Product Review: Scotch CAT 085 Advanced Tape Glider

There’s a Michael's on West Broadway that visit by each time I’m in the area.  Glad that I did.  On their clearance table, was a damaged box with a perfectly good tape glider for only $10.  The only thing wrong was it was someone stole the 2 rolls of tape that supposed to come with the gun.  I happen to have a 50% coupon used to purchase refills.  The regular price for the glider is $40.  Michaels always overpriced their product, but that day, I got both the gun and tape for $15.  You know when you get a rush when you find a bargain?  That day was my rush.

In the long on, this will save you money on the tape refills.  I used to buy dollar store brand tape runners but they run out quickly.  For me, $5.00 roll will replace 30 dollar store ones.  I went ‘cheap’ and purchased double sided tape rolls but they were not acid free and the adhesive started to soak and show through on many of my cards that I didn’t put to market right away.  I won’t sell sub-par product, so all that hard work down the drain.  And I shutter on the ones I did sell as those customers may not come back to my store.

So I needed a acid free tape adhesive that will last me for many paper related projects.  I’ve been eyeing this glider for a while, but when I saw that damaged box with a perfectly good gun inside, I jumped at the opportunity.

Pros:

• acid free
• bonds permanently over time, but if you make an error right away, you can rub the tape off if you are careful
• will last you many projects
• tape will ‘break’ where you want it to stop if you apply a little pressure.  A plus if you have experience with the tape stretching and snapping onto the paper in little balls

Cons:

• It’s big.  There are competing products that is smaller.  It took some time to get used to with my small hands.  And I can’t ‘throw it into the tape drawer’.  Had to find a special home for it in my craft room
• The gun itself is a little tricky to load.  I had to look it up on YouTube.  The instructions on the box is a little vague
• You have to hold the trigger to dispense the tape, this took a few projects to get used to.

I’ve been using this glider for a few weeks now and haven’t the need to refill it.  I highly recommend it even if the gun is oversized and tricky to load.  It’s worth the learning curve. 

Importance of Branding

I was working through some ideas to find that signature item that would help define my store.  I’m find inspiration from two great print makers followed on Instagram, Read Between the Lines and Hello Tosha.  I see both these prints regularly on Instagram from their fans or other websites I might stumble upon

You are My Bucket List – Read Between the Lines

Pineapple of My Eye – Hello Tosha

Haven’t found my signature item just yet but it got me thinking about important branding is for any business.

I know someone who worked as a buyer for Starbucks.  He once had the supplier who couldn’t deliver shipments of the signature green straws.   To drive home the importance of this position.  He was responsible for consumable materials (which includes straws) for all of North America for Starbucks.   You would think, well if they ran out, they could just use any other brand right?   Nope. 

That issue actually caused ripples of controlled panic. 

There was no way they would allow their stores to run out of green straws.  Why?  It’s part of their branding.  All brand name products, you expect consistency.  If it makes you feel good, you want to repeat that experience over.  Every little thing of that last moment you enjoyed; it’s important for you to have it again.  Even something as different as drinking from a different straw changes that experience.

Yep, brand association.  There’s a lot of people who glimpse the green straw and think, “Mmm…I could go for a Frappuccino”.  If a store when with a white straw or something that is just a different shade of green, that “Mmm” moment may not happen.

You might be thinking:

Really, that’s just silly, how can anyone be so silly as to reject a drink due to drinking straw?

My sister-in-law works in the downtown core in a law firm.  The hustle and bustle of high end shops and career driven corporate executives.  She told me many people, including the lawyers she work for who view having a Starbucks every day, twice (or more) a day.  Some even brand them as a status symbols.  I get it.  If you pay $7.00 for a coffee twice a day 5 days a week, that’s $3640.  If I was CEO of Starbucks, I want to make sure they have the same satisfying experience every drink my customer has.  If those green straws are part of that encourage to buy the afternoon treat, my stores better of them well stocked.

Pet Peeves: WRITING EMAILS IN ALL CAPS

By day I work in a high tech manufacturing firm as a electronics buyer.  Recently I received this email during my day job after asking the country of origin and date of manufacturer:

He’s a all-capper email writer!  An all-capper are those who always write in all caps!    Each time I read an all-caps email my brain is imaging this huge angry finger wagging parent screaming at my 5 year old self blamed for something my brother did.  My ego takes a hit and then I snap myself out of it.

Emails like this provokes emotions of negativity to the reader and does affect the productivity.  Instead of taking that email as, “he’ll get back to me when he an” and moving on to the next task; I paused, had the image and got annoyed.  Even made a note to self to write about why using all caps is a problem in the workplace.

There can be dire consequences for all-caps email

• A ruling a Judge made on a father stop writing emails in all caps to his young children (both under age of 10)
• Also a woman who was fired from her accounting job in 2007 due to writing in all caps.  (This is extreme but she won in court for unjust dismissal)
• The Navy discontinued using all-caps in 2013 on all internal emails

The common theme is that all-caps emails causes the reader to think you are shouting at them.

What is it with all caps email?  Why does it cause such a physiological negative response?

Don’t know any typographic experts so I asked around in my small circle of friends and co-workers.    Day to day emails are really a replacement for telephone calls before the invention of email in the workplace.  In reality they are a documented business conversation.  If it is conversation, then how you write replaces the intonations of your voice so the listener knows how you want to message to be received.

My non-scientific pool of geniuses came up with two conclusions:

1. No one like to listen to shouters.

   • Take my image of angry parent to small child.  I’m probably in trouble.  You just shut down and wait for the yelling to be over so you can be on your way.  You are not listening and you don’t get the message.

2. All-Cap emails are more difficult to read
   • Not sure the reason but lower case letters just seem more friendly to readers.  A friendly conversation, not having a one sided shouting match.

When should you use caps?

• Using caps sparingly EMPHANIZES the point of the subject at hand. 
• We’ve also seen this in legal to denote special importance.  I once had a supplier who found sample and made it clear that the parts comes with NO WARRANTY

So any of you who are all-cappers, how hard it is to hit that caps lock key?  Do you really want your customers put off just because it seems easier?

On a side note, the supplier in question is actually wonderful. Nicest guy in the world. However, when I first worked with him, I considered moving my business elsewhere just because of the all-caps habit. Lucky for him, his customer service won out.  No, I don’t ask him not to change his writing habit.  I really have bigger things to worry about in my day job.