Do you know who's watching you?  Do you keep an eye on your home or business effectively?  Every so often I like to showcase an unusual item - one that you ordinarily might not think of trying to purchase from your office supply dealer - and today I'd like to show you our selection of surveillance cameras and dashcam recorders.

Did you know that Office Express carries art & drafting supplies?  Yes, we do!  Whether you are a draftsman, an architect, a teacher or a student, we can help.  

We have a great selection of drafting tables, wall racks, mobile plan centers and roll files.

Today is my father's 79th birthday.  He's an amazing man, father and husband.  He's also a mechanic, a do-it-yourselfer, a carpenter, a plumber, an electrician - you name it, he can do it.  Doing all those projects and odd jobs requires a lot of tools - and believe me, he has a lot of tools!

Why am I telling you all this?

If you have a large conference room (or two) in your facility, or if perhaps you are a teacher in a school, you probably have a PA system available to use for events with lots of participants.  But sometimes the microphone isn't quite the right tool.  What do you do if your event is outside? Perhaps you're the school's football or soccer coach.  Or your company is sponsoring a 5K charity run.  Or your subdivision association is having an Easter egg hunt.  Or you're conducting an emergency preparedness safety drill.  How do you make your voice heard above the crowds?

If you're like most people, you have a desk tray of some kind that functions as your "In" box at your desk.  This is the central location where people drop off assorted documents for your attention.  It probably looks something like this: 

Safco has introduced a unique new line of powered desk accessories that allow you to charge your USB devices while you work.  You can also operate USB peripherals (keyboard, mouse, etc) from it.  When I heard about them, I thought they were a fantastic idea and couldn't wait to check them out.  There are four products in the line - a monitor stand, an organizer with three drawers, an organizer with three upright sections and three horizontal sections, and an organizer with six upright and two horizontal sections. 

Spring is just around the corner and many of you are already planning your spring cleaning projects - home, office, school, etc.  What products will you use?  There certainly are a lot of different brands to choose from - and most of them contain harsh chemicals.  If you are concerned about the effect these chemicals have on your health, or if you want to be green and environmentally friendly, consider the CleanSmart product line.

Why do consumers laminate? Mostly for protection and presentation - you may need to protect a price list or a menu from spills or maybe you want to laminate a document that you'll display at a conference to enhance the colors.  So you buy a laminating machine and all the supplies that go with it.   Well today I'd like to show you an alternate solution - Xerox Revolution Never Tear Papers.

If you are located anywhere in the eastern half of the United States, you got hit with some pretty nasty weather this week - high winds, tornadoes, snow storm, etc.   Were you prepared?  If you're like most people, the answer is probably no.

Regardless of whether you are an individual or a business, you need emergency supplies.  Now, I'll bet that the first things that popped into your head when you read that last sentence were food, medicine, water, clothes and blankets.  Those are definitely all items that should be in your emergency kits, but 

The kids have been back to school for a couple weeks now and hopefully the reviews of last year's material are almost over.  Time to move on to new (and exciting?) topics.

If you are an elementary school teacher, this item may interest you.  It's called Measure Man Bulletin Board set. 

I don't like having to constantly write the same thing over and over again, so I am a huge fan of stamps.  I have several of them on my desk; some are pre-made and some are custom stamps.  They're very handy and easy to use, but the one thing that I don't like about them is that they take up so much room on my desk.  I used to have a tray that held some of my smaller stamps, but it only fit one size of stamp, so the others still had to sit somewhere on my desk.

Ruth to the Rescue!

(Sorry - if you're not from the Detroit area, you won't get that.)

Meet Stamp Stack®.

Part of any company’s budget is cleaning and janitorial supplies – also referred to as Jan/San.  Every business needs to put forth a neat, professional appearance for its customers as well as handling normal sanitation like cleaning restrooms and kitchens. 

Even if you outsource the major part to a cleaning company, you still need basic supplies like toilet tissue, facial tissue, dish soap and paper towel and those items can take a bite out of your budget.  We can help you tame that budget with our large selection of jan/san products.  “Office products” used to be just items like pens, pencils and paper, but times have changed and the office products industry now includes so much more than only those types of items.

For many people, one of the most frustrating things about working in an office is the paperwork - piles and piles of paperwork.  Some people like to have it out on their desk where they can see it so that they won't forget about it.  Others like to file it away and have a nice, neat, clean work surface.  They take papers out to use them and then file them back in the drawer when they're done.

If you are in the medical industry, chances are that you buy your office supplies from an office supply dealer and your medical-specific supplies from someone else.  Did you know that you can get many of your medical items from us also?

We carry a large assortment of items for the medical industry - from first aid supplies, to masks, to exam room supplies (yes!), to diagnostic equipment like aneroids and percussion hammers, to waste containers and hospital grade cleaning supplies including brands like Sani-cloth, Dymon, Metrex and Beaumont Products. We have furniture, medical labels, exam room status signals, Sharps containers, wheelchairs - the list goes on.

What do you do with all the papers you use daily?  If you're like most people, they go a) in a file folder, b) in a desktop tray or sorter or c) in a ring binder.  And if you chose "c'"  what do you do when one of the 3 holes in the paper rips?  Righteo - you apply one of those little adhesive reinforcement labels so you won't lose the paper.

There have been so many times that I sat at my desk wishing that I had invented the sticky note or the paper clip - seemingly simple items that made somebody other than me a lot of money.  Why can't I come up with an ingenious idea so I can be filthy rich?  Just think of all the paper clips that are used in all the offices and homes throughout the world - it's staggering.

Yes, you read that correctly.  

I think this keyboard is the answer to my problems.  Up until now, it seemed to me that there was no good way to really keep my keyboard clean.  For my home computer, I purchased a keyboard skin - that sounded like a great solution.  I ordered one customized for my particular keyboard and it kept the keyboard in pristine condition - but the skin got grimy after a while and nothing that I used to clean it really worked well.  After a few years, I threw away the skin and went back to using the keyboard by itself.  I dust it, spray with canned air, use keyboard wipes, but still stuff gets in between the keys or on the keys and it's difficult to get it really clean.  Know what I mean?

We live in a world of technology.  We have smart phones, tablets, laptops, mp3 players, iThingies - the list is endless.  And all of those wonderful gadgets need power.  They last for a day and then need to be recharged.  And if you forget to charge it..................................

Problem.

Here's a neat idea from Swingline - a stapler that you can customize.  The Skins Fashion Stapler is a half-strip stapler that can staple up to 20 sheets of paper and it uses standard staples.  

Ergonomics has always been an issue in offices.  Companies are responsible for providing a safe work environment for their employees and ergonomically correct work spaces are part of that safe environment.  It's important to realize that ergonomics encompasses more than just a good office chair.  Proper height and tilt of a monitor, elimination of glare, distance of the keyboard from the user, keyboard position and angle, clearance under the desk, headsets for frequent phone use, and even the type of stapler you use are all factors in an ergonomically correct space.