Are You Prepared for Your Next Trip?

Now that fall is finally here (I swear summer seems to last longer and longer each passing year), I’ve seen quite an uptick in my mood and productivity. I don’t know if it’s the weather cooling off, meaning I’m not nearly as sweaty or hot as summer. But I do know that I’ve been happier and a lot more chill than usual. I think another reason is because I’m genuinely excited to be outside in nature enjoying wildlife and the woods instead of feeling like it’s always a sauna and I need to stay in shade.

Because of that, I’ve been camping a lot more lately. Perhaps it’s the hiking I truly enjoy the most, since the physical exertion isn’t nearly as exhausting as it would be in summer. Nonetheless, those hiking and camping trips have needed a bit of planning and packing, and one thing I swear by during my trips is taking a few extra shipping supplies. Whether it’s things like cardboard or just basic items, I’ve always found use out of these supplies when I’m in the great outdoors. Read on to check out some other materials that are quite useful when camping.

Sharpies

Honestly, packing tape is so versatile for a slew of things. I think everyone should have their camping gear labeled with their name and phone number on it in the off chance that something happens, and so using sharpies on your gear helps to prevent your stuff from being misplaced, stolen, or even lost in general. And if your friends have similar looking gear, it helps to prevent them from accidentally taking yours.

Packing tape

This is likely another example of common shipping supplies among many people who camp, but I often find my trash bags getting minor tears in them while I’m out on a trip. This oftentimes occurs because of raccoons. So, having some tape to patch them up and keep them useable for the weekend can be quite useful. And if you’ve got any extra food leftover from cooking dinner and want it bagged up but don’t have rubber bands or clips, tape comes in handy in a pinch.

All these trips require is a little bit of planning, packing, and forethought. Make sure you’re covered in a variety of scenarios so that you have exactly what’s needed in the off chance that something goes awry while you’re out in the elements and subject to nature. The more you’re prepared, the more use you’ll get out of a wide variety of materials and gear.

Creating Great Christmas Cards

Christmas is only a week away, and if you are behind on getting those Christmas cards sent out, do not worry! Getting Christmas cards sent out can be a stressful and overwhelming task, even stressful to a point where a lot of people have stopped sending them out. But do not think like this, as grandma and those random aunts you never talk to anymore still want to see your face! In this article we walk through some quick and easy tips for how to make sending out Christmas cards an easy and painless process.

Tip 1: Take your picture in July.

This is the best time to take a picture, as by now hopefully you have gotten some time outside and are starting to get that sun-tanned look that makes pictures look extra great. If you take the photo six months out as well, then you have plenty of time to take it and edit it and get it submitted well before December. It is also easier to organized the family and get the kids all bought in when you take the photo on a random summer night in July instead of a cold, stressful day before Christmas.

Tip 2: Write a small jingle.

People love turning that beautiful family photo over and getting to read a witty and funny jingle on the back of the card. Some ideas for how to write could be finding words that rhyme with your last name, or writing the words in a stanza that could be sung to a popular Christmas song. Have fun with this and let your creativity really shine through! We recommend keeping this jingle to about four to five lines and making it about five to ten seconds to read. This is the perfect addition to brighten peoples’ days and to remind them of how witty you are!

Tip 3: Prepare to send out

Dedicating some time to gathering the packaging supplies you want to use is really important. Ask yourself questions like, “what type of envelope do I want to use?” , “What type of stamps do I need to buy?” and, “Do I have everyone’s address?” are all going to be critical for you to think through ahead of time and prepare for. Visit a craft store like Michaels in early December to hunt and gather everything you need. Usually craft stores have great Christmas sales going on and this is a great way to take care of something basic like your packaging supplies. Put everything together and you are ready to go by the middle of December, stress-free!

5 Secret Santa Ideas for Your Holiday Office Party

Whether you’re having some holiday cheer with the coworkers, meeting up for dinner at someone’s place or out on the town, or even doing something small during your lunch break on a cold day in December, kicking back and enjoying the festivities with those you see 40 hours a week can be refreshing from the constant pace of the grind. I’m not sure about your office, but mine is definitely excited about this year’s gift exchange and office party.

If you do happen to be doing a gift exchange at your office, consider replenishing your coworkers’ office and packagingsupplies. These make wonderful gifts to coworkers in your office without you having to think of something truly special and tailored to them.

Computer mouse.

A classic go-to in the office, having a new computer mouse is something welcome. I always suggest going for the wired mice because it eliminates any chance of lag on screen. However, some people might like the freedom a wireless mouse offers, so either would work well enough. You can even get a cheap mouse pad to throw in with it in case your coworkers don’t have their own at the ready.

Desk organizer.

You’ve seen these things before. The plastic (or sometimes wooden) pen holders that also function as an organizer for things like sticky notes, white out, extra staples, paper clips, and whatever other random assortment of things you may use in the office. These things can look quite nice, too, even for cheap. A lot of my coworkers’ desks are quite barren, so I know this would look great on their desk as a little space filler.

Fountain pen.

While the other items on this list aren’t as spendy, you can never go wrong gifting a nice fountain pen, especially if it’s to your boss. Whether you drew their name out of the hat or are just feeling generous, fountain pens are a sign of class and remain as a timeless staple to a refined business person’s desk.

Stapler.

Consider this the step up from the tape dispenser. Heavier duty, classier, and just as (or possibly more) useful, the stapler is a desk essential. You don’t even have to ask around to see who has one and who doesn’t; if one of your coworkers’ desks are bare of a stapler, they couldn’t deny that this was a need for their office if you were to get this for them.

2020 Was A Crazy Year

Unless you have been living under a rock over the past 12 months or so, then you will understand what I mean by the title of this article; now I am not a very old person, in fact I am in what most people consider the prime of my life. However, I have never experienced as crazy of a year as I have in 2020. Most people were completely caught off guard when this whole COVID pandemic thing started, myself included. I was still in college at the time, and I can remember back to when I first started hearing about the virus back in early 2020. I first heard about it being an issue in China and that they were watching it slowly spread to other parts of the world. I definitely thought it was going to be another H1N1 or Ebola virus type issue, where people were way too hysteric about something that did not have a huge impact on most of the world. However, I watched as COVID slowly made its way to the United States (I think the first case was in Seattle?), and before I knew it, things were shutting down one after the other. I realized it was serious when the NCAA canceled March Madness for the year, and various Universities were shutting down left and right.

I was sent home in mid March from my University, where we were forced to finish the semester online. It was such a crazy end to the year, and honestly not what I wanted for 2020 at all. But all things considered, I had a pretty good summer in 2020. I worked for the company called Shipt, where I made really good money going grocery shopping for rich people that were too scared of the virus to be seen in a Meijer - I don’t really blame them, I just didn’t really have a choice to not work and try to make money. I also got to hangout with a lot of my old highschool friends again (socially distanced of course) which was nice because a lot of us probably would have been spread out around the midwest if it had not been for COVID. So all in all, my summer wasn’t really negatively impacted by the pandemic, but it definitely made my summer look a lot different than what I was planning. 

I spent a lot of time inside my house as well, playing video games and playing guitar. Those were basically my two main hobbies over the course of the COVID summer - those and reading. I spent a lot of time ordering products online as well. Since most stores were closed down for an extended period of time, it was hard to find some stuff in stores. Especially because people were panic-buying a lot of products, some things just could only be found online. Honestly, I really get annoyed with people that begin mass purchasing certain products, because this just creates problems for everyone else. We see it happen with gas all the time, especially a couple weeks ago. 

Anyways, since I spent so much time ordering stuff online, I began to amass a large amount of packing supplies in my garage. So I had to take several trips to the recycling center to get rid of cardboard boxes, packages, and packing supplies that had accumulated on my property. 

The Impact Paper and Plant Based Packaging Have on the World

We’ve talked plenty of times about the problems that bad packaging has, especially with the overly abundant usage of land, and the environmental effects that this has on the habitats. However, there are a lot of factors that do play a larger role, so it’s important to look at the overall state of things, to get a picture for where environmental sustainability plays a role in things. 

A lot of plant-based packaging might seem like a good alternative, especially when you’re comparing the plastic and other pollutant packaging. But keep in mind that there are some factors that you need to bear in mind when you’re looking to meet the demands people have on your packaging. 

The crops do need land to grow, and the land is definitely finite. A lot of times, people don’t realize how much crops need to grow to create hemp, corn, and bamboo, in order to meet those demands that the market has. 

There’s also demands that can be taken away from different industries that these same crops come from. If you rely on just plant-based options, it may create more problems than good.

A lot of agricultural practices like too many pesticides, fertilization and monoculture are a problem for the soil health. With the demand growing, there then needs to be more land given to each of these demands. 

The problem with industrial farms 

There’s a lot of new farmland that’s created through these natural habitats, and other forests that were once left untouched. The destruction of a habitat is the biggest threat to all animals, and the growth of the farmland isn’t helping all of this. The plants and animals do need some space to live, breed and then grow.   When the space becomes insufficient  and endangered, it results in a drastic plummet of the population, which can be irreversible in some cases. 

Even just the loss of some of the untouched soil creates a huge environmental impact. 

One example of this is corn. Corn is now used for bioplastics, rather than mere food, and increases this demand. With corn being grown exclusively in America, it’s something that we need a lot of land for. 

The prairies and grass plains help with this, but the problem is that the untouched soil gets rid of the carbon emission, and depending on your location, it stores different carbon amounts, removing a quarter of the fossil fuels that are there. 

With almost half of your land supporting that the soil loses a ton of carbon, and monoculture planting doesn’t really replace it. 

The same goes with bamboo and sugarcane.   What you need to do is make sure to monitor and ethically perform these. 

There’s a lot of monitoring that goes into this, something that not enough people know about. 

So what’s the solution? How do you fix this ongoing issue? 

Knowing the Source 

The best thing to do is to make sure that you’re aware of the environment. Talk with the suppliers, to make sure that the materials are coming from ethical locations. 

If it’s sourced from farmlands that border on endangered habitats, that’s a huge red flag. If the supplier won’t tell you where it’s coming from, definitely get a new supplier.   Definitely keep an eye out on things, and how it works across the board. 

Don't be afraid to frequent the water and energy audits to make sure that you’re using the energy well. 

Recycle as much as you can, because it eliminates a lot of this. Finally, renewable energies are easy to source. 

Trendy Holiday Packaging Designs

Want to stand out this holiday season? Why not use trendy packaging designs. The cool, trendy packaging that you do can be a great way to connect with customers. In fact, it builds a better, more immersive experience. Here, we’ll go over the best trendy types of packaging designs for you to enjoy, and ones that will really make your experience shine. 

Incorporating Timeless colors 

While the classic Christmas green and red are great places to start with designing, you can incorporate other dashes of colors in order to make a world of a difference. On the same side, black and gold types of boxes do make them pop. The black is elegant, but the gold is far more luxurious, and attracts the attention of customers. 

Even using bolder and brighter colors other than green and red are trendy. Warmer colors including orange, red and pink also evoke happiness. Lilac is also a fun, uplifting color to check out. 

Creative and New Patterns 

Consider adding creative patterns to the boxes. 

Unequal designs and packaging incorporating seasonal patterns are a great way to show to customers that you do care about the packaging during the season. 

Get out those Scandinavian Sweaters! 

Another way for you to fully embrace this holiday spirit is through the “Scandinavian Sweater” stye that you can put into holiday packaging. 

This is a fun, unique style that features pine trees, snowflakes, reindeer, and even ornaments too. A great way to really show that the holiday spirit is the Holi-yay spirit! 

Get Rustic 

If reindeer and flashy designs don’t tickle the itches you have, then try to go simplistic with kraft boxes that are nice and rustic. 

This rough edgy look with a natural brown that’s earthy allows for simple additives such as printed tape and custom ribbons to create a fun, festival pattern. The feature on this does make the boxes pop without needing colorful packaging. 

Get monochromatic and Minimalistic 

Another unique aspect is the opposite of the bold, and super flashy patterns. Sometimes, going monochromatic is what makes the design really pop. Simple black and white boxes with the log do make a really strong statement. 

Try more elegant sorts of fonts, toned types of colors, and a white, natural type of cardboard to make a subtle, more festive sort of mood that’ll stand out from the other types of holiday packaging that’s out there. 

Emboss away 

Both embossing along with debossing are super trendy for brands that are more upscale. Creating these 3D effects on the surface parts of the package do make the visuals and logos pop out a whole lot more. embossing is a great way to add physical, along with visual depth to packages in a way customers will flock to! 

Foil Stamping 

Another fun way is foil stamping. This is a unique way for better visual effects. You can make this stand out with the name, a logo, or even some festive symbols to make it a classy flare added to the box. 

The Little Extras 

Customized ribbons, gift tags, and ornaments are little bells and whistles to add to these boxes. It makes the packaging look like it’s truly special. Customized packaging labels and tapes have that same, added effect that ribbons along with ornaments do, and these festive messages and designs really shine. 

Don’t be afraid to get creative with these. Use more than one, and you’ll see the difference in how these stand out.  You will not regret it, especially with the unique characteristics of these many boxes that you can get right now! 

How the Shipping Crisis Will Impact your holiday Shopping

Did you know that there is a shipping crisis going on? This disruption of the current supply chain is going to impact the holiday shopping season. Companies all round are dealing with this, and currently, the industry for shipping also has a disruption that’ll impact your holiday shopping in many cases. With a ton of shipping rates going higher than ever, and the delaying of Christmas packaging, you’ll want to make sure that you start out early. You also might wonder just how this is going to be affected. Here, we’ll discuss how this can happen. 

Right now, there are three major shipping issues that are going on: 

• The companies have more demand

• There are still snafus in the current global supply chain that are causing shipping delays 

• The retailers that are there don’t’ have the means in place to help shoppers get the help they need, and usually can’t get it till after Christmas 

The coronavirus has exploded our world for over 18 months, and it's continued to ruin the supply chain. The consumer product shortage is there, while the costs are definitely going up for a lot of things.

There is also the delta variant, and a lot of other things that are causing disruptions that have been continuing, and the year-end period is definitely hard on everyone involved. 

Probably the most recent issue is that there were parts in China where their terminals were closed for a wider period of time due to the employees testing positive for the coronavirus.  This of course, impacted a lot of the shipping that does occur on an international level, and it's something that’s caused problems and delays for many.

The ports that shut down have impacted not only Chinese ports, but other major ports too, and it’s caused a lot of supply chain issues that have impacted other areas too. 

The container shortages, closures of factories, and also the Suez canal situation that happened has still created a lot of impact. A lot of container shippers are definitely anticipating the crunch there to continue. The costs of the transport of freight can potentially exacerbate a lot of the prices. 

Right now, we’re still wondering when the market will improve. Some are saying it’ll be after the 2022 fiscal year; others say it might be later.  When it comes to the arrival of ships and their time period, right now, there is around a 40% chance that it’ll get there ahead of schedule, and that’s even different compared to the whopping 80% that they had last year. 

There is also the fact that shipping costs are still high and are up almost 400% from even the previous year.  It’s increased a ton, and these freight rates are climbing right now, due to the shortage of the supply. Right now, the capacity for this isn’t nearly what’s expected.

There is also the port congestion, which means that due to a lot of the docks shutting down, there are more and more being stopped up, and this congestion does carry to the other ports that are there too. 

This has of course, changed the way that a lot of companies are trying to get their orders in. The factory and port closures are now even more sensitive too, as it’ll delay the shipments internationally during these peak seasons.  Of course, we may see some changes, but right now, it’s still a shipping nightmare, and something to keep in mind when you’re shopping for the holiday season and looking into what to buy too.