Tag: Envelopes

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What are the must-have office stationery supplies?

As much discussion as there has been in recent years about the ‘paperless desk’, the reality is that, as almost anybody who has ever walked into an office will be able to vouch for, the average office is showing no sign of living up to that ideal any time soon!

And besides, why would you necessarily even want to have an office that was devoid of paper? After all, even the most IT-dominated office environment can be made more functional and efficient with the help of some well-chosen simple stationery, and here at Loco (http://www.loco.ie), we can point you towards the right stuff to buy.

Why? Well, because we’re a renowned source of all kinds of office supplies in Ireland, with our stationery selection being particularly enviable. But of course, especially when you are moving into an office for the first time – perhaps as a result of a new business start-up – you’ll want to know what stationery you are best advised to purchase.

The truth is that there’s much more to choosing the right office stationery than merely investing in some staples and paperclips, and even suddenly finding yourself short of something as simple as some binders or printer paper can hamper your productivity to a surprisingly great extent.

Of all the office stationary items that are available to buy, paper is surely the most obvious. It’s this stuff that you’ll need to have plenty of in your printer when there’s that vital business document that needs to be printed off. Or you may use paper to make random notes, among many other possible functions. The Loco online store is a fine source of a comprehensive range of paper supplies, including printer paper and copier paper.

Alternatively, you may be in need of items with which to write, such as ball pens, fountain pens, markers and highlighters and of course, many of these are useless without certain associated accessories such as a whiteboard or two.

Once you’ve purchased those, in such a deadline-dominated environment as an office, you’ll probably then want to consider those business supplies that are so invaluable in helping office employees to keep to their schedules, such as diaries and calendars.

Other must-have stationery items for your office include files and folders, which are invaluable for storing everything from legal documents to employee records. In this category, we stock everything from lever arch files and ring binders to plastic wallets and box files.

And of course, there are so many other examples of office stationery that you may or may not also be required to purchase, including everything from small desk calculators for the rapid working out of vital sums, to envelopes in which to send those all-important documents. With Loco (http://www.loco.ie), you are assured of a generous selection of must-have office supplies.

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Your messy office desk may help you think more clearly!

As you’d expect from an office supplies company, here at Loco (http://www.Loco.ie) we’ve always been proponents of clean, de-cluttered office desks and workstations. After all, we stock thousands upon thousands of office products which are designed to organise your desktop stationery and paper supplies so you can work more effectively. However, new research indicates that messy office desks could in fact help employees to think more clearly!

Scientists from the University of Groningen in Germany found that people who worked on messy office desks (as well as from messy shop fronts), thought more clearly than those with organised, mess-free work areas. It is thought that working among chaos makes the brain seek order and therefore organise thoughts in a clear and concise way.

The researchers behind the study say, “Messy desks may not be as detrimental as they appear to be, as the problem-solving approaches they seem to cause can boost work efficiency or enhance employees’ creativity in problem solving. Business and government managers often promote ‘clean desk’ policies to avoid disorganised offices and messy desks, for the purpose of boosting work efficiency and productivity. This practice is based on the conventional wisdom that a disorganised and messy environment can clutter one’s mind and complicate one’s judgements. However, not all evidence supports this conventional link between a messy environment and a messy mind.”

Those who still believe that tidy office desks lead to tidy minds can take comfort in the fact that the study revealed that not all people found their mind was ordered if their desks were not, however. Strangely, while conservatives among the study group did think more clearly when using messy office desks, political liberals weren’t particularly concerned about the state of their desk to begin with and so it had little effect on their thinking or productivity.

So why not use this new research to explain to your boss why your desk is piled high with files, old, opened envelopes and various office products – you’re not being messy, you’re being productive!

For those of you who can’t stand the thought of working in chaos, however, take a look through all of our office products which will help you de-clutter your desk at http://www.Loco.ie

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Office paper…how complicated could it possibly be?

If paper isn’t amongst the business supplies that you regularly shop for here at Loco (http://www.loco.ie), then you may be curious as to how you could possibly make the wrong choice when the time does finally come to stock up on some. After all, you might have reckoned to yourself… paper is paper is paper, right? And aren’t we supposed to have left paper behind by now, anyway? Aren’t we supposed to be in the age of the ‘paperless office’?

Well, the answer to that last question may be “yes”, but try saying that to anyone who suddenly remembers something that they need to do for a tight deadline that night. More likely than not, instead of noting it on a whiteboard or even the ‘notes’ app of a tablet computer, they’ll reach for a pen and paper before carrying on their merry way. Clearly, we human beings aren’t quite ready to move on from paper yet, and that’s before one considers the continued relevance of high quality printing.

Although many business communications may take place via email these days, you might still want to print out details to keep from time to time, while there are also many other potential reasons to use the old fashioned ‘snail mail’ – such as for title deeds, signed documents and wills. At all times, making the right choice of printer paper and similar supplies helps to maintain the most positive and professional image – and goodness knows how much office-based companies in Ireland need that in the light of the recent economic turbulence.

In keeping with our proud status as the ultimate one-stop shop for office supplies, here at Loco we offer not only printer and copier paper but also the likes of labels, books, envelopes and pads. From 80gsm A4 paper and wide format paper to preprinted stationery and blotting paper, you’ll soon realise that there are many different types of paper that offices require, distinguished by different sizes, colours, weights and textures.

Choosing the wrong type of paper for your given office printer or copier can have disastrous results, so read carefully. For your laser printer or copier that produces text and image using heat and toner, you’ll need to purchase the smoother paper that produces the crispest results. Meanwhile, textured paper is more suitable for the water based ink of inkjet printers, as the ink is able to dry faster. This means that you’ll have sharper text and images with reduced bleeding.

In addition to this, Loco (http://www.loco.ie) offers a vast range of envelopes, including preprinted envelopes, padded bags, machine envelopes and gusset envelopes. Our labels range, meanwhile, encompasses the likes of copier labels, address labels and laser labels, and we also sell the likes of duplicate books, repositional notes and signature books. It all demonstrates the real and continued relevance of paper in an office environment that is also more technologically advanced than ever.

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Are you, like Yahoo, getting tired of remote working?

Anyone who spends at least some of their life working at home is sure to have taken an interest in the latest news about Yahoo actually attempting to drag its employees back into the traditional office. It’s a development that has attracted stern disapproval from the likes of Virgin’s Richard Branson, a keen remote worker himself… and it may have made you wonder whether it’ll take more than just some of Loco’s (http://www.loco.ie) well-priced office supplies Ireland to keep you happy with your own home office.

The good news for you home workers out there is that despite Yahoo’s curious contradiction of the zeitgeist, flexible and remote working practices are hardly likely to go anywhere, any time soon. Indeed, it seems that the current global economic uncertainty has only further accelerated this trend. For every company like Yahoo that remains cynical about remote working, it seems that there are hundreds more that are operating out of somebody’s garage or attic, with bosses perhaps hiring office, conference or meeting space on a much more ‘ad hoc’ basis than in the past.

After all, just look at the Olympic Games in London. Faced with the widespread traffic disruption that you tend to get when something as logistically monumental as the Olympic Games rolls into town, many employees preferred to stay at home, where they probably already had computer desks ready and waiting for them to ensure absolutely no shortfall in productivity. Even when you aren’t formally ‘in work’, it’s much more customary these days for that to effectively be the case, as many clients expect a swift response to their query at seemingly any hour of the day. Internet-enabled smartphones and tablets are certainly proving anything but redundant toys.

Even if you are struggling to fall in love with home working, our advice is to stick at it… and consider the many ways in which people just like you are boosting their home productivity. Why not clear your working space of a lot of that distracting clutter, for example? Or maybe you could do with a wall or notice board on which to jot down those last minute assignments that can be so easily forgotten? We take pride in being a truly complete source of office supplies here at Loco, whether you could do with mere laser toners or dry markers or even a whole new file cabinet.

Here at Loco (http://www.loco.ie), we stock everything that you could possibly require to make your home office feel like a real office, to the point that you’ll barely remember what the traditional ‘9 to 5’ felt like. From envelopes and pens to office storage and machines, there’s nothing that isn’t covered – and if you do think of something that isn’t, let’s just say that we’re all ears!

 

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Envelopes – Long Distance Communication Legends!

From inkjet labels to office furniture, we stock all the latest kit. But some business supplies feel like they’ve been with us forever. Take the humble envelope – such a household and office staple seldom gets given a second thought. Well here at Loco (http://www.loco.ie) we like to give a little thought to the origins and history of all of our stationery supplies, and we often uncover surprising facts and a better understanding of our products.

Next time you send something half way round the world from your office chair with a click of a button, spare a thought for the humble beginnings of long distance communication. Dating back to 3500BC, the first envelope-type creation was made from clay and was shaped around important items for safe sending; it must have been a time consuming business getting your pottery wheel out every time you send a letter! Nowadays technology over tradition appears to be leading the way but thankfully it looks like the envelope is here to stay, as although it was predicted that demand would fall with the invention of email in the 1990s we are still using the trusty envelope as much as ever. The most commonly sent envelopes being the classic C and DL ranges.

Paper Envelopes as we would recognise them now began life as a luxury item of the rich no less, a novel way to encase invitations in the 19th century. You would have to cut your own from a sheet to show off your affluence, who would have thought the envelope was once a sought after mark of the rich and style conscious? Well, here at Loco we may not be able to make you look rich but we can offer an extensive range of envelopes for all your sending needs, ranging from sage compatible payslip wage envelopes to padded Jiffy bags of all sizes.

The office classic window envelope was first created by Americus F Callahan in 1901 who patented the film covering the window, though due to material shortages early on in the 20th century some envelopes would have no film covering the hole. A more economic way was invented where hot oil would be poured onto the window area which would turn translucent and reveal the address underneath. Luckily nowadays there’s none of this fuss and you can order your readymade window envelopes direct from our range of business supplies.

This overlooked convenience has shaped the way we communicate for thousands of years and is still here to help businesses the world over. At Loco (http://www.loco.ie) we are proud to help keep this tradition alive.