If you have been around an office at all in the last few years you would have seen a labeling machine, probably in the same room as the photocopier. These simple little machines, often handed around from desk to desk as needed, have made many office workers life easier.
In the old days, if you wanted a label on a file you had to put in a file folder label, line it up to your typewriter, and then type the file name. It was laborious and often given to the lowest person on the office totem pole to do. If you made a mistake, out came the white-out for corrections.
Once the office migrated to all-computer stations, you would usually see a lone typewriter off in a corner, for the sole purpose of typing up labels. Why? Because even though you could probably type up a whole page of great labels in the computer using a template, it was still plenty of work to line up the one label you needed for that single file you were creating. So the advent of the computer did not solve the problem of setting up one clear and efficient system for labeling single file folders.
Enter the labeling machine, with its singular purpose and ease of use. Although the basic labeling machine has been around for quite a few years, it is only since the computerization of the office that the basic hand machine that produces labels started widely circulating. You can tell how widely prized they are by the fact that when you pull one out of a desk at most offices, they have a name or dept attached to them stating “this is my labeler, hands off!” Most of the machines are the size of a large calculator and can deliver one, two or three lines of type. Many have interchangeable discs that allow the user to change the color of the material being typed, allowing for color coding of labels.
Of course, a labeling printing machine can be used for more than file folder labels. If you have ever been to a grade school you will see them used to label just about anything, including many a kid who has to grinningly show off his letter stuck on his forehead! Many construction field offices use them to label boxes, cubby holes, just about any surface you can stick a label on. So for such a lowly and simple-concept machine, we really must salute it. When it comes to versatility, helpfulness and organization you just can’t beat the labeling machines.
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