Ways to use tape

Have you ever wondered what different ways you can use tape?  The process is endless and the amounts of things you can do are absolutely fantastic. I have found that by moving into a house and going through all the tasks that come with home ownership has given me a great love for all kinds of tape.  The uses are endless and I find that having a few different types on hand can actually be helpful and save a ton of time.  So lets break into my favorite types of tape to have on hand and what to do with them or where to get them.

First and foremost the the most important tape to have on hand is actually scotch tape.  This is because not all projects are huge and require massive amounts of strength.  I find that wrapping present, getting letters ready and holding small things together simply happens more often then not. I mean in all honesty if you don't have a bunch of rolls of this on hand then you probably don't celebrate birthdays, or Christmas.  

It is by far one of the most important packaging supplies to have on hand.  Plus if you need to wrap a gift and don't have this on hand then you are most likely going to be late for the party.  We have all been there and last minute wrapping is a thing that happens way too often. I prefer getting the absolute clear tape because it works better in a wide variety of places and uses.  Now lets talk about a tape from the opposite end of the spectrum.

You guessed it, I am going to talk about duct tape.  This tape was not originally created for ducts.  Instead it was a World War Two creation that was meant to seal up ammo cans and keep them from getting water inside.  This durable type of tape made its way back into the United States by soldiers who found this tape to be useful over seas and now useful stateside as well. I have used it from actually taping pipes, to taping a paintbrush to a long extendable stick to paint high areas on the house.  THis is an important product to me because it patches lots of things and holds difficult items together. It is one of the most important packaging supplies around and I love to use it to wrap christmas gift with it as well.  It comes in Christmas colors now as well! So enjoy tape and use it well and keep lots of it on hand!

Amazon Selling Experience

It has been a long time since I have sold an item on Amazon. But I was one of the original individuals who sold items and books on Amazon.  It has been a long time, but I don't think much has changed when it comes to the process of selling on amazon.  Now it has become one of the biggest companies in the world and definitely rules the online market for selling.  E-commerce was brought into a new world when Amazon took off.  This year they have almost doubled their value and that is all because of the e-commerce boom caused by pandemic.  So I want to go over my experience with Amazon.

Back in the day it was pretty simple to be a seller. As far as I remember it was almost the same process of eBay.  The difference that I found was the contact that was not there when people made offers and purchased your item was rather low.   I am pretty sure they only sent one email and that was difficult to find back in the day of mega spam before gmail was the epic and all encompassing email supplier. This meant that I shipped items a little late and didn't get items as fast as I would like and I think that was a huge part of it.  Phones were not smart and also did not have apps that created the simplicity of selling. 

This was the first part of selling and once I finally got my items listed and knew that they were sold I was able to get the process rolling.  This is when the fun begins, because you start getting money in your pocket and then you are at the time to start shipping.  So make sure you have your packaging supplies in order.  I always like to pre package my products and get them ready before they are sold. That is because they are done quickly and out the door. Having your products ready to ship means you have your packaging supplies on hand already and you won't have to run out and get some and be in a rush.  It feels weird having money and not done the work and can cause anxiety.  So it's nice to get it done beforehand.

 I didn't have a terrible experience and I am sure it is even better these days with the addition of the app with notifications. So enjoy selling and make some money!

How Custom Lunch Boxes Make Lunch Interesting

 Want to make your lunch really shine? Then get a custom lunch box made. Despite the appearance, it’s great for holding onto any sorts of food that you have.

This is great for both adults and kids, and you’ll be able to show off the food that you love, with a little bit of attitude too! 

You can get custom printed boxes for your lunch too, which is great because it gives you the attention that you want. As you look at the best ways to make lunch a lot better, and don’t focus too much on the food, but rather the packaging, this can change the way you approach lunch.

When you do this, it also does turn the tables towards your benefit, and there are tons of great ways for you to definitely use this. You can even buy these too in wholesome varieties, which offer a ton of great ways to give kids the lunch boxes that they will know, and love too! 

The Variety of this 

The cool thing about lunch boxes is that you can customize them as you want. You can offer ones with features that are interesting, hard to ignore, and look both professional, and personal too. 

There are a lot to choose from.

You can get party lunch types of boxes. They’re simple lunch boxes, and they can be used at parties primarily. This is great for events for kids and teens. 

You can get different designs on these too, and even get them themed. They also offer holiday varieties, so if you’re going to have a holiday party and want to add these, you’ll be impressed with the difference that this makes.

They’re also great too for cleaning up the messes at parties, and you don’t have to worry about getting anything damaged either.  They’re custom printed too, so they’re almost like a party decoration in it of itself! 

Stackable handle boxes for your lunch are also great because they are able to be disposed of immediately, due to the material that’s used in them. They also can be made out of a variety of different materials, including paperboard, corrugated cardboard, cardboard, and kraft paper. The kraft ones are great for lunches that are catered, since they are simple, elegant, and flashy. The handles are also even easily too, so you can stack them when they’re not in use.

The handles also come with a unique lock for securing the food, making it easy to carry these boxes as well. they’re recyclable too, making it a versatile option for you to try out. 

Then there are wholesale lunch boxes. These are boxes that you can use for any sorts of food that you want to hold.  You want to get these especially if you’re a food place, because they’re great for holding the containers and preventing spillage.

You can even get these edible too, and they also come in forms that are useful for liquids too.

Finally, you’ve got the custom printed ones. This is something that’s great for companies that are looking to have a more interesting sort of lunchbox to give to the customers as takeout. These are great for companies looking to stand out, and you can get this for attracting the eyes of both kids and adults.

There are also bakery boxes you can get in here, which are great for snacks and cookies. There are so many options, that you choose what fits the budget, and also, you’ll be able to give these out to others, giving the experience that you want to.

How to Get Free Shipping Items

With customers wanting affordable and fast shipping, the costs of shipping is getting higher than ever.  Affordable shipping is important, but it doesn’t have to completely break your finances.  There are different shipping supplies which you can get from different retailers of all kinds. For small businesses, the dollars saved do matter, and for larger companies, free supplies for larger shipping items and volumes of this does save you big bucks in the long haul. Here is how you can get free shipping supplies, and how you can lower costs immensely. 

Check Carriers 

There are four shipping carriers that actually offer this. UPS actually has a lot of resources and ways to ship, which makes it easier for you to ship items. They offer the following types of supplies for free: 

• Envelopes 

• Pouches 

• Stickers and labels 

• Shipping forms 

• HAZMAT items 

FedEx as well offers free FedEx Ground and Express shipping items that you can pick up or order on their online store and delivered within 2-5 days of business. FedEx offers these for free: 

• Airbills 

• Triangular boxes 

• Boxes 

• Pouches 

• Mailers 

• Shipping labels and forms 

USPS also offers this too, and it’s a pretty decent selection. You can order these online or picking these up directly at the USPS place you need to go. USPS actually offers bulk supplies of 10 or 25 for free, so if you choose an amount, you can choose the packs of these to order. They offer: 

• Priority mail 

• Registered mail envelopes 

• Priority mail express boxes 

• Tracking labels 

• Global express envelopes 

Finally, you’ve got DHL, which is considered on for the best international shipping companies. They aren’t as expansive as say UPS or FedEx, but they have a network to get the products that you want sent at the best rates possible. They offer these supplies free of charge: 

• Labels for shipping 

• Envelopes 

• Pouches which are padded

• Tubed mailers 

• Waybill sleeves 

• Mailers period 

• Various boxes 

How to Use These 

There are a few things tat will let you get these supplies free from mailers, and these rules are important to watch out for. First, you have to use specific mailing types of services.  For instance, if you’re going to get free supplies from USPS, you have to use them. You can use those though with the carrier to ship a variety of products. 

A lot of times as well you also are only allowed specific mailing services. You will only be allowed to use priority mail if you choose to of course use this type of shipping for your products. They also only allow you to order the amount that you need. That means, only order what you think you’re going to use. You will need to refresh the supplies on the monthly, so you should be mindful of this, and then also be mindful of the supplies in place as needed too. 

The Best Option to ship volume 

There are a few ways for you to get better and more affordable shipping.  Don’t be afraid to reuse the old boxes you have for starters. You should ask the local grocery and other stores for boxes.  They may have a lot of free boxes for you. Liquor stores are another, but they do sometimes only let you take a few. Finally, consider flat rate shipping mailers and boxes. This is a box that has one specific rate, no matter the weight or the size of this too.

Using Boxes to Save Your Home

This year has been a wild year of changes in the United States.  Our economy has been wild due to COVID-19 and all the stimulus things that have happened. What we saw was that the housing market where we lived turned into an amazing thing to get into.  My family has been living in an apartment for our whole time as a family, but we saw this opportunity to move into a home.  The home we chose was in the best neighborhood in the city, but we had to renovate the entire place.  This meant we were going to have to do a whole ton of work on it.  What we found was that it was much more complicated and time-consuming than we ever imagined.  So we learned a lot of tips and tricks and ways to reuse the basic packaging supplies around us when we moved in to help keep our lives straight.

 

The first thing we learned was that we were going to need a whole lot of tape.  I know that sounds crazy, but we ended up buying tons of types of painting tape, duct tape, and Teflon tape.  We used all kinds of tape to put boxes together and to store items with.  This actually became one of the most important parts of the whole move.  We struggled to find places to work and live at the same time.  Since most of the house was under construction by us we had all of our stuff scattered everywhere.  It was not a fun place to live or a fun time at all.  It was hard to find space to work when winter came.  We had to work all from the inside of the home and do all of our cutting and sanding inside.  This made a mess and we knew we had to keep things covered up. 

 

What we did was box everything.  We used the packaging supplies we had and put our whole home back into boxes after we moved.  We labeled all of them based on the type of product or thing that was in it.  We also numbered the boxes 1 to 5.  This was our clever move and we decided to prioritize the things in the boxes.  If they were important we wanted to be able to get to it really easily and quickly.  That meant the box was going to be on top of the stack.  Yes, we stacked the boxes to the ceiling and put the ones we knew we were going to use the most at the top.  This allowed us to clean out about 3 rooms in our home.  That gave us 3 rooms to live and work in and it was a wonderful gift. 

 

Staying organized and using boxes and tape to our advantage was a lifesaver.  We would not have been able to do it we had not.  So it is a really great idea if you are moving to a home that needs some work.  I really think organizing is the most important part and you lose a lot fewer tools.  That leads to a whole lot less conflict in the family as well. That is no small thing and is worth almost more than anything.  So be kind, be organized, and enjoy living in your new home.

Don't Spend Too Much On Tape for Your Company

This year has been a pretty big change for me and my company.  We have switched a lot of what we do and we have moved some of our marketing processes in-house as well.  The change for me has been to take over some of these tasks and to source a lot of materials for our company and how we are going to go about making these changes actually valuable to us.  The whole goal of the move was to save money and to allocate those extra savings into doing either more marketing or simply to pay salaries if things start to get a little dicy.  It is 2020 and the pandemic is shutting down tons of companies due to local regulations and many of our clients are being affected greatly by it.  So this was my task and I wanted to jump into a few things that I found along the way.

 

The first project that we brought in the house was our direct mailing and corporate gifting programs.  These are both for marketing and then also for some goodwill with our clients as well. These two areas though set us apart from much of our competition and skimping on the quality of either of these areas was not going to be worth the savings if we did not do these areas correctly.  With that being said we wanted to duplicate for the most part what had been done and the only way to do this was to get samples of what we had done in the past and then find the cost of those programs. 

 

Once I found all of the information I was able to then find a pricing scheme for all the things I needed.  For direct mailing, I had a limit to try and beat for 1000 pieces of direct mail to our potential clients this month and a 15 gift corporate package to create.  These two tasks had a lot of individuals pieces involved and the fact is that I needed more information on packaging supplies to understand what I actually needed to do.

 

What I have learned is that research is great but great research comes from actual knowledgeable sources that can solve your problem fast.  So I ended up hopping online and finding the biggest packaging supplies company online and giving them a call.  What I actually found was that their customer service was basically a marketing team all on their own because they had created all of these things thousands of times for massive clients through the decades.  I got all the items lists fulfilled and customized and was given tips on tape to use and ways to lower costs by getting the correct items and not the off the shelf ones that we see at big box stores. This company took me through the behind the scenes look at what major corporate gifting marketing companies are doing and we were able to buy the same things we used before at a 50% discounted rate.  We were also able to do the same for the direct mail, letters, labels, and paper.

 The savings we got by doing this was more than we had hoped for and it was all because of the information given by the major companies themselves.  If I went to Amazon to buy these things I would simply not have gotten any advice and would have spent way more on basic pricing and in failures.