

As it turns out it was a very simple test with the winners standing out head and shoulders above the rest in every area! The kings (or queens) of the C4 envelopes has to be Basildon Bond! The only brand to produce a white windowed C4 envelope which was 100% recycled and recyclable yet was able to offer the quality of 100gsm paper! In fact, they even had a biodegradable window film! Not only this, but they were the only envelope of such high environmental standards which featured the most convenient sealing method; peel and seal! This method doesn’t dry up, will not in time stick to itself or others in the pack and simply requires a strip to be peeled away revealing a powerful adhesive. Due to their thick 100gsm quality paper, the envelopes offer high strength and what’s more, they’re available at prices we can all afford!

Take a look at the Basildon Bond C4 White Recycled Pocket Window Envelopes featured to your right for example. You can boast a high company eco awareness using these envelopes whilst also setting a high standard of quality; what better impression to give! Features include;

• Basildon Bond White Pocket Envelopes
• 100% recycled
• Biodegradable window film
• Small packs, ideal for the small or home office
• Peel and Seal
• Size: C4, 324 x 229mm
• 100gsm
• Colour: White
• Packed 50
• 28% off – Now just £7.55!

The Green Bit

All the paper used in some of their ranges are from UK paper mills, from 100% recovered material. The white envelopes all use a 100gsm paper that is exceptionally smooth and white, and the manilla use 90gsm paper. In addition, the window film, while perfectly clear, is 100% biodegradable, made remarkably from corn not petrochemicals. This also means that even the window envelopes in the range can be included in any paper recycling.

All their white envelopes feature a subtle green opaque with the recycled symbol.

C5 envelopes are the size popularly used when sending leaflets, booklets, pamphlets and other advertising media and are basically able to contain A4 paper folded in half once. It is not recommended that DL envelopes be used for sending more than one sheet of paper; most individuals or businesses opt for the C5 envelope when sending documents made up of multiple sheets. However if you are sending papers that must not be folded, then the C5 size is not for you.

You’ll find that C5 envelopes are normally available in manilla (brown) and white, and with the option of an address window. They are also available in a variety of openings however pocket style opening (opening on the short side with a short flap) is the most widely used and the most commonly manufactured style. There are exceptions to this rule however, as some manufacturers including the great Basildon Bond manufacturer C5 wallet style (opening on the long side) envelopes, such as the one featured below.

Our Basildon Bond C5 Wallet Envelope featured ticks all the boxes and provides a solution unique to any other.

• Oversized for machine insertion
• 100% recycled paper
• Quality 90gsm paper
• Biodegradable window film
• Gummed seal
• Trapeze style flaps to aid insertion
• Size: C5 (162 x 238mm)
• Weight: 90gsm
• White with Window
• Packed 500
• Save 27% – Now just £49.77!!

The Basildon Brand was developed in 1911 by Millington & Sons, a London based stationery manufacturer and were first the UK’s best selling notepaper manufacturer! Another interesting little fact for you, did you know that Basildon Bond became a Russ Abbot spoof secret agent character in the 1980’s on his popular BBC TV series? In 2005, Basildon Bond supported the NSPCC with a donation being made to the charity for every box of commercial envelopes purchased. The target to raise was £50,000 throughout the 2005 campaign.

The Green Bit

All the paper used in some of their ranges are from UK paper mills, from 100% recovered material. The white envelopes all use a 100gsm paper that is exceptionally smooth and white, and the manilla use 90gsm paper. In addition, the window film, while perfectly clear, is 100% biodegradable, made remarkably from corn not petrochemicals. This also means that even the window envelopes in the range can be included in any paper recycling. All their white envelopes feature a subtle green opaque with the recycled symbol.

If you’re looking for a new brand of envelope for your new business venture and the standard envelope just will not do, we know just the product for you. You could be planning to send important documents; maybe you’re a photography business sending photographs and prints, alternatively you could be responsible for sending documents such as birth certificates, marriage certificates and deed poll certificates, or maybe even driving licences and passports. Whatever it is your company are responsible for sending, you cannot send it safer than with a DuPont Tyvek envelope. Only envelopes made of DuPont Tyvek can offer the unique combination of a lightweight envelope with surprising strength and versatility and not to mention excellent print quality which is needed when sending out large quantities of post – nobody likes to sit there and hand write them all now do they? We can without any hesitation recommend DuPont Tyvek gusset envelopes for all your significant post protecting important documents while enhancing your company’s image.

Take our DuPont Tyvek C4 Gusseted Envelopes featured to your right for example. These extra strong white envelopes are available in packs of 20 or 100 and at Office 365 come with an added 25% off! These particular envelopes feature;

• Extra capacity, ideal for mailing really bulky and awkward shaped mail
• C4, 324 x 229mm
• Gusset 38mm
• Packed 20
• Now Just £28.19! (Buy 2 packs to qualify for free delivery!)

Our Tyvek suppliers were founded in 1802 and operate in more than 70 countries! DuPont™ Tyvek® is famous for its lightweight and durable qualities and has introduced new dimensions of protection, security and safety in a wide variety of industries. Our Tyvek envelopes boast qualities such as;

• Lighter than paper envelopes yet considerably stronger
• Water and moisture resistant making it just as protective in hurricane weather as it is from a coffee spill
• Rip, tear and puncture resistant allowing Tyvek® envelopes to stand up to the rough handling that occurs during mailing, shipping and delivery.
• 100% Recyclable – DuPont manages a nationwide recycling program that collects used Tyvek® envelopes which are then recycled into other useful materials.
• The exceptional whiteness of Tyvek® enhances graphic images and supports your company’s corporate image.

It’s special offer week on this fantastic build up to the Easter holidays! With everyone buzzing and extremely excited to enjoy all the extra time off due to the bank holidays, Royal weddings, Good Friday and May Day; we seem to have caught that holiday feeling here at Office 365 and have been bringing you some ridiculous offers this week. On Monday we brought you the cheapest prices in the UK for Sharpie permanent markers – perfect for wring up your Easter egg hunt clues for the kids and today we’re bringing you THE CHEAPEST DL white envelopes in the UK, great for sending out all your Easter promotions or Easter egg thank you letters.

These 5 Star White DL Office Envelopes are literally not available cheaper anywhere else in the UK! But what’s more, if you’d like to order them in bulk, you’ll get even more knocked off the price! All you have to do is add them to your basket and select, ‘get a quote’, or simply call one of the team on 0870 766 1624. These cheap DL envelopes feature;

• Medium weight 90gsm Envelopes
• Suitable for all kinds of general correspondence and mailings
• White with blue opaque interior for security
• Press Seal
• Wallet style
• Size: DL 110 x 220mm
• Boxed 500
• 84% Off – Now just £7.50!
• Buy x6 and get free delivery!

5 Star came in at 1^st place for our Best Supplier For Price category, and is it any wonder with prices like these! They are a brand who is committed to serving their customers every need in terms of affordability, innovation and quality. The 5 Star range is now firmly established as one of the best-known office products brands in the UK; with 15 years experience behind them, they can now easily be credited with the title of expert in their field. With confidence in their products quality, 5 Star offer a 12 month no quibble quality guarantee on all their products, leaving the customer wondering, ‘why use any other brand?’

The Green Bit

Each 5 Star product now has attractively designed packaging for clearer product display and product information, plus they also have a fantastic choice of ‘Green’ options for those who are economically aware.

Being assigned the task of buying in the offices envelopes is not a nice chore when you don’t fully understand the sizes. The consequences of making a mistake can be catastrophic as a business relies heavily on its outbound mail for both invoices and sales purposes. So if that’s you, then good luck, or if you a spare moment, read on. This post will give you a simple explanation as to the different envelope formats available, their measurements and which paper fits inside them unfolded. Once you fully understand paper formats, it does make comprehending envelope formats a lot easier as they go hand in hand.

• C4 Envelopes – In basic, C4 envelopes are made to complement A4 paper, as a sheet of A4 paper will fit perfectly UNFOLDED inside a C4 format envelope. These are particularly useful for when the contents of the envelope must not be folded and must remain pristine. Dimensions – 324mm x 229mm (12¾” x 9″).
• C5 Envelopes – These are intended to be used with A5 paper UNFOLDED or alternatively with A4 format paper FOLDED ONCE. These too are a very popular envelope style and commonly contain leaflets and small brochures. Dimensions – 229mm x 162mm (9″x 6⅜”).
• C6 Envelopes – These are designed to work with A6 format paper (see the pattern here?) UNFOLDED, or alternatively with A5 format paper FOLDED ONCE, or A4 format paper FOLDED TWISE. These have many uses however most commonly are used to issue wages and payslips. Dimensions – 114mm x 162mm (4½” x 6⅜”).
• DL Envelopes – The most popular business envelope is the DL format envelope. This takes a sheet of A4 format paper folded TWISE into thirds or A5 paper FOLDED ONCE. There’s an art to folding paper for use in DL envelopes, carefully bend the letter without actually folding it into an ‘S’ shape, adjusting it until the three sections look the same size. To be extra cautious, check it against the envelope to make sure it will fit. Once you have found your three equal parts press down to a permanent fold and you’re done. Dimensions – 110mm x 220mm (4⅓” x 8⅔”).

Now that you’ve found the right format envelope you will now have a choice of seal and style. Wallet and banker variety envelopes will have the opening along the long edge and are probably the most popular envelope type. Alternatively, pocket envelopes have an opening along the short edge, these too are a relatively popular choice. Other choices include gusset which expand to hold their contents, or padded and protective envelopes which are reinforced by means of board, foam or bubble wrap.

When it comes to the seal, you have three choices. The oldest is of course gummed where the flap must be moistened in order for the adhesive to work. These are great if you don’t mind the taste, or have a wet sponge to hand, as they are the cheapest option. Alternatively, we have press and seal envelopes which simply require you to apply the two glued flapped together. Finally, peel and seal envelopes have a glued strip protected by plastic, simply fill the envelope, then peel back the plastic strip and close.