Don’t let a lack of essential office supplies hold you back from doing business. These essential office supplies will make work easier for you and your employees, upping your overall efficiency and productivity. With these 7 practical supplies for the office, you’ll be set up and ready to get down to business.
Go-to desk supplies for productivity
Whether you need to staple a document together or highlight a piece of text, you don’t want to have to look for a stapler or highlighter. There are many essential desk supplies we all take for granted that enable you to conduct your everyday business.
Don’t forget to stock up on staplers, highlighters, pens, tape, sticky notes, paper clips and other desk essentials. That way, you’ll have them to hand when you need them most.
Filing supplies for organising documents
It’s important to create an organised filing system from the get-go. Although many offices are moving files online, in many industries it’s important to have a hard copy of files. These include legal contracts, personnel files and reports.
Folders such as lever arch files or suspension files, as well as filing boxes are all important office supplies to stock up on. Punched pockets and subject dividers are also great inserts to help order into different sections. A-Z or numbered subject dividers allow you to quickly and easily revisit a file based on its location.
Copier paper for essential printing
Paper is an essential part of any business. Regular printing is done on a daily basis in any busy office. It’s important to make sure your printer tray is topped up with printer paper.
Make sure to have the correct sizes and paper weights required for your needs. Want to save on paper costs? Opt for a multipack with 5 reams of paper instead of single packets.
Planning supplies
As well as copier paper, other essential paper products include employee diaries, planners, notebooks and sticky notes. These all aid in fruitful planning and productivity. Planning is an important part of any functioning business. Make sure you have the right tools to help you plan effectively.
These include calendars for an overview of the months ahead and planners to plan your days and weeks more efficiently. It’s always important to have a notebook to hand to jot down meeting notes or brainstorm ideas and sticky notes are useful memory tools.
A reliable printer and ink cartridges or toner
When looking for a reliable printer for business use, there are a few factors to consider. Whilst inkjet printers are usually the cheaper option at first glance, laser printers are often the best choice for business use. There are a number of reasons for this.
- Laser printers typically have higher print.
- Toner cartridges often have a higher capacity so you can print for.
- A monochrome printer is usually sufficient for internal business use and saves on colour ink.
- Most laser printers have useful features geared at higher productivity.
- One feature is the Duplex feature that allows you to print on both sides of the paper, saving paper and time.
- Another is an ADF, an automatic document feeder which will feed the documents into the printer without requiring manual.
- Finally, most laser printers come with larger paper trays, meaning less time spent replenishing the tray.
When it comes to ink or toner, there’s nothing worse than going to send an important file to the printer and getting the dreaded out of ink notification! Make sure your printer is topped up with sufficient ink or toner.
You don’t have to spend an arm and a leg on ink cartridges or toner either. Many compatible printer brands such as 123ink.ie will save you money on ink whilst offering high capacity cartridges.
This means less frequent out of ink messages. They also have a wide range of essential office supplies for great low prices so you don’t have to look elsewhere for all of your office stationery needs. You may consider visiting Supply Link USA, they offer bulk ink and toner cartridges at less than wholesale prices.
Mailing supplies for sending correspondence
Envelopes are essential in any busy office to send out invoices, paychecks, and other documents. Make sure you’re stocked up on several different sizes to fit your needs so you don’t get stuck when you need to send an important letter fast.
The most popular envelope types for business are 80-90gsm self-seal envelopes in white or manilla, envelopes with windows or 120gsm padded and protective envelopes for higher security mailings.
What are the different envelope sizes?
- C4 sized envelopes are best for when you want to send unfolded A4 sheets.
- DL sized envelopes are widely used for daily They are used for A4 sheets that are folded into thirds.
- C5 envelopes are for A4 sheets that are folded in half or unfolded A5 sheets.
- C6 envelopes are often used for informal/personal They are for A4 sheets folded into quarters.
- C3 sized envelopes are specialist sizes, used for unfolded A3 sheets.
If your business is an e-commerce site that requires shipping materials, you’ll require sufficient packaging, a tape dispenser and address labels.
An office shredder for discarding confidential data
Finally, an office shredder is an important tool to discard any confidential data after you have read it. If you are serious about confidentiality, make sure to invest in a shredder that has a high privacy level. Look out for a shredder that has a safety level of at least P-4 to ensure that is GDPR compliant. Micro-cut shredders have a security range from P-5, P-6 to P-7 and are suitable for shredding highly confidential documents such as bank statements or employee records.
With these practical office supplies as a guideline, you can be sure to put your best foot forward.
