For the child, the student, the home maker and the office worker, one of the greatest inventions of all time has to be rubber top pencils. The concept is so simple, yet we went years coping with the old pencil and separate eraser scenario. This was always a very difficult situation in schools as children would work with pencils for all areas of their education, from artwork to English, mathematics to geography. So whenever a mistake was made, a child would need an eraser in order to correct it. You can imagine the obvious outcome here; tables of children squabbling over one eraser! And the outcome for adults isn’t much different; in fact you’ll find that in many offices, employees name their individual erasers! It’s not always possibly to purchase an eraser for every pupil or every member of staff, and more often than not this eraser is picked at, taken home or lost in any case. So it was clear that an alternative was needed.

The rubber top pencil was invented in 1858 by a man named Hyman Lipman who developed the patent to attach erasers to pencils! From that day forth, not only was the squabbling eraser scenario solved, but also the lost eraser scenario! You made a mistake, you simply flipped you pencil over and erased your work, with precision!

But what would be your first choice for rubber tipped pencils? At Office 365 the first brand that springs to mind for quality pencils is Staedtler. Take a look at the Staedtler 110 Tradition HB Pencil With Eraser featured.

• Manufactured from farmed cedar wood, with a quality lead that ensures maximum point strength and slow wear!
• HB grade
• Eraser tipped
• Packed 12
• RRP £7.56 – Our price just £4.65‼

Staedtler are one of the world’s leading brands of writing, colouring and drawing instruments as well as modelling or polymer clays. Staedtler products are sure to become your favourite writing instrument which seems to be evident across the globe – the brand has registered trademarks in more than 100 countries worldwide!

The Green Bit

The protection of the environment, the consumer and the employee all hold a very high degree of importance in the Staedtler corporate philosophy. For this reason they place strong emphasis on a fully-integrated and uniform environmental protection programme. Each and every employee plays a part in living up to the special responsibility to our environment. Long before the emergence of the many eco-standards and environmental seals, they were already demonstrating their corporate responsibility through environmentally friendly processes and self-imposed eco-controlling.

Being an internationally active manufacturing company, environmental protection is something that Staedtler takes very seriously. For years, the company has been implementing numerous publicly recognised pollution control measures in the areas of waste treatment, reusable material sorting, raw material recycling and energy conservation – and not only at the head office in Nuernberg. Worldwide, top priority is given to a careful use of resources and an efficient and environmentally friendly manufacturing process. When it comes to global ecology, Staedtler has gone one step further.

There are plenty of different work related roles with require a decent hole punch. Sure, if you simply want to punch individual sheets of work and paper from time to time so that you can file them in your binder, then you may not need anything heavy duty, however there are many more demanding roles which require something a little more robust! For instance, if you use your hole punch daily, or even repeatedly throughout the day, then you’ll need something hard wearing to withstand the constant use. If you require a punch that is capable of making holes through larger quantities of paper at once, then you’ll certainly benefit from a heavy duty hole punch.

Try punching through a stack of 50 sheets with a standard hole punch. I’ve seen people (including myself) literally pushing down on these punches with all of their body weight, I’m talking feet off the ground! I’ve even seen people stamping on their hole punch in the vein hope that, that will make it work, but of course not. All that happens when you over work a standard hole punch, is holes are cut badly, ripped and torn, or that simply the first few sheets are punched and the remainder are just left in-printed. The other inevitable of course is worn out, blunt hole punch dies and broken contraptions altogether!

Heavy duty hole punches are the way forward, not only do they punch through larger quantities of paper, but they do it with ease and with no effort on your part. Their handles/levers can be compressed with such minimal effort; a small child could do it! And may we recommend the Rapid HDC150 heavy duty 2-hole hole punch. This product is in the mid range price bracket; it’s not budget, yet it’s not at the extreme end! Featuring:

• Strong ergonomic handle
• Paper centralising guide
• Built-in storage for replacement punching cutters and discs
• Neat transparent confetti drawer
• 5 year guarantee
• Capacity: 150 sheets of 80gsm paper!
• You save £60 on the RRP! Our price just £90.46!

It ticks all the boxes for anyone looking to punch through up to 150 sheets and even has quirky little extra’s. However if you’re looking for the absolute Don of all hole punches, and are willing to pay the hefty price tag, then the Rapesco 2160 Heavy Duty 2-Hole Punch is without a doubt, unbeatable. This machine can punch through 300 sheets of paper and comes with a 15 year guarantee! For those of you looking for something to meet the budget, then our 5 Star 2-Hole Heavy Duty Hole Punch will do just fine. However don’t take my work for it, take a look for yourself at our complete range of heavy duty hole punches available in many options including 4-hole, and from many leading brands.

Last year we recommended to you our faithful and loyal customers, a fantastic Christmas gift idea; the Christmas Hamper. However we ended up inundated with people looking for Christmas Hamsters! So today we yet again bring you the announcement that Office 365 sell gorgeous Christmas Hampers, the perfect gift for staff, clients and customers with plenty of different options to choose from. But please, if you’re looking for the perfect Christmas Hamster, you’ll need to go to your local pet shop! I really don’t think you’re child would be particularly pleased with a basket filled with nice grub instead of their new squeaky friend, just as Vice Versa, I’m not sure what your clients would think if you bought them a hamster?  We are Office 365 for a reason, buy your animals elsewhere!

This year instead of offering you ready made hampers, we’re giving you the chance to create your own! All you need to do is find the box or basket that you’d like to present the goodies in and we’ll do the rest. Take your pick from a large variety of different goodies and treats that would put a smile o the face of any recipient. But what’s more, it doesn’t even have to be a food hamper, take a look at your options;

• Food – Choose from items such as Cadbury’s chocolate fingers, Cadbury’s biscuit selection, Crawford’s biscuits, Fox’s biscuits, Fair-trade biscuits and many more from Maryland, McVities, Oreo, Go-Ahead and Traidcraft. We also have various different chocolates and sweets available from Cadbury’s, Divine, Fox’s, Mars, Mentos, Nestle and Twix. Finally select from various different hot and cold beverages and you have the perfect hamper selection!
• Stationery – Why not create the perfect hamper for your child starting school, college or university, or indeed the ideal hamper selection for your friend or loved one starting their new job? Select from a wide variety of pens, paper, rulers, ink, pads, envelopes, labels, files, pockets, diaries and calendars. With a great selection of all these bits and pieces, your child, friend or loved one can be all prepared for the year ahead!
• The Clean Freak – Do you have a Mr Muscle in the family, or maybe a washer woman? Do you know someone close to you who just loves to clean? Then why not buy them their dream cleaning hamper collection? Choose from various kitchen and bathroom cleaning products, towels, polishes, bin liners and so much more, what a treat!..

You get the idea; at Office 365 you can tailor the hamper to the individual, you just need a touch of imagination and a box or basket. If you’d like some help choosing or are in need of more information, please get in touch, we’re always happy to help! – 0870 766 1624

With Christmas rearing its head now’s the time to get your greetings cards out! As a business the festive period is the perfect time to promote yourselves; it gives the simplest excuse to run a new line of products, offer a 25% off Christmas offer for example, promotional free delivery before the new year, send seasons greetings cards to your customers or even post letters with news of what’s to come in the New Year! At this time of year companies purchase more paper, envelopes, stamps, labels and ink cartridges than at any other time, and it’s clear to see why!

Franking is a popular method of postage during this period as it is quick and easy and so cuts time wastage, people power and ultimately money, plus it will give your company a professional image. Franking is known for its cost effectiveness and complete ease of use, and with its flexible range of products and services, it’s no wonder franking machines have become a necessity in offices. By sending your mail using the franking method, you will have the option to pay for credit when you need it so that you will be in complete control of your postage and the cost involved. This is the ideal method for businesses large or small as there are no minimum or maximum postage volume restrictions. What’s more the Royal Mail offer postage discount incentives for franked mail; you will qualify for discounts on your post regardless of how many items you are sending!

The franking machine will print on envelopes of any size or colour, however if you’d like to make absolutely sure that your post marks are straight and visible then the Royal Mail recommend using franking labels. Using labels will give a better finish and will ensure that your envelopes look professional. Plus if you’re sending coloured or patterned envelopes or packets, directly printing your franking mark is not a great idea. You may find that the stamp is not visible through the pattern or the colour and therefore would have wasted the cost of that stamp. Our franking labels are selling fast at Office 365, so if you’d like to stock up for your Christmas mailroom rush, then you’ll need to get in quick. Avery Franking Labels at Office 365 are currently all on offers with the featured Avery Franking Labels 2 Per Sheet on an offer of 35% off! Offering plenty of space for the postal mark and your advertising messages, you get double the benefit from just one label.

• For manual feed machines
• Generous size to allow for postal franking and advertising messages
• 100% money back guarantee
• 2 labels per sheet
• 1000 labels per pack
• Label size: 140 x 38mm
• White
• Now just £16.36‼

Choose from both manual feed options and automatic feed options catering for all post room environments.

The Green Bit

A while back we introduced Avery’s achievement of planting a whopping 30′458 trees! Well that’s pretty impressive. They basically plant 1 tree for every code entered onto the site. The total number of trees planted by Avery for their 2009 promotion was a remarkable 64’846! Good work everyone.

Their 2010 promotion is continuing this number and aiming for a target of 100,000 new trees for Kenya. At the moment the new total is 65′450, you can add to this total in the same way as before by clicking on this link. http://www.eco.avery.eu/tree_planting.php?gift_id=132

Avery will continue to promote sustainability by continuously improving the design and development of environmentally responsible products created in a manner that consumers and customers understand, value and reward.

On the run up to Christmas we’re doing our bit at Office 365 to come up with the perfect gift ideas for a range of different people in your life. For example, are you looking for token presents for the staff, or maybe small gift ideas for office Secret Santa presents? Maybe you’re after something with more of a wow factor as the main present for one of your kids? Alternatively you’re stuck for ideas of stocking fillers and this year you’d like to find little treats that are a bit different to the norm?

An idea that simply cannot fail is pens! How many of us waste precious minutes every day searching for a pen. This is so true in both the office and the home and even when we purchase bulk packs, within a month, they still manage to disappear; I mean, where can a pack of 25 pens disappear to in just one house?! In the office it makes more sense; pens will make their way into various draws, pockets, briefcases and so on, the home on the other hand can only be explained with fairies!

Vibrant gel pens would make unique stocking fillers, bulking out those giant Christmas socks with a wallet of colourful exciting looking pens. Our Stabilo Point Visco Assorted Rollerball Pens would be perfect for the budding designer! But then again, they would be ideal for encouraging writing skills as their selection of different colours makes the prospect of handwriting much more appealing! The pens boast smudge proof ink so that young hands can concentrate on technique without the concern of making a mess along the way.

• New technology gel rollerball from STABILO
• Low viscosity ink means longer lasting and quicker drying ink than most standard gel rollerball pens
• Smudge-proof and blot-proof
• Non-slip grip zone
• Line width 0.5mm
• Assorted wallet of 10 contains black, blue, red, green, leaf green, brown, turquoise, orange, pink and lilac ink colours
• 25% off‼ – Now just £10.24!

Office 365 has various different gel pens so you don’t have to buy then in assorted packs! Choose from black gel pens, red gel pens, green gel pens and blue gel pens, plus a further choice of assorted gel pens too.

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!

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!

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.

Pens, available in a ridiculous amount of different varieties, colours, line widths, inks and brands, so which one do you go for? We don’t say, “Does anyone have a rollerball pen please” or “Ugh, my ball point pens run out”, that would be obscene and frankly a waste of time! We refer to all pens as simply, a “pen” and that is how it should be! But again, we are still faced with the same dilemma, which type do we opt for? For me the answers very simple, it’s a ball point all the way.

The ballpoint pen variety we’ve most of us come to know as the Biro, another brand name which has become a household name. The Biro ball point pen was invented by László Bíró and has since become the most popular, modern writing instrument. The ballpoint pen has an internal chamber which is filled with a viscous ink that is dispensed at the tip during use by the rolling action of a small metal sphere (0.7 mm to 1.2 mm in diameter) of brass, steel or tungsten carbide. When pressure is applied (when the tip is applied to paper), ink is released and dries almost immediately after contact. The pens are generally inexpensive, completely reliable and involve no maintenance whatsoever.

Personally I choose the ball point pen due to its ability to write so smoothly. There’s nothing worse when writing than getting that ‘prickly’ feeling, something which simply does not exist when using a ‘biro’.

We recommend the Bic Cristal Ball Pens featured; a pen that can be found in pretty much every home, shop, school, office or business across Europe! This pen has never let me know. Guaranteed to write smoothly from the ‘go’ and consistently perform well, this variety is also cheap as chips. We’ve opted for the black option, yes, many of us prefer the blue, but whenever you stock up on blue ones you end up with one of those forms that requires black ink only!

• Lightweight hexagonal barrel that provides comfortable and controlled writing
• Durable tungsten carbide ball writes consistently, will not skip or blob
• Medium point, clear barrel
• 1.0mm Tip
• Line width: 0.4mm
• Black
• Packed 50
• 48% off the RRP!
• Now just £8.76 for 50! That’s just £0.18p each!

The Green Bit

The BIC® product philosophy has always been focused on simplicity, functionality, quality and the best price/quality tradeoff. Since the launch of the BIC® Cristal® pen, the style and design of BIC® products, and the materials that go into them, have had but one purpose: perfect harmony between their form and the use they are designed for. There has never been any place for the superfluous. Faithful to its “just what’s necessary” philosophy, BIC tries to find the perfect harmony between product quality and the quantity of materials used in manufacturing. For this reason, BIC has an ecodesign approach for all products. This approach means integrating environmental considerations, starting at the product design phase. They progressively integrate ecodesign into their Research & Development processes.

They recognize that nearly every aspect of a manufacturing business, including the production, distribution, and end disposal of a product and its packaging, has the potential to impact the environment, human health or safety. It is clearly their responsibility to minimize those impacts. The challenge is to develop solutions that protect people and the environment while allowing them to maintain the product quality and value that consumers demand. BIC accepts this responsibility and this challenge. Their approach is to collaborate with their employees, suppliers, customers and consumers to identify, assess and minimize the environmental, health and safety impacts resulting from their manufacturing operations, their products, and their product packaging.

The BIC Group has directed all BIC factories to establish an Environmental Management System compliant with an internal Group standard. Individual factories are free to exceed this Group standard, where appropriate, as long as they maintain a focus on continuous improvement of environmental performance. ISO 14001 certification is not implemented in the whole Group but only for selected factories that have chosen this way of making progress. However, they do not promote nor forbid the usage of this certification.

To save our sorry hands from the torment of manually addressing piles and piles of outgoing mail, businesses now use addressing labels to make life simpler. These sheets of labels can be passed through a printer where addresses will be printed onto the labels neatly; all you’ll have to do is peel and stick. Other than giving a more professional finish, using addressing labels also gives you the option to print graphics on the labels, or maybe your company logo! But wait, there’s more! Avery have decided to offer customers a little extra, their way of helping towards the fast approaching Christmas!

As of now, Avery are offering Amazon vouchers with promotional packs of labels and name badges! That’s right, all you have to do is purchase one of the applicable packs and you will find your free £2 Amazon voucher! You can redeem your prize straight away or bank your codes for a later date so that by Christmas, you have enough money built up in your Amazon vouchers to buy presents for your family, or if you’re feeling really generous, the whole office!

Take a look at our Avery QuickPEEL Addressing Labels for example. Not only will you enjoy all the quality that naturally comes with Avery, but you will also reap the benefits of the quick-peel and jam-free technology! These cleverly designed sheets of labels simply require you to divide the sheet along the perforation, exposing the label edges, then simply peel and apply to your envelopes. What’s more, these labels can also help to protect the environment as they are made using paper from well managed forests and can be fully recycled as part of paper waste. All this plus a £2 Amazon voucher, what more could you ask?

• Easier to peel and faster to apply with the unique QuickPEEL feature
• Fully compatible with popular laser and colour laser printers, including Hewlett Packard, Brother, Lexmark, Konica-Minolta and many more
• Guaranteed Jam Free – no jams, no delays
• Outstanding print quality and excellent adhesion
• By buying FSC certified labels you are supporting the growth of responsible forest management worldwide
• Eco friendly labels can be fully recycled as part of paper waste
• Labels contain an eco-friendly adhesive – even suitable for non-fatty food labelling.
• Label paper is elementary chlorine free (ECF)
• Packaging is made from recycled cardboard
• Easy to print with Avery Wizard software for Microsoft Office, FREE to download from www.europe.avery.com
• Recommended for DL Envelopes
• 16 labels per sheet, 100 sheets per box [1600 labels]
• Label Size(mm) 99.1 x 33.9
• 41% Off – Now just £19.15 for 1600 labels‼

Other applicable product codes include;

Badges – 316764, 316731, 316748 and 316756

Addressing Labels – 369885, 248548, 248556, 248572, 248580, 369893, 435943, 283341, 536005, 535018 and 534241

Promotion valid until 1^st January 2012