If you are a business owner with employees and a parking lot (or lots), you may be thinking about parking permits. “They’re such a hassle, and so expensive,” you may be telling yourself. And, “Who really needs parking permits anyway?” may be something else you’re thinking. Well, this article is dedicated to discussing the benefits of parking permits. After reading, I’m thinking you may just change your tune.

1. Parking permits help curb serious safety issues.
Parking permits are often the first step to employee safety. Parking permits help you to more clearly know which employees are actually on your company’s premises and which ones are not. By keeping track of who may have come in early or is staying late – you’ll have a good sense of employee safety. Employees deserve to be kept safe if they are working alone, or nearly alone, in your office / building. Through the use of parking permits, your security staff can easily be aware of who is on the promises at all times.

2. Work time saved.
Having parking permits can help if there is trouble with an employee’s car during the day. “How’s that,” you may ask. Well, here’s one example… Your security staff does a routine inspection of the office parking lot. They find a car with a flat tire. Immediately they check the parking sticker and are instantly able to tell whom the car belongs to. They call the employee and help him / her call an auto mechanic who comes to fix the tire while still at work. The employee doesn’t miss much work taking care of the flat tire. This also helps to keep your employees happy, as they aren’t coming out to the parking lot at the end of the day to a flat tire!

3. Ensure unwanted persons are kept out of your office / place of business.
In today’s fast-paced world of new hires, turnover and layoffs, parking permits are one of the best ways to keep employees who belong on your premises there and those who don’t – out! A disgruntled employee should not be given access to your company except under your knowledge. Without parking permits, you’ll have far less control of these type situation.s Those without recent and updated parking passes will have to sign in and provide identification. If a former employee has to come back to your company premises for some reason, your company will have a good watch over the situation. Without parking permits, this could be easily turn into a sticky situation.

4. Employees like parking permits.
Some employees may state that they don’t like getting parking permits renewed or that making sure the permits are always in their car is a “hassle.” But, most employees understand and like the safety that comes with having parking permits. And, more, it confirms that they are part of the team! Giving employees parking permits is one simple way to support them. It also reminds employees where they should / should not park and affords you the ability to require certain departments to park in a specific area / areas, which can help to build team spirt as well as add safety in that you can designate parking areas for varying shifts to ensure employees are walking to and from their vehicles in groups. A parking permit is considered an employee benefit by many.

“Okay, you’ve convinced me” – you might be saying right about now. “How do I go about ordering my new company parking permits?” Ah, that’s the easy part. We explain everything you’ll need to know on this Parking Permits page of our site. You’ll need to pick a shape and then start your design. This can include your company logo, motto, and much more. Many parking permits include information such as the driver’s license number and license plate number of each individual employee.

Keep your employees safe and give them parking permits today!

Mark Trumper – CEO
MaverickLabel.Com

Tips to Create a Great Appointment Card Sticker

• Use a clearly read font like Times New Roman or Arial. Appointment Card Stickers are compact, fit perfectly to go on a business card.
• Try to make the font as large as you can so that customers/patients/clients can read information easily.
• Choose colors wisely. It’s important to have the colors that “brand” your business but you also want your appointment card stickers to be clear and easy to read. Don’t use light and bright colors like orange and yellow. Try darker colors that are easier on the eyes like navy or dark green for accent.
• Put all text in black or navy to make it easy to read.
• Most companies want to add their logo to their appointment card stickers. Sometimes a logo will not shrink to that size well and still look attractive. If this happens, consider using an image that represents your business, knowing that your logo will appear on your business card the appointment card is attached to.

Related articles

• Companies Appreciate Holographic Stickers for ID Badges (easyorderhologramstickers.com)
• See Spot Run Doggy Daycare Promotes Easily and Quickly with Bumper Stickers (labels4life.com)
• Bumper Stickers Give the Panthers a Boost! (labels4life.com)
• Applications for Hologram Stickers (idmystuff.net)

Most serious businesses today use some form of pre-printed address or return label. Using these labels is faster and just plain looks more professional. You can typically customize these labels with your name / company name, address and other business information – like your logo or other imagery – with the click of a button.

Whether you are a small business or a Fortune 500 company, customers expect the best when working with any business. When you use quality pre-printed mailing and return address labels, you are sending the message that you are a professional. Using these labels instead of hand-addressed envelopes, your prospects and customers will immediately know that your product or service is valued and of high quality.

What to Include on Your Business Labels

When creating / designing your business address labels, be sure to include the following important items:
- Your Business Name
- Physical Address
- Your Phone Number
- Web Address
- Company Logo

You can also use your business labels to send messages to your target audience. Whether this message is your company tagline or a unique marketing message for an upcoming sale or event, adding a short message to your business labels can help to increase sales and spread brand awareness. Your customers will be more likely to remember you / your company and what you do, when you provide them with a short message directly on your business label, such as 24 hour service for example.

Holiday, Sale and Themed Business Labels

Promote your business by creating a unique business address label for the upcoming holiday season or that big sales event right around the corner. Creating fun, yet professional and inviting labels for these special times ensures your customers and prospects will remember who you are and what you do.

Holiday and sales events aren’t the only way you can promote your company with business labels. You can send “themed” labels anytime of the year. As an example, if you’re in the auto repair industry, you could send automobile themed labels – with various car parts printed on the labels or you could even spring for a die-cut in the shape of a car or truck. Or, if you’re in the furniture business, you could get business labels printed in the shape of a sofa or have various pieces of furniture printed on a standard rectangular label. These are just a few examples of the hundreds of possible ideas for themed business and/or address labels.

Examples of Business Labels
- Return Address Labels
- Mailing and Shipping Labels
- Business Card Magnets
- Business Card Stickers
- Cut Vinyl Decals
- Dome Stickers
- Foil or Embossed Labels
- ID MyStuff Labels
- Laser / Inkjet Labels
- Oil Change Stickers
- Post Card Label Mailers
- Pre-sized Fanfolded Labels
- Product Labels
- Shipping Labels
- Shipping Label Sheets
- Thank You Seals
- Anniversary Labels

The possibilities are truly endless for business label possibilities! You can visit us at MaverickLabel.Com for all of the above and many more examples of business labels.

Mark Trumper – CEO
MaverickLabel.Com

Wine novices and connoisseurs alike admire the beautifully-drawn cherubs gracing Two Angels Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Petite Syrah. The label’s image was taken from a woodcut by the Flemish artist, Jacob DeBacker, in 1591, created to illustrate the “pleasure and pain” of excessive drinking (one could call it the first “responsible drinking” campaign).

A bright red, rectangular label with a small black slit (representing rural Australian and British mail boxes), has become well-known as the highly-rated Australian blend, Pillar Box Red. The woman behind this label, owner Kim Longbottom, is gaining a reputation as one of the more creative talents fashioning clever wine labels. Her winery, Henry’s Drive, is situated on the site of a 19th century stagecoach route. The driver, Henry, is depicted in a 1950s Australian postage stamp. Kim took that stamp and made it the centerpiece of her flagship wines. The postal/communications theme informs all the winery’s labels.

Read the full press release here on MarketWatch.com…

Typically in a self-adhesive form, sheet labels are attractive and practical. They have a backing paper that is easily peeled-off to bring out the adhesive side of the label. Sheet labels are easily customizable, either by a label printing house or on your own home / office printer, making them ideal for many applications. Sheet labels are available in many starting formats, including address labels, invoice labels, parcel labels, wall signs / posters, media labels, shipping labels, and more.

Sheet labels are available on several different label materials choices, including paper, foil, vinyl, polypropylene, smudge proof, and other materials. This makes it easy for you to choose the right material for your project / needs.

MaverickLabel.Com offers sheet labels in both blank and pre-printed formats. Choose from mailing and shipping labels, return address labels, bar code labels, blank and custom printed laser / inkjet labels, integrated labels, shipping label sheets, and more.

Blank or custom printed, sheet labels provide you with a flexible and easy way of advertising your products, shipping your goods, invoicing your customers and much, much more. So, why not simplify your business processes today by trying blank or custom printed sheet labels!

Mark Trumper – CEO
MaverickLabel.Com

The labels are being designed to assist consumers when choosing new appliances and other items. The labels will clearly mark energy consumption guidelines and help consumers choose more energy efficient products and reduce their carbon emissions when using dishwashers, washing machines, refrigerators, and more.

Energy labels have been used in the UK on white goods for some time now, rating products from A (best) to G (worst). However, the new label system will add ratings of A+ and A++ to give credit to appliances that are extra energy efficient.

“Consumers want to make the right decisions when buying new goods that use less energy and bring down household bills,” said Environment secretary Caroline Spelman.

“These new energy saving ratings will help people make the right choice when out shopping for TVs and white goods by choosing those which are rated the darkest green on the labels,” Spelman added.

Read the full story here… Energy Saving Trust – UK

Several Large U.S. Corporations Form New Packaging Trade Orgainization – Ameripen

The new group, called Ameripen, will address public policies that impact the packaging industry and the world environment. The group was formed to represent the interests of the packaging industry, which includes raw material producers, packaging manufacturers / printers, packaging users and fillers, retailers, and material recovery / recycling companies.

The corporate founders include large Fortune 500 companies like Coca-Cola, Colgate-Palmolive, ConAgra Foods, Dow Chemical, DuPont Packaging & Industrial Polymers, Kellogg, MeadWestvaco, Procter & Gamble, Sealed Air Corporation, and Tetra Pak.

Ameripen plans to advocate packaging policy developments in North America, focusing on measures that are environmentally and economically sound, as well as socially responsible.

“Ameripen will further enhance the packaging value chain’s commitment to continuously improving its sustainability profile and reducing packaging waste,” said Joan Pierce, Ameripen president. “The organization will play an instrumental role in conveying this message to opinion leaders in North America and ensuring that participants in the packaging value chain have maximum scope to innovate, compete and operate in a resource-efficient way.”

Read the full story here… LabelandNarrowWeb.com

KB Home (Los Angeles, California) Using MPG-Like Label for Home Energy Efficiency

A pioneering homebuilder in Los Angeles, California is trying a new approach to help sell homes… They’re putting efficiency labels on all their new properties.

Similar to automobile sheets you’d see on car windows at an auto dealership, KB Home is experimenting with green labels to give them an edge in a tough housing market.

Like the MPG labels that help portray the fuel efficiency of a new car, these labels from KB Home will show where each of their new homes rank on an energy-efficiency scale. This “Energy Performance Guide” (or EPG) will also display an estimate of each home’s monthly utility bill.

“In the past, you had no clue how much it was going to cost you to live in your home until you’d lived there a while,” said KB Home chief executive Jeffrey Mezger. “This could be a game-changer for how people think about buying a home. With today’s consumer, every dollar is important.”

Read the full story here… LATimes.com

These are common questions, and ones that our customer care team members address frequently.  So, I thought I would write a post today to describe how MaverickLabel.Com handles debit and credit card purchases.

MaverickLabel.Com Shipping Policies
First, please let me say that MaverickLabel.Com tries very hard to ONLY run the charge on both debit and credit cards AFTER purchased items have gone into the shipping process.  Unfortunately, this is not always under our control.  Please read on for further explanation.

Debit / Credit Card Regulations
Next, let me explain the rules as to when an item can and does ship, when using debit or credit cards to make purchases from MaverickLabel.com and other online retailers in general…  There is a common misconception that there is a United States “law” that prohibits merchants from charging a debit/credit card until the purchased item actually ships.  While this is not entirely accurate, it is certainly bad business practice to run the debit/credit card before the purchase ships.  Most ethical businesses, MaverickLabel.Com included, only charge when the purchased items actually ship from their warehouses.  While there is no law that states this to be a requirement, there are in fact VISA and MasterCard regulations regarding the timing relationship between charging the card, and fulfilling (shipping) the purchase.

Contrary to popular belief, the Fair Credit Billing Act (LINK - http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre16.shtm) does NOT flatly prohibit charging your debit/credit card before shipping your purchase.  Instead, it makes it illegal to “not ship” within an advertised time period.  So, if a website states that a particular item takes “5-7 days to ship,” then the merchant may legally charge your card right away and not have any legal issues provided they do in fact ship your purchase within that 5-7 day window.  (Under this same legislation, a website that does not state a turnaround time has up to 30 days to actually ship your merchandise after charging your card.)  A slight delay between the charge and the shipping date is a common practice for many online retailers and well within each company’s legal rights.  In fact, this helps to protect merchants from debit/credit card fraud as it can provide a buffer period between the time the card is charged and the time the product(s) leave the merchant’s facility.  This ultimately helps consumers, as this practice allows online retailers to protect themselves from fraud and keep their pricing at a minimum.

So, When Exactly Is My Debit / Credit Card Charged?
Most online retailers accepting debit and/or credit cards follow the same primary processes.  When an order is placed online and you provide your debit or credit card information (once you hit the Submit button that is), an “Authorization Request” is sent to the bank that issued your debit or credit card. Think of this as a “reservation” against the available credit limit on your card. This request checks to ensure that the debit/credit card information you provided is accurate, that the card is valid, and that there is enough available credit (or funds in the case of a debit card) to complete the order.  This is where things start to get a little tricky.

From this point forward, most banks and/or credit companies (VISA and MasterCard, etc.) have different rules as to how your funds are held and/or handled.  Many financial institutions, and the credit card companies themselves, have different time periods that they “allow” these authorizations to remain valid.  Some creditors, for instance, allow these authorizations to remain in “open status” for up to seven days, while others allow them to remain in open status for up to 30 days.  These terms can be different for each and every bank or financial institution.  And, to add to the confusion, some creditors allow these funds to remain “available” on your credit balance or bank account, while others immediately deduct the total of the Authorization Request from your available balance.  This is completely under the control of your bank or financial institution and, unfortunately, there is nothing that any online retailer can do to change these circumstances.

So, to summarize, every time you place an order with MaverickLabel.Com (or any online retailer), your credit card account is immediately sent this Authorization Request.  And, each financial institution has different rules on how they process these requests, how long these requests can remain open, and whether or not the funds remain “available” in your account.  To make matters worse, these same financial institutions often have completely different policies regarding “debit card” versus “credit card” accounts, and we, as online merchants, have no control over these financial institution policies.  Additionally, online retailers have no simple way to determine whether the card provided in the transaction is a debit card or a credit card – so we must treat all orders in the same manner.

The final part of the debit/credit card process is called “Capture.”   Once we have an item ready to ship, we run the Capture Request.  At this point, your debit or credit card is actually “charged” for the order and the funds are deducted from your available balance (if a debit card was used) or available credit amount (for credit cards). In effect this completes the transaction that was originally “reserved” when the “Authorization Request” was sent. As previously stated, MaverickLabel.Com tries very hard to charge (“capture”) your debit or credit card only when your product actually ships. There are some merchants that skip the Authorization process and just “Capture” the funds immediately when you click on the “Submit” button.

With the above in mind, there are many instances where it is “necessary” to charge (“capture”) a card before the purchase actually leaves the warehouse or manufacturing plant.  One example of this would be as follows…  Let’s say a company has production and shipping employees that work on weekends, but not office and financial employees.  In this instance, if an item is designated to ship on a Saturday, the office worker who does not work on weekends may run the debit/credit card on the Friday before the purchased item is intended to ship.  This is just a simple example of many situations where this sort of charge practice not only happens, but ultimately benefits the consumer, as the customer receives the product before they would if the company waited to ship until the card could be charged.

Differences Between “Debit” and “Credit” Charge Cards
The main differences between debit and credit charge cards involve how each card actually works, and the source of the funds.   “Credit” cards can only be used as a credit card; the issuing bank gives you a line of credit, up to your credit limit.  You may continue to charge up to your line of credit, and then you are responsible for making the payments.

Debit cards on the other hand, do not carry a “line of credit.”  Upon capture, funds are immediately withdrawn from your bank account. So purchases made with a debit card cannot exceed the amount of money that the purchaser has in their bank account.

But here is where it can get tricky. Remember that “Authorization” step when the purchaser first places the order, which reserves the funds until the “Capture” actually commits the funds? With a credit card, the authorization amount is deducted from the available credit limit until the capture commits them, or until the authorization is canceled either by the merchant, or by the time limit simply running out. But you can continue to use your credit card as long as you do not exceed your credit limit, and it does not matter how much cash you have in your bank account. With a debit card however, the authorization step freezes the total funds for the transaction in your bank account. So while your bank account balance may show the total in the account, the available balance will be reduced by the amount of the authorization. This can cause checks to bounce, even though you thought you had enough funds to cover them, and even though the online merchant does not capture the funds until they ship your product.

The other major difference between debit and credit cards is the risk involved for the card owner. Because debit cards are attached directly to a person’s bank account, they carry a higher.  Debit cards can (and are) used quite frequently without the requirement of a Personal Identification Number (PIN).  This makes it quite easy to fraudulently use another person’s debit card to drain all the money in the associated bank account.  Credit cards present risk in the form of having unauthorized persons using the card, but not the same risk of having money drained directly from a personal/business bank account.

I hope this helps to better explain the differences between using debit and credit cards with MaverickLabel.Com, when purchased items can/are charged, and the difference between debit and credit cards in general.  If you still have questions, please email or call our customer service team for a prompt response…

CustomerCare@MaverickLabel.Com
(800) 537-8816 (Toll Free from USA & Canada)
(425) 771-6500 (From Elsewhere)

Sincerely,

Mark Trumper – CEO
MaverickLabel.Com

Contributing Author:
Rick Kent – President / Chief Science Officer
MaverickLabel.Com

MaverickLabel.Com was founded to meet the growing need for a label source utilizing the latest technologies blended with old fashioned quality and customer service. They specialize in custom label printing for roll labels, custom window decals and hard to find items such as hard hat stickers, in their growing list of label products.

Dot Com Label Mavericks? OK, so the real name of the company is MaverickLabel.Com. But the former is more descriptive, because this is an internet company … supplying labels … in a different and inventive way. Maverick sees itself first and foremost as a web technology company, providing an interface for the customer into the world of ordering labels – a label “portal” – which can simplify the process of ordering almost any kind of label or tag, regardless of the manufacturing method.

Click Here to Read the Full Article…

“Our driving focus is to make label ordering easy for the customer,” says CEO Mark Trumper. “We know that there are many different places people can order labels, but finding the right one is difficult enough. Then, having to navigate the vast array of options any one manufacturer may present makes it even more daunting. Only after dealing with a great deal of complexity might the customer realize that there is a mismatch between their needs and the vendor’s offerings. Our goal is to fix that problem. We offer a complete set of labeling solutions – virtually any kind of label or tag, produced on all kinds of equipment – in any quantity the customer might want. And we do it with an integrated, consistent interface to a set of intelligent online quoters, for an intuitive shopping experience.”

Mark Trumper – CEO
MaverickLabel.Com