Cut Expenditure and Increase Profit with Sensible Buying of Quality Office Equipment!

Businesses need office equipment. Whether you work from an office at home or an office you travel to, office supplies are required whether you like spending the money on them or not.

The Initial Problem

Necessities such as ink cartridges for your printer may seem cheap, but when you’re purchasing them on a regular basis the costs soon add up! Too many businesses don’t plan ahead or search hard enough for the best quality at the lowest price, even for the smallest things.

Using an online store like www.a2boffice.co.uk to order your products on a regular basis can save you thousands of pounds in the long run. How? The quality merchandise on sale at stores with an excellent reputation like A2B Office are at excellent prices because they deal directly with the manufacturers in negotiating extremely competitive prices, which means the savings can passed on to you - the customer!

Sensible Buying

Knowing what to buy and when is a vital tool in business. Often owners and directors of companies’ don’t have the time to make all the buying decisions, and therefore have to hope a member of staff knows what he/she is doing (often wasting money using poor quality suppliers). Using a regular supplier (like A2B Office) will mean you know the items you are receiving are going to be of high quality, and at great prices. Not only will finding a great store for office equipment save you money, it will save you time in the purchasing process because you know who you’re dealing with straight away.

When deciding what office supplier to purchase from, ensure that they stock any products you feel you might need in the near future. For example, a laminator or cash register might be something you’ve considered, but have decided to stay away from for a while - if the office supplier you buy from has a wide ranging stock that includes these products then you know you won’t need to change suppliers any time soon!

Guarantee

Ensure the company you buy your products from offers a 14 day money back guarantee so you know you’re covered - and be sure to check they have not only an email address, but a phone number, speaking to who you are dealing with enables you to negotiate any concerns, standing orders etc. for the future.

Size does matter – if you have a big pic you need a big laminator

Why laminate?
Despite digital art taking the art world by storm and the vast amount of images (photographic and other) stored on computers we still want our artwork whether it be hand drawn, photographic or digitally mastered to be printed out and persevered for ourselves and for future generations to enjoy. We also need to protect paper documents, making them sturdier and more durable for frequent use.

Some of the printed materials we seek to preserve, protect and make sturdier include:

• Photographs
• Posters
• Pictures your child drew
• Pictures you drew
• Work place posters and notices
• Signs
• ID cards
• Menu’s
• Business cards
• Handbooks

An obvious solution is to use picture frames, which can of course work out very expensive not to mention tricky to hang requiring tools and picture hooks etc. Additionally there is the potential damage to walls etc. This is why lamination of pictures and posters is now proving so popular. There are various methods of lamination which ensure that high volume lamination as well as lamination of documents of all sizes can be accomplished quickly and easily within a small office, home or factory setting. Modern laminators are notoriously easy to use compared to laminators of days gone by and even the most technophobic amongst us can operate them.

What is lamination?
Lamination is a process of protecting pictures and posters inside a thin transparent, plastic film which is fairly durable, sturdy, can be wiped clean and is very inexpensive. It is also a light weight material, which means that the majority of laminated pictures and posters can be easily hung using sticky tack which ensures that there is no need for tools, pictures hooks and of course little to no damage to walls.

Different types of lamination

• Hot laminators
• Cold laminators
• Pouch Laminators
• Roll Laminators

Hot lamination (pouch laminators)
Hot laminators generally require a laminating pouch (clear lamination material folded in half, can also be coloured for greater creativity) which is slightly larger than the picture or poster to be laminated and of suitable size for the lamination machine. The picture is inserted into the pouch and then the closed end of the pouch fed gently into the laminator which will have been turned on and allowed to reach the required temperature before operation. When the laminate pouch passes through the laminating machine, the heat from the laminator melts the plastic adhesive on the pouch bonding the laminate to the picture and to itself.

These pouch style laminators can be found in the home and small office setting. They can laminate a multitude of sizes and thickness of documents.

Lamination pouches are available in the following thicknesses: 3mil, 5mil, 7mil and 10mil. Pouch laminators also come in varying sizes i.e.: A2, A3, A4 and ID sized. These laminators are generally portable, warm up within a few minutes and can accept documents up to 250 microns thickness. They are suitable for laminating photographs and paper and are mainly used in the home or office.

Cold lamination
Cold lamination requires no heat as the laminate is already sticky and can
be applied by manually. If you have a picture that might be damaged by the heat caused by a hot laminator, cold lamination is advised.

Roll laminators
Roll laminators are more likely to be used in industrial centers for high volume lamination and for lamination of very large items such as maps, posters etc. Schools may also use roll laminators to laminate posters and banners. Popular roll laminator sizes include: A1, A2, A3 and A0. The most popular sized roll laminator in use is 25 to 27 inches. Roll laminators wider than 65 inches are less common but very useful for laminating maps etc.

Laminator problems

• Paper is too thick to be laminated and edges do not seal properly
• Wrinkles in the laminate spoiling the picture
• The picture and laminate get stuck in the lamination machine
• The picture or poster you want to laminate is too big for the laminator or laminate material.
• Bubbles in the laminate

Many of the problems named above can be resolved by ensuring you plan ahead and buy a laminator that has a variable heat setting, is large enough for the job required and is properly used and maintained. A laminator with a reverse button is very useful for removing jammed objects before they get too caught up in the laminator’s rollers and damage the image or machine and laminators which allow for hot and cold lamination ensure you can protect different types of documents easily.

Whatever laminator you decide to buy, ensure you carefully consider how it will be used and what size documents you will be laminating, because where laminators are concerned, size does matter!

The joys of fax – a complete guide to the benefits of fax machines

Fax machines have evolved since 1843 but came into their own in 1966 when Xerox introduced the Magnafax Telecopier, a smaller and more user friendly model which could be connected to a telephone line.  While it took about 6 minutes to transmit a document, a snail’s pace compared to today’s speeds, it represented a major leap in fax machine technology.  In the 1970’s the Japanese took an interest in fax machines and the rest is history.

Why fax machines are preferable to Internet faxing

Even in the age of email there are still a lot of people who prefer the simplicity of sending a fax.  Not everyone has a computer, broadband or trusts the Internet and it is reassuring to know your document is printed out in the recipient’s office ready for action within seconds of being sent. 

The sender can print a report proving the transmission was received, with line number, date and time, whereas email reports only that a message was sent.  The email sender has no control over when the email will be received and read, or worse if it will get lost in the ether or junked by a hostile spam filter.

Handwritten or signed documents are much easier to fax than to scan and email.  Several pages of a document can be fed into a fax machine and transmitted in seconds.  Compare that to the tedious process of scanning each page individually then saving to your computer with a filename before attaching to an email.  I’m asleep already!

What you receive from the fax machine is a printed document you can read and process straight away.  Unlike an email attachment which can be opened only by the right software, which you may or may not have, or if you do, you may not have the right version.  By the time you actually get to open your document, the sender, who has since had a three course lunch followed by several rounds of golf, is already chasing your response.   Not too efficient!  You’re probably going to have to print the document too.  How time consuming when you could have simply ripped the pages from a fax machine.

New technology isn’t always best!

Stand alone fax machines – why they remain popular

Stand alone fax machines can still fulfill an important role for those whose time is money and who want a fast efficient and reliable method of transferring documents between two individuals.  The information is transferred almost instantly.  No need to wait for the boss’s secretary to finish her filing before retrieving her emails, reading them all, finding your document, opening it, choosing the settings and printing it out.

How much more satisfying to see the document emerging from the fax machine within seconds of being sent.  Remember all those films where the killer’s face is being printed out by a fax machine line by line just in time for the hero to catch him red-handed?  If the picture was sent by email, he would probably have committed three more murders by the time it was discovered amongst ads for penis enlargement!

Stand alone fax machines are simple to use, cheap to operate and legally compliant.  Having a single function they are reliable, long lasting and cheap to buy.  Quite simply – they do what it says on the tin!

My photocopier ate my hamster - Photocopier room 101 – common photocopier problems!

There is nothing more frustrating as a photocopying machine that isn’t working. Your boss wants photocopies yesterday and the photocopying machine isn’t working properly. If it’s not a paper jam, it’s printing solid grey blocks or worse it is printing blank pages. An error message comes up that is meaningless and the photocopier manual required for translating these photocopier error messages is no where to be found.

One of the best media examples of just how frustrated we can get with photocopying machines is in the cult film ‘Office Spaces’ where three of the male staff take the malfunctioning photocopier into an outdoor space and smash it to pieces. The photocopier is kicked, beaten with a baseball bat and jumped upon. The only thing they don’t do to the photocopier is set it on fire. That is one very broken photocopier with no hope of experiencing a come back!

Did you see a message at the end of the film that said  “no photocopiers were harmed in the making of this production?� Neither did I.

Most photocopier problems are caused by human error so we really only have ourselves to blame for photocopiers going wrong and not working properly.

Common photocopier problems include:

• Sitting on the photocopier to take pictures of your butt and other private parts.

It’s been reported that 23% of the reasons why photocopiers break down is due to staff sitting on them to photocopy their bottoms. You can therefore massively reduce your photocopier repair costs by not allowing staff to sit on the copier machine. There are some great youtube videos of staff doing just this and falling though the glass of the photocopier and suffering painful consequences not to mention a painful disciplinary meeting with the boss. If however you are the boss, you have only yourself to blame. Shame on you!

Other man made causes for photocopier problems:

• Forgetting to plug in the photocopier.
• Forgetting to turn the photocopier on.
• Spilling drinks on the photocopier.
• Getting food stuck on the photocopier, crumbs etc.
• Wrong sized paper. The error messages read: too thick, too thin, too small, too wide etc.
• Hitting, banging, kicking, dropping the photocopier.
• Wrong toner, empty toner, clogged toner, faulty toner.
• Paper jam.
• Repeatedly pressing buttons.
• Putting paper so it faces the wrong side down and so on.
• Pulling out copies before they’ve finished printing.
• Using poorly re-manufactured toners etc.
• The photocopier isn’t plugged in.
• The hamster (mentioned earlier) ate through the power cable.

Another common form of photocopier abuse is verbal. This takes the form of swearing and name calling. However unpleasant this may be, there is as yet no evidence to suggest that verbal abuse is harmful to the photocopier machine. So if you must abuse your photocopier, do so verbally, all be it quietly so as not to offend colleagues.

To avoid all of the above photocopier problems simply don’t do them.

More ways to avoid photocopying nightmares.

1. Don’t blame the photocopier because your passport photos make you look like the UK’s most wanted.

2. Don’t set the number of copies to 999 and leave the room to have a nice relaxing cup of coffee without first checking that you put the original into the photocopier, right way up.

3. More important, when double side printing, don’t set the number of copies to 999, and forget to turn the paper sheets over so you get 999 copies with both sides of print on one side of paper.

Conclusion: If you want to avoid photocopier room 101 be good to your photocopier and your photocopier will be good to you.

How safe is your money? Top 10 tips to prevent cash register fraud and theft

If you are in the retail business you undoubtedly use cash registers (shop tills) to process customer payments and transactions. Due to the storage of large sums of cash and the fact that cash registers sit prominently on the shop counter, cash registers are at risk of theft and fraud from both members of the public and your own staff.

How do members of the public steal from cash registers?
Members of the public can steal cash straight from your shop cash register cash drawer by leaning across (when staff are absent) and pressing the cash drawer release key. The cash drawer opens automatically revealing the cash inside.

Meanwhile it is not unknown for people to steal the entire cash register. The cash registers are rarely secured to the counter top and as some are smaller and more light-weight than others, they can simply be lifted off the counter.

How do staff steal from cash registers?
Cash registers are vulnerable to dishonest staff who steal from cash registers by taking money straight out of the cash drawer and keeping it. Alternatively they may only scan so many items for people who they know, letting them take the rest of the goods without payment.

Every year retail profits are affected adversely by cash register theft and fraud. The good news is that there are ways to prevent it.

Ten tips to preventing cash register fraud and theft

1. CCTV cameras
CCTV cameras can be positioned on the ceiling above the cash register with the view showing the employee and the customer. Signage is very important when using CCTV and in itself can often be a deterrent.

2. Staff log-in and out codes (clerk codes)
All staff should have their own cash register security code which they must use at all times to log on and off the system. Not all cash registers allow for this, but many of the higher priced cash registers do. It is very important to be able to know who is doing what with your shop till. If money has gone missing often the error or theft can be traced back to the exact member of staff but only if they use their clerk codes when operating the cash register.

3. Secure the cash register
Fixing the cash register to the counter top will prevent the cash register from being easily lifted off the counter top by would be thieves.

4.Remove large sums of notes regularly
Regularly remove large sums of notes from the cash drawer and place it in a secure safe. This ensures that the cash registers do not contain large amounts of money at any one time preventing large scale theft. Make it known that the shop cash register never holds large amounts of money via signage.

5. Safety in numbers
If possible always have at least two members of staff working on the tills. They can then observe each other preventing employee theft as well as acting as a deterrent for thieves.

6. Train staff to be alert
Staff should be alert at all times when operating the cash register and always use their own codes for logging in and out of the machine. This is for their benefit as much as it is for yours.

7. Identify when someone approaches an unattended till
You can buy various motion point detectors (such as pressure-switch mats) which can be used to alert you to someone approaching an unattended cash register. Ensure that there are no large racks etc. blocking the view of the cash register.

8. Open only when necessary
Ensure cash register drawers can only be opened for the purpose of taking customer payment and not for any other reason. This includes giving change for customer parking etc.

9. Empty your cash drawer
Always empty your cash drawer and leave it open in full view of the shop window so that would be thieves can see that there is nothing to gain by breaking in and taking the cash register.

10. Label your equipment
Ensure all equipment is marked with an identification number so that if the equipment is stolen and recovered, it can be returned to you.

Don’t let your profits sink with inefficient cash register security. Implement these cost effective measures, keep your money safe!

http://www.a2boffice.co.uk/category/69/cash_registers

New Article On Office Escape Systems

Our latest article includes images that are too big for this blog so we have published it on a regular page. It features three interesting high rise office escape systems and includes pictures and videos. Click on the link below to check it out:

The World Of High Rise Office Escape Systems

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The President of the United States is a powerful individual, and there are an awful lot of perks that come with the job—as Bill Clinton has made a habit of saying on the campaign trail this year, “you never stop at a red light, ever, every time you walk into a room they play a song, and your airplane is so cool that they make movies about it.â€� Being that this is Hillary’s campaign, it would make sense that Bill wouldn’t mention the Oval Office, or the full staff, as he’s been a very bad boy with both in the past. Read the rest of this entry »