Archive for the ‘Promotional USB Sticks’ Category
Thursday, May 9th, 2013
The latest survey from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) shows average house sales are now at a three year high – still way off where they were in the boom days but at least things seem to be heading in the right direction at last!
The RICS survey was supported yesterday by news from the Halifax who reported a 1.1% increase in house price in the UK during April. Clearly Spring has arrived and the house selling and buying season is underway.
If sales of USB memory sticks to some of the UK’s leading house builders and estate agents are anything to go by then they certainly seem to think that the housing market has turned a corner. During the height of the property boom we supplied thousands of promotional USB sticks to major house builders many of whom were handing them out like sweets on the streets around their developments. But, this all came to an abrupt halt as the economy and housing market went into free fall.
But, in the last couple of weeks we’ve started to take orders from National and local house building firms all of whom are looking to use USB memory sticks to hand out to prospective customers. Given the quantities they are being bought in they are clearly expecting a lot of interest or they’re planning to use the sticks to drum up the interest.
All of the USB sticks are being pre-loaded with details of each development, floor plans, house designs, estate layouts, prices and even video “walk-throughs” of each house – effectively a virtual showroom on a USB stick!
We’re not suggesting USB drives are a panacea for all of the UK housing woes but we do think the renewed interest in them by house builders is a clear sign that they think the market is finally on the up!
If you’re in an industry that needs a shot in the arm then perhaps you might want to consider buying some promotional USB sticks. After the blip earlier this year pricing finally seems to have settled down again and continues to fall week after week. We’re not quite back at the pre-Chinese New Year levels again but we’re not far off.
Tags: house builders, prices, Promotional USB Memory sticks, recovery, usb, USB Memory Sticks
Posted in Promotional Memory stick, promotional usb memory, Promotional USB Sticks, USB2U News | Comments Off
Monday, April 29th, 2013
Technology has a habit of permeating every facet of our daily lives and USB memory sticks are proving they are no exception to the rule. Whether they’re used to celebrate a child’s birth, to record childhood events, to store precious wedding photographs or to record the mundanities of everyday life there is no doubting the impact they have made since their introduction some 10 years ago.
Millions of USB sticks are bought in the UK every year and millions more are given away as promotional products to support product launches, as competition prizes and to hand out at conferences and university open days! Wherever there is a need to store and transport data, to hand out data or to raise brand awareness USB sticks are being used.
Today even in death USB sticks can’t be avoided – in the last couple of months we have supplied printed USB memory sticks to Funeral Directors, Will writing companies and to family members of the deceased.
Funeral Directors and Will writing companies are using them just like any other company – they’re printing their brand and logo on the USB sticks, pre-loading them with information about their services, links to their websites, testimonials from customers etc. and then they are handing them out to prospective clients. Apart from the subject area there is nothing unusual in how these particular USB sticks are being used.
But the USB sticks being supplied to relatives of the deceased are interesting because these are typically printed with a photo that celebrates the life of the person that has died. The memory on the stick is then loaded with what amounts to a “scrapbook” of their life; photos, video clips, music they loved, tributes from friends and family and links to websites that they have created: Facebook, Pinterest, Tumblr etc.
The USB sticks are then either handed out on the day of the funeral or sent out to friends and family to help them celebrate the life of the loved one that has died. Whilst they might not be for everyone there is no doubt that done well they are a loving tribute to person that has died and they help the person putting them together to heal from their loss.
With the seemingly relentless march of technology into every aspect of our lives we are all going to have to think about how our own personal “digital footprints” are managed and remembered.
Tags: death, funeral, Printed USB Memory Sticks, USB Flash Drives, usb sticks
Posted in Printed USB Memory Sticks, Promotional USB Sticks, USB Memory Stick, USB Memory Sticks, USB2U News | Comments Off
Friday, April 26th, 2013
If you’re looking to buy high performance USB memory sticks with fast read/write speeds then you’re best not to buy them from a company supplying promotional USB sticks.
The reason is simple – the vast majority of promotional USB sticks that are purchased are typically given away as part of a sales and marketing initiative of some description. As a “giveaway” the primary requirement is not speed and performance but value for money coupled with a product that looks good and can show off the brand that is printed on it.
Performance and speed comes at a premium and in the highly competitive promotional USB market most prices that are banded around will be for “standard promotional grade” USB sticks. What this means is that if you’re lucky you’ll get a Grade A (new and non-recycled) product that has read/write speeds of around 3MB -6MB per second. If you’re unlucky you could easily end up with sticks that look good on the outside but contain Grade B (re-cycled) components – these will be slow, they may be masked (the memory size is faked) and they are likely to have a short lifespan (the number of read/write cycles they’ll support will be small).
Forget any ideas of getting the sort of performance you’d normally associate with good quality high performance branded USB sticks you’d pick up in the high street – whatever anyone says unless you specify high performance chips and you’re willing to pay a premium (albeit often a small premium) then the USB sticks you’ll get from most companies selling “promotional” USB sticks will perform commensurate with this definition.
To be fair a decent promotional USB stick from a reputable supplier will be fine for most everyday needs. Problems only really occur when whoever buys then or uses them wants to transfer lots of large files onto them or wants to run large high quality video files from them – large files or multi-tiered data with complex file structures will challenge a promotional USB, often to the point of breaking – it won’t physically break but the data loaded onto it will either fail or corrupt.
For certain industries, professional photographers for example, speed, performance and a reasonable lifespan (backed by a decent warranty) are an absolute must. If these are attributes you want from your printed USB sticks then be very clear to tell your supplier what you plan to use them for and follow their advice. When and if they recommend you spend a little more money to buy an upgraded product remember that they are not doing it to squeeze a few extra pennies out of you they are doing it because they want the product they supply to work and for you to be happy and come back and buy again!
At USB2U we always recommend that professional photographers and videographers buy upgraded, high-performance USB sticks.
USB2U - A Trusted Supplier of Promotional USB Memory Sticks
Tags: cheap, drives, fast, masked, photographers, professional photographers, promotional, usb sticks
Posted in promotional usb memory, Promotional USB Sticks, USB Memory News, USB Memory Stick | Comments Off
Tuesday, March 12th, 2013
Oh dear. It all started so well. In the build-up to the start of the Year of the Dragon on the 10th February everyone was looking forward to the annual 2 week break from the production of USB memory sticks. Adequate provisions had seemingly been put in place to ensure customers were warned to order their USB sticks early, stockpiles of USB sticks had been built up in the UK and on their return from the New Year holiday the factories that manufacture USB sticks set about the task of catching up with the backlog of orders that inevitably built up during the two week factory close-down.
But like many best laid plans a couple of variables were either over-looked or simply underestimated and the net effect of this is the current carnage in the USB memory stick market. Prices of some USB sticks have no increased by nearly 50% in the last 2 weeks alone. Prices continue to increase every day with some manufacturers predicating that it might be another 3-4 weeks before things start to settle down again.
Such is the volatility that it’s either near on impossible to commit to prices or stock availability. The issues driving the price are:
- Shortage of NAND flash TLC (Triple Level Cell) memory – this is the core component of any promotional USB memory stick, it’s the part of the USB stick that holds the data and much of it comes from Samsung and Toshiba. During February both of these companies reduced their output of NAND TLC memory by 10%-20% preferring instead to manufacture DRAM (Dynamic random-access memory) products and higher spec MLC memory chips.
- Post Chinese New Year Holiday surge in demand – now the factories are open again there is simply too much demand chasing too little stock – the perfect conditions exist for classic “supply and demand” economics to drive up prices.
- Production of low capacity memory chips has stopped – some manufactures have decided to stop production of all memory chips below 4GB which in turn ramps up the pressure on the limited supply of 2GB and below USB sticks.
- Currency challenges – All flash memory components and the finished USB sticks are traded globally in US dollars. Today the pound (GBP) is trading around 9% lower than it was just a matter of weeks ago so if all other factors had been equal the price of USB sticks would have gone up by 9% during this period. But it’s not just the currency that has a bearing on price as you can see from the above points.
Against this backdrop it’s perhaps not surprising that prices in the UK are in turmoil. At USB2U we still have thousands of USB sticks in stock that are available at the same price as 2-3 weeks ago but this only applies to certain models. So, if price is an issue then you may have to compromise on the style and memory size of the promotional USB memory sticks you order.
For other USB sticks our prices are currently only valid for 48hrs and the current trend is upwards so we strongly recommend that you place orders as quickly as you can. The other option is to delay your purchasing decision – prices will fall but not in the next few weeks.
USB Memory Sticks Prices
Tags: Flash drives, increased, trends, USB Memory Sticks, USB prices, USB trends, why
Posted in Promotional USB Drives, Promotional USB Flash, promotional usb flash drives, promotional usb memory, Promotional USB Sticks, USB Memory News, USB Memory Stick, USB Memory Sticks, USB2U News | Comments Off
Wednesday, March 6th, 2013
If you’re a professional wedding or portrait photographer and you’re thinking about moving away from CD and DVD’s in favour of engraved or printed USB memory sticks then there are some basic facts you need to be aware of before you make the move:
- The vast majority of companies in the UK that supply customised USB memory sticks that are typically supplying them to schools, universities and companies that are looking for cheap promotional giveaways. Often they are used as free giveaways at open days, seminars, conferences and tradeshows and as such price tends to be key determining factor when universities and companies are buying these USB sticks
Because price is the driver performance is sacrificed so typical read/write speeds of a “standard” promotional USB memory sticks are at best around 2MB per second (write) and 6MB per second (read). Whilst this is “OK” if all you’re doing is loading up a couple of sales brochures onto the sticks but, if you’re a professional wedding photographer and you want to load lots of high quality images onto the sticks they are unlikely to be good enough for you.
- If you do decided to buy standard promotional USB memory sticks rather than high specification sticks that are recommended for professional photographers then you’ll notice that they’re not the quickest of products. If you’ve been used to working on Apple Mac’s and you use top end Memory Cards in your cameras with fast read/write speeds, or perhaps you use Firewire or Thunderbolt to move data around then by comparison a promotional USB memory stick is going to be painful in the extreme!
For example mid-range SD or CF cards have a read/write speed of around 40MB per second which is 10 times the speed of standard promotional USB memory sticks.
- Top end, high performance USB 2.0 USB sticks from the likes of Kingston and Transcend will have read/writes speeds of around 20MB per second which is significantly faster than the promotional versions but these high performance USB sticks carry a hefty price tag and they can’t be printed or engraved with a logo – if you use them you’ll have to settle for a USB stick that carries the manufacturers brand rather than your own.
- Another option is to consider getting prices for USB 3.0 USB sticks. This is the very latest USB standard and USB 3.0 sticks are capable of read/write speeds of 50 – 100MB per second. This makes them incredibly quick but they are expensive and to get the speed benefits you need to use them with a PC or Mac that has USB 3.0 ports. They will work on USB 2.0 PC’s but only at USB 2.0 speeds!
But, if you buy USB 3.0 sticks and you have a Mac or PC that can support them you can dramatically reduce your own data-loading times and time is a precious commodity so it’s definitely something you should think about.
- A compromise that lots of professional photographers settle on is to opt for a upgraded USB 2.0 flash drives – some reputable USB suppliers will proactively suggest this if they know you are a photographer. Others won’t because they know the costs will be higher and they are therefore less likely to win your business.
Upgraded USB 2.0 flash drives will use better quality components (faster flash memory, better controller chips and better capacitors) they’ll be a little more expensive but they’ll have better performance levels, they support more read/write cycles and they’ll have a longer life – effectively you’ll be getting something close to the high performance products sold by Kingston and Lacie but without paying their prices and with the flexibility to add your brand or logo to the sticks.
- Remember if you don’t ask for high performance or “upgraded” USB sticks then you will just get “standard” promotional USB flash drives which are fine but they’re going to be slow!
- Ideally talk to your supplier about what you plan to use your USB flash drives for and get them to recommend a solution. If you’ve chosen your supplier well and they know their industry they should not only be aware of the issues but they should be able to put forward a range of different solutions.
USB Memory Sticks For Wedding Photographers
Tags: advice, performance, portrait photographers, printed, speed, USB Memory Sticks, usb sticks, wedding photographers
Posted in Promotional Memory stick, Promotional USB, promotional usb memory, Promotional USB Sticks, USB Memory Stick, USB Memory Sticks, USB2U News | Comments Off
Thursday, February 21st, 2013
Button Badges have been with us since 1896 when they were first introduced by a New Jersey company called Whitehead and Hoag. The first version was more of a “patch” type of affair that was sewn onto jackets and was typically used by the Military to identify the rank of a solider. Some were affixed to a metal back plate to give them rigidity and an easier way of affixing them to clothing.
Everything changed when John Wesley Hyatt invented “celluloid” and realised it could be printed and/or stamped. Whitehead and Hoag spotted the opportunity and quickly moved to use celluloid on their badges and the Button Badge as we know them today was born.
Instead of cloth a very thin sheet of celluloid was applied over a printed paper design giving the effect of the traditional enamel badge but the “new” button badges were considerably cheaper to produce- all that was needed was a printed image and a thin sheet of celluloid to cover it. A pressed metal shell was produced and a simple machine used to press the paper, celluloid and shell together. Finally a metal ring and pin was clipped into the back of the badge so that it could be fixed to an item of clothing.
The new “Button Badge” was pretty much an overnight success with over 1 million being sold in the year after their release.
Button badges made their way to the UK in 1897 when they were used to celebrate the diamond jubilee of Queen Victoria. Being cheap they were a great way for the general public to express their support of the queen and of course they made excellent souvenirs.
The UK’s love of button badges has waned at times but during the 1960s and 70’s they were popular with students, hippies and musicians and who often wore them as a symbol of protest or as an affiliation to a particular band or movement.
Whilst the humble button badge is still popular it is not produced in the vast numbers it used to be but, a new USB version, looks like it might inject some oomph back into the button badge market.
USB button badges look like a standard badge, they come supplied with a clip or pin clasp but unlike traditional badges a USB badge can be printed on both sides. But, what really makes a USB badge stand out is that tucked discretely inside the badge is a fully fledged USB memory sticks capable of storing up to 16GB of data! – the USB connector simply “flips” out of the badge and is then used like any standard USB stick.
USB Button Badges
USB badges are therefore ideal for companies looking for an innovative promotional give-away because the badge can be worn and the USB memory in the badge cab also be pre-loaded with tons of information (brochures, videos, price lists, etc.) – a brilliant option for seminars, conferences, university open days etc.
Tags: flash drive badges, USB badges, USB Button badges, USB pin badge
Posted in Promotional USB Sticks, USB Badges, USB2U News | Comments Off
Friday, February 15th, 2013
If you needed persuading that USB2U is the only place to buy your promotional USB memory sticks from then the arrival of 50,000 gift boxes might just swing the decision for you.
Whilst lots of other USB suppliers ship everything in on an order by order basis from “their factories” in China at USB2U we prefer to hold stock in the UK. This applies not just to our USB sticks but to the accessories and boxes we supply as well.
By buying in bulk and sea freighting larger and heavier items like gift boxes and key rings to the UK we can reduce our costs which in turn allows us to be offer more competitive prices to our customers. By holding large stock levels in the UK we are also better equipped to respond to customer requests for urgent and guaranteed delivery of promotional USB sticks and gift boxes.
Black Flip Gift Boxes for USB Memory Sticks - from USB2U
Our UK stock holdings coupled with our in-house capabilities to print, engrave, data-load, QA and ship thousands of USB sticks every day makes us the obvious choice for anyone wanting to buy USB sticks and be assured of their delivery when they need them.
Various USB Stick Gift Boxes from USB2U
Our USB memory stick gift box solutions include our Black Flip Box (ideal for engraving), our new White Flip Box (better suited to printing), our standard white gift boxes and our magnetic flip boxes. All of these are supplied with custom foam inlays each of which are designed to fit snuggly around the USB sticks.
The vast majority of our boxes can be supplied within 24hrs (including engraving or printing) and they really do help to lift the overall look and feel of any USB stick placed inside them. Our cardboard boxes are made from re-cycled material so they’re ideal if you are pushing an “eco-friendly” message.
For prices and availability call USB2U now.
Tags: boxes, gift boxes, Promotional USB, Promotional USB Memory sticks, Promotional USB Sticks, usb2u
Posted in promotional usb memory, Promotional USB Sticks, USB Memory News, USB Memory Stick, USB Memory Sticks, USB2U News | Comments Off
Wednesday, January 30th, 2013
If you’re a conference or seminar organiser then you’ll already know just how challenging and underrated your job is. Tight deadlines, last minute hiccups and speakers and delegates that would challenge the patience of a Saint coalesce around a planning regime that wouldn’t be out of place on large building or engineering projects!
Unfortunately for some the role of seminar and conference management gets “bolted” on to their day job as PR or Marketing manager and they’re often expected to organise a conference roadshow at multiple venues with multiple internal and external speakers and a delegate list that can run to thousands! Now that’s a challenge.
Amongst the minutiae of tasks are little throw away things like; promotional give-away (so that the delegates have something to take away that will help them recall the event), copies of the speakers slides and notes, marketing material to promote the theme of event or the company’s products (or services) that are speaking and finally advertising material that “sells” future events. Just one of these items can take days to organise but taken collectively they are enough to challenge even the best.
It’s perhaps no surprise then that old hands at the Conference Management are increasingly using Promotional USB Memory Sticks to help consolidate many of the tasks they face – USB sticks printed with the logo of the event and the website address act as a promotional give-away but if the same USB sticks are pre-loaded with the speaker slides and notes and other marketing material they also reduce dramatically the need to photocopy and collate thousands of sheets of paper, they reduce the transport and handling costs (500 – 1,000 USB sticks fit in one box but similar number of delegate folders and notes would need a small van!) .
There are lots of different promotional USB memory sticks available these days but the following are perhaps better suited as a conference or seminar giveaway:
USB Pens – these are a classy, top end solutions that might be a little too expensive for large events but if you have an audience of top executives or VIP customers or partners then these USB pens are an ideal solution. Available in a range of different finishes and different pen styles (biro, rollerball or fountain pen) and often with a number of built in “extras” like lights, lasers and soft styles ends for use with smart phones and tablets.
USB Pens
USB Name Badges – a relatively new innovation these USB badges come as round button badges or classic rectangular name badges. Each one can be personalised with the delgates name and the seminar notes and marketing material can be pre-loaded onto the badge just like any conventional USB stick.
USB Name Badges
USB Wristbands – A little more fun than the “standard” USB sticks but not for everyone. Certainly bright and colourful and a great way of identifying the delegates – there is also the option to use different coloured USB wristbands to stream the delegates into different groups. Again, pre-loading all the conference material and speaker notes etc. is equally possible with the USB wristband.
USB Wristbands
USB Lanyards – Another popular option because it can be combined with standard paper based name badges (or anything else that is typically attached to a lanyard) – the lanyard can be printed or embroidered with the details of the conference and the integrated USB stick can be pre-loaded with the conference information.
USB Lanyards
All of the above are available from USB2U – just give them a call for the latest prices.
Posted in promotional usb memory, Promotional USB Sticks, USB Memory Sticks, usb wristbands, USB2U News | Comments Off
Friday, January 11th, 2013
We’ve started 2013 with a bit of a bang and so far we’ve added seven new USB flash drives to our portfolio and we’re not finished yet!
All but one of these new USB drives are held in stock in the UK and are ready for same day print, engraving and data-loading. The benefit of this is that our customers can get any of these new models within 24hrs of placing an order.
New USB Products for 2013 - Carbon and Engraved Slider
We recognise that more and more customers need their USB flash drives delivered quickly and by this they mean within a day or two rather than the typically quoted 6 – 10 days. It’s for this reason that we are now looking to add to the range of USB sticks we can offer on our popular “Rush Service”. You pay a very small “rush” fee for 24hr or 72hr delivery but in return we guarantee their delivery, their quality and by managing the job completely within the UK we de-risk the project entirely – there is no exposure to the vagaries of Customs control delays, volcanos and freight forwarder losses.
New USB Products for 2013 - Mini Flip Square and USB Button
The latest additions are the; Data Bar, the engraved Carbon USB Stick, a range of coloured engraved USB Keys, a capless Engraved Slider, and several new shapes of mini flip USB cards the most notable of which is the USB Badge which is already proving popular with our customers. Some are only suitable for engraving but often this is often preferred because there is no compromise on the reproduction of the image with engraving and an engraved image is permanent (printed USB sticks will, over time degrade).
Judging from the interest shown in promotional USB flash drives already this year there has been no loss of appetite for these products over the Christmas and New Year period. So, despite all the doom and gloom that permeates the business news on what seems like a daily basis companies are still committing money to advertising, marketing and promotion and at least some of that budget is being spent on USB memory sticks.
New USB Products for 2013 - Data Bar and Engraved Key
If your business has a requirement for USB sticks this year then you might want to check out our growing range of products – all of them come with a 5 year warranty, they’re all High Quality “Grade A” products that have passed through a rigorous QA process before being despatched and we’ll pre-load your data files onto them free of charge (up to 200MB and excluding the Rush Service).
If you’re not sure which of our growing range of USB sticks would be best for your brand or logo then simply send us your artwork files and we’ll send you back completely free of charge a range of different visuals and mock-ups.
Tags: 2013, new, Promotional USB, Promotional USB Memory sticks, usb2u
Posted in branded flash drive, branded flash drives, Branded Memory Sticks, promotional usb memory, Promotional USB Sticks, USB2U News | Comments Off
Wednesday, January 2nd, 2013
2013 is the Year of the Snake and anyone buying promotional USB flash drives in the period around Chinese New Year needs to be on their metal because every year we always end up proving an emergency service to companies that fail to understand the consequences of this important national holiday in China.
The Chinese New Year holidays have a direct impact on the availability of promotional USB memory sticks in the UK and Europe because unsurprisingly that’s where 99% of them are manufactured.
The reason for the delay is simply because China takes its New Year celebrations very, very seriously. Factories, offices, schools and many public services close for an extended break to allow their staff to travel what is often many thousands of miles to be with their families for the duration of the holiday. These collective celebrations mean that pretty much everything stops for around 2 weeks.
Chinese New Year 2013 - USB Memory Sticks
The “normal” lead times of around 7-10 days that we normally enjoy for the rest of the year can reach up to 6 weeks during the Chinese New Year. Partly this is because the factories anticipate a rush of orders in the run up to the New Year so they stop accepting orders early, then they close for 2 weeks and then when they’re back it takes days to get back up to full production. Even then it can take a week or two to clear the back-logs that have built up during the break!
In 2013 the New Year’s Day is the 10th February with many factories and businesses closing for a week either side of this which in practice means that the end of January is likely to be the last date for new orders for branded USB memory sticks.
So, if you need to order promotional flash drives for delivery in February then you need to get your orders placed the 2nd or 3rd week of January. Order any later than this and you run the risk that they will get caught up in the mayhem that Chinese New Year leaves in its wake!
There are very few companies in the UK or Europe that carry blank stock of USB memory sticks that can be printed or engraved locally and when they do the stock tends to be limited to a couple of basic models in one or two colours.
One notable exception to this is USB2U who carry a wide range of different styles, colours and memory sizes all of which can be printed, engraved and data-loaded and delivered in as little as 24hrs! If do need USB flash drives printed with your logo on from a UK supplier during Chinese New Year (or any other time for that matter) then give the team at USB2U a call.
Tags: 2013, chinese new year, rush, USB Flash Drives, USB Memory Sticks
Posted in promotional usb flash drives, promotional usb memory, Promotional USB Sticks, USB2U News | Comments Off
