Business Forms

Real estate documents have been a part of my father’s life for more than six decades. At 80 years of age, he still conducts business from his office in one of Philadelphia’s toughest neighborhoods. He can recall when an agreement of sale was two pages, printed on both sides. Now, the document can be up to 19 pages. Of course, back in the day, he added, you could also make a deal on a handshake. At that time, too, a salesman came by on a regular basis to provide his business forms, but eventually the increasing prices were keeping pace with the neighborhood’s escalating

Whether revealed in the form of manifest destiny, the rite of passage associated with becoming a new driver or the long list of movies celebrating rebel wanderers, Americans have always abided a love affair with the road. For as long as the road intimates freedom, neither industry struggle nor national economy will deter the majority of American consumers from becoming car owners. 2006 was a case in point: even while domestic car sales were down, the year’s best-performing month reported 1.53 million vehicles sold in the United States alone, according to www.msnbc.com. Regardless of what form they take in the future, cars

Business forms are not dead—they are simply succumbing to old age. But, like fading celebrities still craving the limelight, some of the former workplace heroes are reinventing themselves. An affixed product here, a slick redesign there, perhaps some variable imaging and a smidgen of color or even an ultra-hip electronic makeover—these are a few ways seemingly extinct business forms have reclaimed some of their glory. Undoubtedly, the numbers are declining, yet statistics show forms continue to be a driving force for manufacturer and distributor sales. So, which business forms products are still holding their own and what types of applications are they serving?

No matter how obscure our tastes, almost anything we have a yen for is a mere Google search or eBay bid away. For good or bad, the same holds for business owners: everyone, it seems, uses the Internet as an avenue for free promotion and advertising opportunities. As a result, any business hoping to thrive must venture into digital services and online business. Obviously, e-commerce opportunities have advantages and disadvantages. Change can be daunting, especially when it means investing in training for employees in order to service clients. The investment in technology alone can be cost-prohibitive, too. In the race to outwit stiff competition

Headquartered in Grand Rapids, Mich., Greatland Corporation offers a hassle-free solution for small businesses, CPAs and accounting firms to file W-2s and 1099s online for $3.79 or less. The Website, www.FileTaxes.com, provides a single, paperless solution for filing year-end and quarterly payroll information quickly and easily. From the site, all business requirements for reporting can be completed—including electronic filing with government agencies, printing and mailing of the recipient copies, and electronic files for client records. New this year is an import directly from QuickBooks which creates the file and imports it directly to the site for processing, with minimal input from the customer. “It’s

In the health-care industry, the confusion that arises from an overflow of paperwork can quite literally mean the difference between life and death. As a result, the political debate involving the use of electronic health records has been alive and well for years. Though health-care’s use of e-forms and other new technologies may be hotly debated issues in politics, the forms industry doesn’t see the urgency being played out in their clients’ businesses. Nevertheless, some aspects of the health-care industry have changed and are shifting toward electronic streamlining. If the medical community is slow to adjust to new technologies, how are electronic health records

Various forms used in the health-care industry courtesy of Maggio Data Forms Printing.

Headquartered in Cypress Calif., Redi-Tag Corporation’s newest product, Redi-Bind, is an effective tool for organizing paperwork. The Redi-Bind three-ring binding system is great for work in progress, filing and organizing stacked paper and documents. Each Redi-Bind holds up to 50 sheets of three-hole-punched paper, and easily snaps open and closes to add or remove sheets. The product is a lightweight, convenient and cost-cutting alternative to a full binder. Two five-color assortments are available. The presentation series includes frost, black, navy, maroon and forest green binder systems, while the organization series includes red, blue, green, yellow and orange binder systems. For more information, call

Mark Hartnett, president and owner of One Right Business Printing, Lewiston, Maine, admits demand for multi-parts might not increase in years to come, but he’s confident it won’t disappear. For starters, there are more than enough businesses that prefer tried-and-true, tangible multiple-part forms over the alternatives. More importantly, companies large and small don’t want to jeopardize the brand they worked so hard to establish­—something the high-quality and color correctness of multi-part forms helps them maintain. Image is Everything Brand reinforcement greatly influences the success of multi-part forms. It’s a matter of using high-quality Heidelberg and Canon presses versus unsophisticated office laser printers and

Upon first examining this year’s Top 100 Suppliers’ sales numbers, the BFL&S staff discovered a $241 million decrease in overall sales compared with last year. This sent the team scrambling for answers. However, deeper analysis revealed a simple explanation. As our readership may have noticed, in 2004 and 2005, Quality Park, Englewood, Colo., ranked number one and two respectively on the Top 100 Suppliers list with sales peaking at $430 million. This year, the Quality Park brand no longer appears on the list at all. In years past, Quality Park consisted of six companies: DealerLabel, Discount Labels, Lancer Label, PrintXcel, Wisco and Quality Park Products.