Tax season is upon us and businesses are going to need tax forms.  Come close now................

closer.................

closer.........................

Normally at the beginning of the year I do a lot of blogs about the newest, latest and greatest office products to hit the market and trust me, I will do that this year also.  But today I'm writing about an item that's been around over 10 years already - the 3M Ergonomic Mouse.

Here we are again - another Wednesday.  That means it's Trivia Day!  (The crowd roars)

If you read my blog on Monday, you know that I was highlighting a crayon sharpener made by Elmer's.  You all know Elmer's (Elmer's Glue).  Well, today's topic is:

Elmer's Trivia

Do you remember grade school?  I do.  Well, some of it.  One of the things that I remember is my mom always buying me a new box of crayons every year.  They got used a lot.  And what happens when you use them a lot?  Yuppers..............they get dull and they need to be sharpened.  I usually had the deluxe box - the one with the sharpener built into it.  It was definitely better than one of those little plastic handheld sharpeners, but it was a pain to have to peel the crayon before you put it in the sharpener.

Customer Service.  Customer Care.  Customer Experience.

Every company has its own term for customer service.  What you call it isn’t important – what’s important is how your company does it.  Every business has customers. (OK, I heard a collective “Duh” just now.)  I know, that’s stating the obvious.  A business won’t stay in business if it doesn’t have customers, but it’s amazing to me how often companies forget that little fact.

It’s Tuesday afternoon, around 3:00pm.  You receive a phone call from one of your departments.  The employee tells you that the department will be out of a critical component by end of day and they forgot to tell you so that you could order more.  You immediately call your supplier.

My family and I went to visit my parents over the Christmas holiday and we spent some time playing games.  My parents still have some of the board games I used to play as a kid, like Aggravation.  Never heard of that one?  Guess I've got a few years on you..............Oh well.

Today's topic has to do with a game everybody knows.  That's right - today's topic is:

Monopoly Trivia

"It's the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting."

Paulo Coehlo

Happy 2016!

Well, another year is in the books.  Yep, it's history.

Books..........History..................Hmmm, I smell a trivia topic. Are you smarter than a fifth grader?  Let's find out!  Our topic today is:

U.S. History

About a week ago, I wrote about breakroom tables and chairs and promised a post on cabinets and appliances.  In order to make your company breakroom employee-friendly, you need to finish your design with good storage and amenities.

Both HON and Alera have some attractive modular hospitality cabinets.  The HON system offers more versatility and configurations than the Alera, but I like the styling of the Alera better than the HON.  Here are the components of the Alera group:

(Since we may be having a green Christmas here in the Midwest, here's a little snow to really make it feel like Christmas - and you don't have to shovel it!)

Christmas is almost here - I can't wait!  I'm still a kid at Christmastime, even though I'm <cough> years old.  (Sorry - had a tickle in my throat.)  I've had some Christmas songs running through my head all week, so I decided to do another quiz devoted to Christmas Trivia, specifically:

Christmas Songs

We appreciate your business and hope that you have a wonderful holiday! To allow all of our employees to spend time with family and friends, Office Express will observe the following schedule:

So you have a beautiful lobby and office area - good quality, attractive reception area furniture, coat racks for clients to use, bright airy spaces, plants to help create a relaxing atmosphere.  Maybe you have a coffee station set up in the lobby also for your visitors to use.  What about the space your employees use?  Do you have a spacious, welcoming, well-equipped breakroom where they can relax on their breaks and lunches?

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.....everywhere you go......................

Except here in Michigan.  It's December 17 and it's been in the upper 50's and 60's for about a week now.  No snow in sight............(that's my kind of winter!)

In honor of the upcoming holiday, I have:

Christmas Trivia

And we're back!  I just knew you couldn't wait for the riveting conclusion to our discussion.  Part 2 deals with images and a touch of color.

Let's start by discussing image resolution.  The optimum resolution for all files is 300 dpi or 600 dpi for line art or text.  Even if your job contains black and white images, they should be saved as grayscale at 300 dpi.  All images should be included at 100% scale (of the print size) and must be submitted in uncompressed TIFF format without layers (flattened). They must all be converted to CMYK colors.  Remember, a higher quality image resolution does not always result in better print quality.  Excessive image resolutions (beyond 300 dpi) will only dramatically increase your file size and, in most cases, will not improve the print quality.  Additionally, it may require extra time to upload larger files.

Sorry - I couldn't resist.

So here we are with another custom printing blog.  Today I'm going to start discussing artwork requirements for custom printing jobs.  I don't know about you, but I hate reading super long newspaper articles.  I see a story on the front page that interests me, I read the 2 columns and it says "See pg. A-4."  I turn to A-4 and there's a 2-page spread (full pages) with the rest of the article.  Remember the movie quote "You had me at hello"?  Well, mine is "You lost me at column 4." 'cuz that's about as far as you will hold my attention. 

How many times have you scratched your head, trying to remember who said something?  Well today, I'm going to test your memory with:

Famous Movie Quotes

I'd like to take a moment to reflect on the events of Dec. 7. 1941 and remember the troops who lost their lives in the attack on Pearl Harbor.  I know we just observed Veteran's Day, but to me, Pearl Harbor deserves a special remembrance.

Here's another product that I recently tested for cleaning and disinfecting office surfaces - Scott 24 Hour Sanitzing Wipes.