Environmentally Friendly Key Tags

Wow. This hitting for the cycle is really hard! It may take a little longer to find the home run in key tags, but here are 3 tags that fit the bill for single, double and triple.

Remember, we established that environmentally friendly advertising products will be products that are

1) recyclable, reusable or biodegradable
2) renewable, sustainable, organic or somehow do no (or less) harm to the environment when manufactured or disposed of, or
3) made from recycled materials.

Using a baseball analogy, we will call products that meet one of the categories above a single. If a product meets 2 of the categories, it is a double and if it meets all 3 of the earth friendly categories it is a triple. If we find a triple that is also on sale, then we will rule that one a home run.

We have quite a few key tags that reach first base. I chose the TTR from Americanna line, show at the left, because it is made from 100% post consumer recycled tires. Getting them out of the landfills without burning them is a good thing. They also carry 2 other shapes in recycled tire key tags - round and barrel shaped. Let us know if you want a different shape as many of our key tag manufacturers (not from this line, but from others) offer some level of recycled content in their materials.


Swinging for a double are 3 tags from AmPro's Nature Ad line. These tags are made from corn plastic and so are both manufactured from a renewable resource and are biodegradable. Shown at the right is the rectangular version. They also offer an oval version and one shaped like an ear of corn.


The triple comes from CorporateKey. It is an environmentally friendly flashlight key tag which uses solar cells to power 3 LEDs, the case is made from recycled materials and it is manufactured completely lead free ('LED free' in the text on the web page should have been 'lead free'. It is, after all, an LED flashlight). Shown at the left, this key tag is recycled, uses renewable energy and uses no lead in the manufacturing. Definitely a triple.


No home runs this time, but I will keep looking for them. Maybe I will try to hit the cycle with bags next time. That should be interesting.

Until then.

Steve
www.raggo.com

Environmentally Responsible Advertising Sluggers!

Alright. Finally. The 'Big Guns' are at the plate. Excitement is in the air and everyone is paying extra to see if they can clear the bases....here goes.


First up is a pair of pens from ID Line. Both of these pens, the Goodkind Woody (at the top)and the Goodkind Timbercrank fill all of the categories we established for environmentally responsible pens (see our earlier post here for that discussion). All of the Goodkind Brand pens do. First, they are reusable ... in the pen world, that means that they are refillable. Brass refills, which themselves are made of recycled brass, are just $0.60 ea plus shipping. Second, they are manufactured from sustained yield birch, use a non-toxic varnish and are embellished with laser engraving rather than ink imprinting. Third, the steel clips and crank are made from recycled steel. So, these pens are reusable, sustainable, non-toxic and made from recycled materials. Definitely a pen that touches all the environmentally friendly bases!




Now up to bat is one of our heroes, the RCP from Graphco Line. This long ball hitter features a barrel made from recycled cardboard, which is also biodegradable, and the clip is bamboo...one of the most sustainable crops around. All this environmental friendliness AND it is currently on sale through the end of September! Sale price is $0.44 each plus shipping. Set up is FREE. BOOM...out of the park it goes.

I will try hitting the cycle with environmentally friendly key tags next time.

Steve
www.raggo.com

Hit for the Cycle with Environmentally Friendly Ad Products

Reviewing our categories of environmentally responsible promotional products, we hold that they will be

1) recyclable, reusable or biodegradable
2) renewable, sustainable, organic or somehow do no (or less) harm to the environment when manufactured, or
3) made from recycled materials.

Let's see if we can hit for the cycle with eco friendly ink pens.

Hitting first is an entry from one of my favorite pen companies, Bic. It is the Bic Ecolutions Round Stic pen. With a body made from 74% pre-consumer recycled material, originally used in the production of automotive part trays, it fills the roll of the lead off hitter by getting on with a single...it satisfies category 3 above. It is also currently on sale for $0.29 ea plus shipping through the end of August, but since all 3 of our categories above are not filled by this pen, it is only 'a hard hit single.'









Next up is the Legend from Target Line. This pen's body is made from corn (a renewable resource) based plastics and is biodegradable, so it fulfills both categories 1 and 2 above. Its low price and low minimum order are also very attractive, so we will call this hit a stand up double!


Our sluggers will be up next time to provide us with a couple of 'environmental long balls'. I can't wait to show them to you. Until then...

Steve
www.raggo.com

Another Environmental Homer

Let’s review the ‘categories’ of environmentally friendly advertising products we discussed last entry. They will either be

1) recyclable, reusable or biodegradable

2) renewable, sustainable, organic or somehow do no (or less) harm to the environment when manufactured, or

3) made from recycled materials.

I love using the baseball metaphor for ranking the environmental friendliness of a product. If a product falls into one of the categories, it is a single. If it meets two, it is a double. Products that fall into all three of the categories we will call triples, AND if it is on special, then it is a home run. As in baseball, we have a lot of singles in our database, fewer doubles and even fewer triples. Home runs are few and far between. Here is another

This is the Eco’brella from Four Seasons. Both the canopy and the frame are made from recycled materials, the fabric is certified to not contain any harmful substances, the handle is bamboo which is both renewable and biodegradable, and it is on sale through 09/01/10. The sale price for 50 or more of these environmentally responsible umbrellas is $19.98 each and we will even throw in free setup, saving our customers another $50. Another one out of the park!

We can’t always hit homers, though. We will talk about some triples next time.

Steve

www.raggo.com

Save The Last Dance For Me

I need a break from shoveling snow! (Snow Totals) I haven't been this sore for a very long time.

One of my favorite customers forwarded me an email recently. The original email was from one of our online competitors (Yes, some of them are STILL in business!) and it offered the environmentally friendly, recycled cardboard ink pen with bamboo clip shown on the right at special pricing - $0.59 each plus set up and shipping for 200 or more pens.

It is a pretty good price. List for 200 is $0.66 ea, so it is a 10% discount.

Her 7 word message to me:

"Hi, Steve. Check this out. We're interested..."

She understands.

Her company has been doing business with us for almost as long as we have been open for business - 13 years this August. They know us. They know that our job - our only job - is to get them the right product at the right price and deliver it on time. I looked at the pen then looked through our sale sheets and sent her the following email.

"Thank you for thinking of us. We do have them...but they are less expensive. Here is the info

We can increase the pricing if you need us to. $0.59 each is fine with me ;^)

Let us know if you want us to proceed at $0.44 with no set up.

Steve"

By asking us, she saved 33% instead of 10%!

The concept that she and many of our long-time customers understand is that we are a full-line distributor. We are not bound by a certain set of manufacturers or by franchise or corporate agreements. When our suppliers - there are thousands of them - offer us sale pricing, we pass it along. We have multiple suppliers for most of the products we offer (9 different suppliers of the pen above) which means that they are competing for my attention and business while I am competing for yours. Since we have thousands of manufacturers with thousands of products on special at any one time, we cannot possibly list them all. Our Specials pages contain many of the sale items from our 'go-to' manufacturers, but it doesn't list all of them.

So, if you see something you want somewhere else, let us know. We understand...it's OK to look. Just be sure to contact us before you buy. Chances are very good that if one of our competitors has it on sale, we do too. But we will give you ALL of the discount instead of only part of it.

Steve
www.raggo.com