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!

Sometimes the average stapler just won’t do. When you’re daily activities in the workplace involve a great deal of stapling, you don’t want to be tied to the stapler all day. A manual stapler for constant daily use can only lead to bruised palms, cramp, fatigue, worn out staplers and of course irritability! This is why we recommend electric staplers for those who use staplers daily, for long periods of time. An electronic stapler basically does all the work for you so you don’t have to injure your hands whilst wasting your time and your company’s money and recourses.  However sometimes even an electronic stapler will not suffice as industrial stapling will literally destroy the standard electronic stapler. Some stapling applications involve the constant and consistent stapling of documents or packaging items throughout the entire day, every day which is quite some demand on a lil’ old stapler! We have just the thing for you in that case, feast your eyes below on our favourite electric stapler, THE DON of all staplers!

Our Rapid 106E Electronic Stapler is ideal for use in large offices, hotels, publishers and banks, but also in warehouse environments for duties such as packaging applications, blister packs and header card stapling. The featured stapler boards the following qualities:

• Several machines can be connected by an opto-cable (not supplied) for multiple stapling in packaging applications
• Slim design and quiet operation
• Easy front loading with safety visor and automatic cut-out
• Fully adjustable stapling force
• Movable anvil for stapling and pinning
• Staples 50 sheets of flat paper or 20 sheets when saddle stitching
• Supplied with desk clamp, foot pedal and saddle stitch table for finishing brochures
• Slim design with quiet operation
• Black/White
• Now Just £523.07!! (That’s an incredible £300.64 off!)
• Free delivery with us

On March 4th 2010 Esselte announced the completion of its acquisition of Isaberg Rapid, one of the world’s leading companies within the stapling business. A strategic addition to Esselte’s branded office products, Isaberg Rapid have allowed for the expansion of Esselte into the tools sector and professional retail markets. Part of Esselte’s strategy to strengthen their core categories, this acquisition expands the firm’s market and global reach. Good move Esselte!

Your desk – A monument of yourself, an illustration of your character and a shadow of your home. From my experience it is fair to say that your desk really does reflect who you are; warts and all and this goes for both the office desk and the home office desk! Now as well as having a fantastic range of desks to choose from, made by a quality array of different brands, we also have everything you could possibly need to accessorise it, organise it and  give it a touch of class. If you’re a desk hopper, there’s never time to allow it to get a mess, but if you’ve been lucky enough to have your own desk in the workplace, value it – and your reputation! Many people say that a messy desk is a messy mind, symbolising someone who is un-organised, incapable and out of their depth. Many employers frown upon their staff who cannot keep their space organised and will favour those who can, even in terms of promotion and pay rise. Why sacrifice such benefits and your good reputation when there are products at hand that can help you keep your desk in order?

At Office 365 you will find many desktop accessories which provide homes for all you’re little bits and pieces, making sure that your possessions are at hand when you need them, not under a heap! With desk blotters available in full and half demy options, book and magazine racks to free up space and keep your literature handy, clipboards, desk mats to protect your desks surface, desk tidies for all those bits and pieces, desk drawers, letter trays and filing units for the filing of frequently needed paperwork, hole punches, perforators, pins clips and fasteners, rubber stamps, scissors and letter openers, stamp pad ink, staplers and removers, staples, tape dispensers, telephone indexes and useful telephone arms which are great for freeing up some desk space, Office 365 certainly have everything you could need!

So now you know how to keep your desk tidy, the tools to do so, and where to get them from, you have no excuses. Turn it around now and let 2011 be the year you impress your boss, get yourself organised and further your career.

It’s that time again! We’ve had a flourish of enquiries about staplers recently, in particular heavy duty ones and in general a massive demand for them. Goodness knows why, it seems to come in waves; is there some kind of craze that involves staplers which I don’t know about yet? Hmmm, surely I should be the first to know as a stationery blogger and all that. Never the less, I shall as always attempt to provide you firstly with information about the heavy duty stapler variety and secondly with one that’s more than up to the job.

What you need to know about the heavy duty stapler is that there is no point in purchasing one if all your using it for is to staple a couple of sheets from time to time. The heavy duty range is not for the faint hearted with a capability to staple up to 210 sheets of standard office paper at one time! You would be looking for one of these if you regularly find yourself stapling large documents or pamphlets and you’re looking for a quality that will last your for years. They staple through stacks of paper with the optimum ease of use which is perfect when you’re looking for something that you can use frequently throughout the day.

Our recommended model is the Rapid Duax HD210 featured to the right.

• Unique, revolutionary stapling design
• Staples sheets using just one staple type
• Tough steel construction with effortless operation
• Uses Rapid Duax staples only
• Flat clinch stapling for level stacking
• Adjustable paper guide and depth
• 5 year guarantee
• Staples only
• Throat depth: 65mm
• Silver
• Free Delivery
• 31% Off!

The Green Bit

Isaberg Rapid has had a long serving commitment to working with environmental issues. In 1999 the operations at the Swedish plant were certified according to ISO 14001 the international specification for environmental management system which specifies the requirements concerning environmental impacts from organisational activities. The environment management system assures that they follow existing legislation and that they fulfil environmental demands from their customers, owner and neighbours. The system also covers surface treatment, product development, packages and waste management and which areas they continuously focus upon.

Are you one of those who like to stand out from the crowd? Maybe your sick of being predictable and are looking for a way prove that you’re not exactly who everyone thinks you are. Or maybe your economically conscious and are looking for a way to make a stand and be heard, to change our planet for the better. Alternatively, you could just be a bit strange…

If any of the above applies to you, consider this….a bubble wrap dress (or suite, it’s your call). There could be no easier way of putting together clothing than this and we’d like to offer up some handy hints to help you along the way. You will need;

• Bubble Wrap
• Under garments
• Needle
• Thread…or…
• Stapler

The first rule of dressmaking with bubble wrap is NEVER USE A SEWING MACHINE. Don’t risk jamming your machine – use a good old fashioned needle and thread or alternatively try using poppers or hook and eye fastenings; you could even try lace up in a kind of corset style.

Find appropriate under garments. If you are making a dress, think about using a white ‘slip’ or bikini. If you are making a suite, appropriate ‘under attire’ may include white shorts, vests, t-shirts or swimwear.  Alternatively sew some kind of material to the inside of your bubble suite/dress in order to conceal certain ‘areas’.

Another method of stitching your garment is by staple; when you consider it, a staple isn´t that different to a stitch. A rushed job when using staples can look distasteful, take your time. We have a huge selection of recycled bubble wrap at Office 365 which is turn is also recyclable once your done! Our Jiffy range promises to be made from 100% recycled polythene so you can be satisfied that your dress is as kind to the earth as you are!

The Green Bit

In developing Jiffy Green mailing solutions, Pregis looked closely on how to combine everything you’d expect from their top brand products with the environmental awareness society needs. All Jiffy Green mailing products meet joint standards and are made of recycled paper, recycled air bubble foil and are in their turn recyclable themselves. Other mailing solutions consisting of different materials -like the Bag-in-Bag mailers – can be separated with the turn of the wrist, making recycling so much easier and more effective!

Today I’d like to introduce you to an alternative breed of staplers, which I’m sure we’re all aware of; the staple tacker AKA the staple gun. This fantastic hand held contraption is used to drive heavy metal staples into many different kinds of materials, unlike your average stapler which is intended for paper use only. Another feature which tells a staple gun from an office stapler is that a staple gun lacks an anvil, which is the metal plate that has 2 small recesses used to bend the legs of the staple inwards or outwards compressing them against the paper.

A staple gun/tacker has many kinds of uses, including attaching wire mesh netting to wood, in schools/education, exhibition/show upholstery, decorative/general DIY, upholstery & re-upholstery, insulation & lining, hobby crafts, window dressing and display and shop fitting. Take the Rapid R23 Gun Tacker featured to your right for example. The robust all-metal bodied tacker allows staples to be fired quickly into materials such as carpets and insulation. Featuring;

• All-metal construction with recoilless action for effortless operation
• Lifetime tested for 100,000 firings
• Ideal for tacking fabrics, canvas, leather, posters etc
• Medium weight design with high-impact force
• Chrome
• Takes Rapid 13 6 Staples
• 25% off (while stocks last)

Isaberg Rapid AB has a long serving commitment to working with quality issues and quality control. The Swedish unit achieved the ISO 9002 certificate already in 1991 and advanced in 1995 to ISO 9001; the international standard for quality control that make demands on the organisation, working procedures, equipment, co-operation and also for continuous improvements.

The Green Bit

Isaberg Rapid has had a long serving commitment to working with environmental issues. In 1999 the operations at the Swedish plant were certified according to ISO 14001 the international specification for environmental management system which specifies the requirements concerning environmental impacts from organisational activities. The environment management system assures that they follow existing legislation and that they fulfil environmental demands from their customers, owner and neighbours. The system also covers surface treatment, product development, packages and waste management and which areas they continuously focus upon.

It’s not easy to keep your staff happy and working to the best of their ability. As an employer you must not only manage your staff and be an excellent communicator, but you must also be able to keep your team driven and feeling valued. One of the best ways to keep your office motivated is to take part in seasonal celebrations. Let’s face it; it’s not easy going into work over the Christmas season and as Christmas day draws nearer and nearer, we all tend to want to be with our families and friends celebrating. However if you bring a little Christmas into the office, your staff we feel as though they are celebrating the moment too. Have you ever worked in an office where the decorations where adequate for such an occasion? More often than not, offices are decorated with very little in the way of holiday decorations; however we can help you make a tree which will be sure to impress even the most demanding of Christmas enthusiasts.

You Will Need

• Christmas tree – artificial is best
• Paper clips
• Various other office supplies
• CD’s
• Shredded Paper

Firstly you will need to put together your tree using the instructions provided. Remember, the best time to add lights on any Christmas tree is now. It is pretty much impossible to add lights in an effective way when you have already loaded the tree with decorations.

Next you will need to decide on an object to go on top of the tree which is symbolic to your office, some kind of mascot maybe. This would have been hopeless in the case of one of my previous jobs; our office mascot was my 2 year old daughter! Take a look around the office, maybe there’s a teddy that you all believe brings you luck, a stapler which has been lost and found a ridiculous amount of times and has become some kind of a joke, or maybe there’s a giant rubber band ball which everyone has been adding too. Whatever seems appropriate for your office, use it. You may need to use paper clips to help secure your object to the top of the tree.

Your next stage would be to decorate your tree with a tinsel substitute, remember, this is an office Christmas tree. You could link paper clips to make shiny silver chains or join CD’s using rubber bands to make a giant shiny length of tinsel. Alternatively, cut sticky strips from Post-it Notes to make paper chains (this works best with various different coloured Post-it Notes). Drape your tinsel substitutes around the tree making sure to evenly cover the tree.

Using paper clips or tape, hang various office products from your tree as bauble substitutes. Use items such as staple removers, pens, staple strips, rubber stamps, glue sticks, you get the idea. You could even go all out there and throw on some shredded paper or hole punch confetti as artificial snow.

Last but not least stick some pressies under the tree. Maybe you could organise some kind of secret Santa where everyone picks a name out of a hat and buys a present (up to a certain value) for that person. Your tree is now complete – enjoy!

The stapler is one of the most relied upon and used desktop accessories in the office today. When a group of papers need to be bound together, sometimes there’s no method more appropriate than the trusty staple. However there are many different types of staplers which will bind your paper; so which ones best for you?

The manual desktop stapler is the most common form of staplers for paper binding. You will find this popular model in most schools, homes and offices across the globe. It is a method that has been in widespread use for decades. Found in many different styles, the manual desktop stapler commonly uses 1/4-inch metal staples which are effective in binding a moderate amount of sheets, but no more than say 20 at a time.

Electric or battery powered staplers achieve the same basic results as standard desktop staplers, however what makes them stand out from the manual model, is their efficiency.  The motorised stapler is usually applied when dealing with large quantities of paper, saving time and effort. As well as boasting efficiency, the electric stapler also ensures an accurate result every time, whilst preventing wear and tear to the user’s hands!

However there will always be times when a standard stapler isn’t enough. With large piles of papers and plenty of them tormenting you from the corner of your desk, what else is there to turn to other than the heavy-duty stapler! These convenient models are capable of stapling many more sheets together than the manual or electric, standard stapler and can bind more than 100 documents with very little effort involved.

But how does the stapler work?

A stapler, in short, forces a small, thin piece of bendable wire, (a ‘staple’) down through the guide. Staples are loaded into what is called the ‘magazine’ making sure that the two points are facing down and that the spring is pulled back to make room for the strip of staples. The spring creates tension which pushes the staples toward the front of the stapler. When paper is placed between the guide and the anvil, pressure is applied to the head of the stapler, forcing the staple to pierce the pages until they come into contact with the anvil. The anvil has small, curved grooves so that the ends of the staple are forced into this groove, where the pressure forces them to bend. The wire then bends inwards (or outwards depending on the stapler), creating a lock around the pages.

The paper clip is a clever and underestimated little device found in most premises across the world which holds several sheets of paper together by means of pressure (among other uses). It leaves the paper intact and can be easily removed. But who invented this simple, very basic yet irreplaceable tiny wire loop? It turns out that over a short space of time, there were many claims for the invention of the paper clip, however according to the Early Office Museum, the first patent for a bent wire paper clip was awarded in the United States to Samuel B. Fay, in 1867. The clip was actually intended for attaching tickets to fabric, although the patent acknowledged that it could also be used to attach papers together. Fay received U.S. patent 64,088 on April 23, 1867. Another prominent paper clip design was also patented in the United States by a man named Erlman J. Wright in 1877. This clip was intended at that time for use with fastening newspapers.

The paper clip gradually evolved to fill the specific need of fastening large amounts of paper in order to hold sheets together. Binding was not a practical solution for keeping just a few sheets together, such as a short set of documents or receipts. Considering paper was invented sometime in the first century A.D., people managed to make do without anything like our modern paper clip until the end of the nineteenth century. Other methods of fastenings sheets included a ‘slit’ method where pages were cut in the corner, making two short parallel slits. Ribbon or string could then be threaded through these slits and the ends tied and sealed with wax. Another method was to use a straight pin and ‘pin’ the sheets together. However the slit method and the pin method both had one unavoidable drawback: the paper had to be pierced. Pin holes caused less wear on paper than slits, however if pages needed to be added or removed many times, the pinned area would be subject to a lot of wear, leading to drooping or tearing. Another drawback to the pin method was its basic nature of being sharp, which inevitable pricked many fingers over the years. Pins also tended to rust if left in place for long periods of time.

Paper clips today are a 100% reusable item, unfortunately however, many see the inside of a bin way before their time. Many recycling schemes are put into place where paper clips are required to be removed before paper is put into recycling bins. Some recyclers use metal detecting equipment which can separate staples and paper clips, enabling these items to be recycled separately. Interestingly, one paper clip industry study estimated that the vast percentage of paper clips were never used as intended (to hold paper) but instead were bent and destroyed to be used as cleaning or prying instruments. A paper clip is also a useful accessory in many kinds of mechanical work including computer work, where the metal wire is required to be unfolded. There are several devices which call for a very thin rod to push a recessed button (usually to reset the device) which the user might only rarely need. There is also the rather crude use for a paper clip involving unfolding and twisting the wire to pick locks, however we at Office 365 do not want to be seen to encourage this activity with the paper clips we sell, unless in an emergency! As paper clips are inexpensive to both manufacture and to buy; most are not re-used or recycled but are unfortunately just thrown away. Let’s hope that with recent recognition of our planets economical state, that we are all being far more responsible when it comes to the recycling of our paper clips.

Where ever you are and whatever you do, binding will play an important and regular part of your day to do life. Whether you’re at home organising your paper work or CV, a student, teacher or an administrative professional, you will at some stage need products to help you bind your documents.  Maybe you’re looking to bind a school report, company minutes or a business plan, if so, you will need to decide which binding solution is best for your needs. We have some ideas which may help you make up your mind; read through the options below and decide which is best for your document.

Binding Combs

Comb binding is a punch-binding method which is a relatively common technique used across the globe. It allows people to bind documents of varying size together by using a flexible, plastic spine. Comb binding machines have a set number of pages which can be punched at a time, so pages may have to be done a few at a time rather than feeding the entire document into the machine at once. Found commonly in schools, businesses and most office and educational facilities, an advantage of comb binding is its ability to be opened and adjusted for adding or removing pages. The binding combs can also be removed and re-used for later projects.

Binding Coils

Coil binding allows you to add appeal to important business documents. It allows your pages to conveniently wrap all the way around the spine leaving your documents flexible for mailing. Coil binding machines use spring-like coils, also known as spirals, to bind your paper, documents or booklets together. You will be left with a traditional notebook style spiral bind. The biggest difference between coil binding and the old spiral notebooks is the binding element. Our coil binding elements are made from PVC plastic rather than metal. PVC plastic coils are highly durable and do not bend or stretch with use making them last that much longer.

Staples

Stapling is possibly the simplest and most common form of binding. You can find staples in small, regular, and large industrial-sizes, industrial-sizes being thicker than the average staple, requiring a stapler that is twice the size of the average desktop stapler. Documents bound with staples are usually punched at the top left-hand corner or a few times along the left-hand margin so they can be opened like a book.

Presentation Folders

Presentation folders are found in most schools, offices and homes across the globe and can hold numerous sheets of paper. They feature metal teeth which loop through holes in punched paper and then close shut to secure them in place.

Slide Binders

Slide binders are a great way to bind documents without having to create any holes in the paper, keeping your documents in pristine condition and allowing easy access. They are a simple plastic wrap over folder which features a unique plastic slide lock. These folders typically feature a clear plastic cover and a long piece of plastic that slides onto the left hand side and locks the papers and cover in place. This form of binding is very convenient however only hold about 20 sheets of paper.

Ring Binders

Ring binders can be found everywhere and are one of the simplest and most useful forms of binding there is. They feature a plastic cover with metal clasps and come in a wide variety of sizes and styles. The most popular in the UK is the two-ring binder which accommodates the two-hole punch in loose leaf. This method can hold a large quantity of paper depending on its capacity which is widely available in many sizes. The only negative to this binding method is that it is best suited as a temporary binding method used for documents that aren’t often handled. Unless using plastic pockets, sheets will easily rip out and need to be repaired using reinforcement stickers.

String

You can use string to bind paper together and for crafts or other creative manuscripts. The string can be threaded through holes on the left-hand side of the document and tied at the top or bottom

Treasury Tags

Treasury tags or India tags are an item of stationery used to fasten sheets of paper to each other or to a folder. They consist of a piece of string, typically around 3 to 8 cm (1 to 3 in) long, both ends of which are held in the centre of a metal or plastic bar. Treasury tags are threaded through holes in paper made with a hole punch. Tags with strings of various lengths are available for fastening quantities of paper of various thicknesses.

Clips

Paper clips are an instrument used to fasten papers together consisting of a thin wire in a looped shape that takes advantage of the elasticity and strength of the materials of its construction (usually steel or some other metal, but sometimes plastic) to compress and hold together two or more pieces of paper.