If you had to hazard a guess, how many times would you say you’ve broken or bend back a nail trying to unpick a staple? It drives me bonkers when shop assistants staple my receipt to vouchers or when you must complete and return a form however it’s stapled to the information letter! The amount of times I’ve needed to scan or photocopy documents, only they’re stapled together and so I must endure the awful task of removing the little mites! And why on earth do people staple notices and letters to walls and notice-boards; that’s what pins are for! You try pulling a staple out of the wall without doing damage to your nails…ouch! Worse still, try unpicking a staple when you’re a nail biter – impossible! I don’t mean to rant, but seriously there must be an easier (and less painful!) alternative?

Thank fully there is; using a simple gadget such as a staple remover will prevent all these woes however the icing on the cake is that it will quickly remove the staple from the material without causing the material any damage! Plus we’ve found another very innovative use for the staple remover! We all try and try and try again to add and remove things to and from our key rings, it can be such a nightmare resulting in the same bent back and broken nails and general frustration. The thin teeth of a staple remover easily fit between the rings of your key ring and when you clamp them down, they will separate the rings so that you can slide on your new key! Problem solved!

A great example of a quality model that costs you practically nothing at all is the 5 Star Black Staple Remover featured below.

• Classic traditional pinch type
• For home and office use
• Removes staples and pins easily
• Black
• RRP £1.63 – Our price just 33p!

For just 33p you could have this helpful little buddy that willingly and easily extracts staples keeping you free from pain, broken nails, lost keys, torn documents and general frustration! This things worth its weight in gold yet is surprisingly cheap, so why not? Plus at Office 365 you can guarantee super fast delivery and better prices still if you’d like to order in bulk! Simply order online for a fast and easy transaction, or call us on 0870 766 1624 for telephone orders and queries.

Thank you for your interest and we hope to welcome you aboard as one of our satisfied customers.

All artists, no matter where they are in their career will have a strong desire to present and display their work well. Students are a typical example of this as they strive to produce work of a standard that will allow them a pass at the end of their schooling. Art and design requires a huge amount of concentration, focus, imagination, inspiration and dedication. When you have put all this and more into a piece of artwork, or into a design, it becomes your baby; precious, vulnerable and completely invaluable! So what should you do next?

1. Protect it! – The last thing you want is for your hard work to be ruined by spilled drinks, coffee cup rings, rain and wear.
2. Transport it safely! – If you need to get your artwork or decision from A to B then you’ll need an effective method of transporting it which will keep it in pristine condition.
3. Store it! – Don’t just stick it on a heap and assume it’ll be safe; you can do better than that! Find a solution to store it protected and preserved so that you can refer back to it again and enjoy its excellence.
4. Present it! – Time to hand it in? Hoping for a ‘wow’ reaction? Do your work some justice by displaying it well; it’s no good just shoving it on a desk for viewing, the chances are it will become crumpled in some way or worse still, go missing. Display your work in a way that will impress the observer!

Here at Office 365 we have the solution to all of the above; A3 Landscape Ring Binders! Take a look at the Elba ring binder featured for a great example.

• Four O-ring binding mechanism, ideal for use with presentations, larger quantities of papers, or where extra security of contents is required
• Spine ticket label for quick reference
• 30mm ring size
• A3
• Oblong/Landscape
• Blue
• Packed 5
• Just £63.13 for 5!

All you need to create your fully fledged artwork and design protector, presenter, transporter, storage solution now, are plastic pockets to use with your landscape ring binders. Take a look at our selection of A3 plastic pockets here, which can be inserted into your ring binder for artwork to be stored, preserved and displayed effectively.

Every day we each consume untold amounts of paper in some way or other and most of the time we don’t even realise we’re doing it. We’re delivered papers, we read them – we bin them, we consume breakfast cereal in the morning, then bin the box, we dispose of various food packaging throughout the day with paper labels on it, if we’re unlucky we’re issued parking tickets, every time we use the bathroom we flush away more paper, we dispose of junk mail, old books, receipts, napkins, old print outs and newsletters at home and work, glossy magazines, delivery packaging and the list goes on! I recently cleared out my daughters art drawer and found an upsetting amount of wasted screwed up paper that had barely been used; she’d make a mistake and start over on a fresh sheet! Needless to say, I had words! So today’s blog is about paper and its effects on our environment, but also what we can do to make things right.

Did you know? (Facts taken from The State of the Paper Industry, a report published by the Environmental Paper Network)

• Forests store 50% of the world’s terrestrial carbon, without them this pollution would inevitably lead to global warming.
• A sickening half of the world’s forests have already been cleared or burned, and worse still, 80% of what’s left has been seriously degraded.
• A whopping 42% of the industrial wood harvest is used in order to make paper.
• The paper industry is the 4th largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions among United States manufacturing industries, and contributes 9% of the manufacturing sector’s carbon emissions.
• Even in this age of recycling awareness, paper accounts for 25% of landfill waste and one third of municipal landfill waste.
• Municipal landfills account for an incredible one third of human-related methane emissions and methane is 23-times more potent a greenhouse gas than is carbon dioxide!
• If the United States cut office paper use by just 10% it would prevent the emission of 1.6 million tons of greenhouse gases — the equivalent of taking 280,000 cars off the road.
• Compared to using virgin wood, paper made with 100% recycled content uses 44% less energy, produces 38% less greenhouse gas emissions, 41% less particulate emissions, 50% less wastewater, 49% less solid waste and, of course, 100% less wood!
• In 2003, a pitiful 48.3% of office paper was recovered for recycling.
• Recovered paper accounts for 37% of the U.S. pulp supply.
• Demand for recycled paper will exceed supply by 1.5 million tons of recycled pulp per year within 10 years.

It’s clear that we have a situation here; however it’s one that is very easy to remedy! It is fundamentally essential that we ALL recycle our paper. We each have the facilities to do so and every county has recycling schemes we simply need to put paper recycling into practice to make it normal procedure. Each home and office should have waste bins and recycling waste bins and should ensure that each individual uses them correctly.

At Office 365 we are great believers in recycling and encourage it wholeheartedly. You’ll find we have a fantastic selection of recycled paper including A4 80gsm Paper. You can browse our selection of 80gsm A4 paper here along with various other sizes and weights. If you need any help or information, please don’t hesitate to get in touch – 0870 766 1624!

I’ve never actually known the correct term for these robust clips before, but they’ve always stood out to me with their strong clip section and there lever like metal clasps; there’s no other clip or fastener quote like them! The Fold Back Clip (also known as the binder clip) as it seems their called, are a concept that have been around for quite some time now and haven’t changed at all in its existence. The little binder was patented 100 years ago as a replacement to the tiresome process of manually hole-punching and binding papers with treasury tags. Now the addictive little play thing can be found in most every office, home, and even tool kit!

Foldback clips are made of a solid but flexible piece of steel and two hinged wires; when folded back, the binder clip’s metal hooks provide a leverage which opens the heavy-duty spring-loaded clasp. When you have fastened you papers or materials with the clasp, the metal arms fold forward again so that they are flush against the papers (or materials). Many people ask the question; why not just buy paper clips. The answers simple; paperclips just don’t hold anywhere near the amount of papers together as the foldback clip do, nor do they hold them as securely (despite our own Hercules the Paperclip protests). Other alternatives such as staples, treasury tags and wire/comb binders require the papers to be punctured; the foldback clip does not and is completely non-destructive.

Foldback clips can even be used in other areas aside from filing. Many people use them when hemming and for other material work and a great many people keep them in their tool boxes for temporary clamping and other such like tasks. Around the home they are useful for countless tasks; clamp them to your dressing table or mirror to hang jewellery from, or use them to gather jumbled leads together, the mind boggles! In the office they can be clamped to the sides of desks and the metal hooks can then be used to hang various leads and cables or even your tie if the office has become a little warm! There are certainly untold uses for these handy little gadgets!

Our Foldback clips come in many different sizes to suit different tasks:

• 19mm
• 24mm
• 25mm
• 32mm
• 41mm
• 50mm
• 51mm

The larger the clip, the bulkier load of paper or materials can be clamped. Smaller clips can be useful when filing in drawers and cabinets and they do not consume so much space. To browse a full selection we recommend that you visit our site where you will find all sizes and colours available to suit your individual needs. For help and advice please call us on 0870 766 1624.

It is very common practise these days to expect to present yourself and your knowledge during an interview using a flipchart. I’ve spoken to a couple of people recently who were both faced with the same thing; they mentally prepared themselves to interview for the new job, prepared their questions and prepared their ‘self sales speech’ so to speak, but however didn’t practise for giving a flipchart presentation. In both incidents they failed to make it to the next stage because of this. It can be extremely daunting to stand up and put pen to paper in front of a board of people and demonstrate your knowledge and expertise in an area, not to mention having to do so without notice and preparation!

Flipchart pads are widely chosen for presentations as they are a cost effective and simple way of providing a visual explanation for your audience. Enhanced with a spoken explanation, your flipchart presentation could be rather impressive! Practice your presentation at home first concentrating on making your points clearly, boldly and more colourfully as this way you are more likely to engross your audience. Flipchart pads are used to illustrate various points, sums and equations, emphasising words or topics, breaking down each subject until all areas have been thoroughly reviewed. Use the flipchart pad to impress the interviewer with your confident presentation skills and abundance of knowledge. Using bold visuals such as charts and graphs will help you summarise your points and make clearer areas which need to be broken down. Look at your flipchart simply as a visual boost to your speech.

• We recommend that you avoid using colours; yellow, pink, or orange. They are extremely difficult for the audience to see and could simply cause eye strain and annoyance.
• Also, avoid using too many colours, using just one dark colour and one ‘accent’ colour works best.

If you’re planning on preparing your flipchart pad in advance and taking it with you to interview, we have a recommendation for you. Try our Nobo Recycled Flipchart Pad featured. Thsi pad boast the following qualities:

• 40 sheets
• Post consumer recycled paper
• Perforated for easy tear-off
• Size: A1 813 x 584mm
• 100gsm – less chance of bleed through
• Packed 5
• Just £63.40 for 5 pads!

Made by our Nobo brand, this pad pleases all with its environmental credentials. However their best achievement is being awarded with the UK’s BOSS (British Office Supplies and Services) Federation Environmental Award 11 years running! The BOSS Federation is the trade association which serves the UK Office Supply and services industry by providing a range of initiatives, cost saving benefits and services, to enhance the business performance of its members. This comprehensive award scheme covers a wide range of environmental issues, such as reducing energy consumption and improving our employees’ working conditions.

Our blog page features many articles about paper sizes, weights and colours and we even have featured articles for help with which envelope to choose for each paper size; however we have never breached the paper whiteness subject before. Who would have thought that so much could be said about a single sheet of paper!? Alright so if you’re buying paper for your kids art, or for general filing print outs, then maybe the ‘whiteness’ will not matter too much to you. However there are many printing tasks which will require a particular grade of white in order to give the most optimum results. But what do all these numbers mean?

Brightness and whiteness can often be mistaken as much of the same thing; however this is certainly a misconception and should never be confused. It is true that the grade of brightness will affect the way we see printing on paper as whiteness does, however the effects are not the same and nor are the way they are measured. Paper brightness is a measurement of light reflecting off the paper at a standard single wavelength of the visible spectrum and refers to the amount of light a sheet reflects (0 to 100 percent, usually exceeding 90 percent). Paper whiteness on the other hand refers to the colour of the reflected light itself which can be seen as either yellow-white or blue-white (warm or cool). To give you an idea of what the standard paper whiteness is, International Paper has set its standard at CIE 145 whiteness.

So you may be looking at your paper now and thinking “that looks white to me” and it is true, individually white paper will always appear white; when it’s singular! Placed alongside other sheets of paper you will see that white paper comes in quite a range of ‘whiteness’s’ from very bright cool or blue white to a softer, warmer pale ivory/yellow white. In technical terms, the more blue light that reflects off the papers surface, the higher the whiteness.

But how does this affect your print outs? The whiter the paper grade, the brighter and lighter your images will be. You’ll find that coloured images on lower whiteness papers will appear noticeably darker and vice versa, the whiter the paper, the more vibrant the colours in the image.

Because paper whiteness is now so often referred to when choosing paper, we have incorporated whiteness scale options in our paper category so you can choose the whiteness that is best for your specific needs. The whiteness has been measured with a C.I.E. (International Commission on Illumination) measurement; the highest rating on our whiteness measurement is 169! This is our premium white paper for optimum printing results. Our Navigator paper brand specialises in this grade of paper and it is ideal for the production of full colour documents: newsletters, brochures, catalogues and more. Our whiteness range includes 134, 148, 150, 157, 161, 165 and 168 options too.

Semicircular office tables are very popular among busy offices due to their changeable nature. Taking up the space of a standard rectangular desk (minus 2 of the corners of course), there is certainly no sacrifice to choosing this option. Where space is limited the semicircular variety are often the best choice as many of our customer would agree and here’s why:

• A small office can be filled with these desks without so much risk of injury when squeezing past. Thanks to the rounded nature of this desk, two of the sharp corners are missing meaning that in tight conditions the risk is reduced.
• This useful desk alternative can double as a meeting table. Very often in smaller workplaces offices can double as training rooms, meetings rooms and more. In this scenario careful consideration needs to be taken when furnishing the office as you will need certain items of furniture to double as others. If you push two semicircular tables together, you can create a round meeting table.
• In offices you often find desks pushed against each other at the sides and at the front creating rows of desks. Where two desks meet head on, often partitions or screens are used to separate staff for privacy. The same goes for these desks; however they will create rows of circular tables thus reducing sharp corners. This is also a great idea when encouraging group work, however minus the separation screens of course!
• Semicircular desks allow freedom of movement. Most office chairs complete with casters so that workers can move from one end of their personal working area to the other with ease. A semicircular desk, thanks to its rounded nature encourages freedom of movement around the desk so that tasks such as printing, photocopying and scanning can be completed with as much speed and ease as computer work.

We have a range from Sonix and Trexus here at Office 365, however we highly recommend the Sonix Premium Mobile Semicircular Table featured. This innovative furniture piece has catered for every scenario and boasts the following qualities:

• Sonix flip-top table complements the rest of the range
• 25mm heat and scratch resistant tops with 2mm edging
• Includes locking castors
• Improved mechanism and quick release handle
• Semicircular
• Oak
• WxDxH: 1600 x 800 x 720mm
• Just £259.73!

Because this table is on wheels, it can move between rooms acting easily as boardroom and meeting room table and staff desk, in fact you could even use it in your canteen if you wanted to. However worry not, the table wont slide away whilst you are trying to work as the casters are lockable for when you’ve finished transporting it. Thanks to its flip-top, this table can be tucked away when not in use creating more space when needed, plus the surfaces are scratch and heat resistant so you know once you’ve made the investment it’ll stay looking nice and new for many years to come.

If you’re looking for a new type of pen to use for your everyday writing and note taking, something which is a pleasure to write with, then we may have just the thing! Sometimes we can get tired of the same of Biro (ballpoint); sure they’re cheap and effective, but sometimes there is the want for something a little bolder, striking, something different to write with. If you have pen fatigue, then give our gel pens a try, you may never turn back!

Here at Office 365 we like to recommend black gel pens as they’re favourites of our own! Replacing the standard ballpoint in our office is the luscious gel pen which uses a special ink that’s pigment is suspended in a water-based gel. It is down to the thickness of this ink and its opaqueness that it is able to show up more clearly on dark or slick surfaces than typical ink found in other pen varieties. Thanks to this, gel pens are used in many types of writing and illustration and are a favourite among many professionals worldwide!

Another benefit to gel ink is its ability to flow consistently. Due to its solidity as opposed to liquid or oil form, the ink will go on and on until the pen is empty. I am sure that I am not the only person that gets annoyed with standard pens when writing on a surface that isn’t level. A ballpoint for example, when leaning on a vertical surface, will cut out and stop. However gel ink is not sensitive to gravity and so not only remains constant, but keeps its full body and colour – no fading letters as your write! You can store your gel pen in whatever position you like, and it will be ready to go whenever you are.

At Office 365 our black gel pens come in an extensive variety of sizes and designs, for example, you will find nib or tip sizes from 0.3 mm to 1.0 mm and line width from 0.2mm to 0.8mm! With eco-friendliness beating strongly in our hearts, we recommend the Pilot Begreen B2P Rollerball Gel Pen featured.

• Bottle 2 Pen gel ink rollerball
• Smooth skip-free writing with vivid colours
• Made from recycled water bottles
• 89% recycled plastic (excluding replaceable parts)
• Retractable
• 0.7mm tip gives line width of 0.39mm
• Packed 10
• Black
• Just £17.79 for 10 pens!

Now you have your perfect pen (and enough spares to keep for whenever you lose it), you need to look after it! Although they do not need to be stored vertically, it is important that you remember to replace the cap after use. If you do choose to store your gel pen vertically, say in a cup or desk tidy; please try not to drop it in! This can cause a shock known as ‘ink drop’ to the gel inside by disturbing the pen’s vacuum, so make sure you place it in gently and it will last you a long, long time.

Have you ever made the mistake of purchasing what you thought was a stack of letter trays, only to find upon delivery that you actually only ordered one tray? You’re not alone, many people make the same mistake, as have I, and then realise that the price was actually very small come to think of it. So they then go on to buy another 2 or three to create that tidy letter tray stack upon their desk, perfect for filing everyday paper work. However this is where many stumble across their next obstacle. Many letter trays will not stack upon one another without the use of risers. Risers, also known as spacers, are those metal or plastic rods or lengths which can be slotted into grooves either side of the letter tray so that another can be placed on top. The additional tray will have grooves in which the top of the risers/spacers will slot into. This process can be repeated until you have the desired number of letter trays stacked upon one another.

It is clear to see that without careful consideration buying letter trays can become quite an ordeal! Well here at Office 365 we have the perfect solution to this common annoyance; self stacking letter trays . When you buy from us, you have the opportunity to select a range of options in order to make your search more accurate and far easier! So within our letter trays category, you can select a number of brands or colours to search under, and you can also select between stackable and self stacking. With a great many different refine options, you can tailor your search so that you find precisely what you’re looking for. We even clearly mark our items as singular or grouped, so you’ll find options such as the Avery Paperstack Self Stacking Letter Tray which comes in a pack of 6 trays or various singular trays so that you can arrange however many levels of filing you choose.

At Office 365 we love the Rexel Nimbus Self Stacking Letter Tray featured to your right. It stands out above the rest not only for its sleek looks and reputable brand name, but also for its tiny price tag too. Its qualities include:

• One tray only
• Rexel Nimbus Executive Letter Tray
• The luxurious A4 trays have the look of glass with the durability of acrylic
• The trays are robust with an integrated self-stacking feature
• The design allows for easy locating of papers
• Wipe-clean surface
• WxDxH: 270 x 320 x 60mm
• Clear
• Just £18.53!

When you look at the robust nature of this letter tray, it’s classy style and its perfect functionality, the cost per unit is considerably low. However if you’d like to purchase 15+ unit’s, we can certainly look at bringing this price down even further. Simply call us on 0870 766 1624 for a quote or for more information.

A common requirement for every office, workplace and home is the stapler, but, unfortunately, this item of stationery rarely remains stationary! As one of the first things to go amiss in the workplace, the stapler is possibly the most labelled item. I have witness fights break out over these contraptions! It seems the simplest course of action is to label it with a permanent marker, or purchase various coloured staplers so that each department has its own colour co-ordinated stapler. This way there are no arguments and certainly no mistaking who it belongs to!

Here at Office 365 we supply a vast selection of different types of staplers as there are always a number of different requirements needed of them. For example a very busy office may demand a stapler which can withstand constant use and in this case we would recommend our heavy duty staplers, where as a stapler with a longer arm will be useful for when book, pamphlet and leaflet binding is needed. As the most common form of binding, the stapler is commonly used in the homes, offices and various workplaces in order to keep documents organised, whether this be stapling two sheets of paper or two hundred! Another very popular choice is the electric stapler which reduces the time, stress and strain to individuals, alleviating the burden.

If you’re looking for the perfect product from our long arm staplers variety, then we may have found just the thing. Featured is our Rapid HD16 Long Arm Stapler from our top end range. It boasts qualities such as;

• Tough all steel design
• Ideal for stapling reports, brochures, magazines etc
• Size 400mm (16 inch) reach
• Takes staples no. 24 and 26/6-8
• Staple capacity 210
• Paper capacity 80Gsm sheets 40
• Throat depth (mm) 400
• Front Loading
• RRP £63.20 – Our Price £45.52‼ You save £17.68!

We highly recommend that prior to purchasing your stapler; you consider what will be required of it in the future. Rather than buying without consideration now and then purchasing again in the future to meet higher requirements, why not invest in a stapler that is capable of all your future tasks, it may cost more up front, however will save you money in the long run.