What office supplies do you consider almost obsolete?

Much of my office work requires jotting down quick sketches and graphs. As a result I still use paper and pens to do my job and the occasional staple. The hole punch gets a bit of use as well. What is becoming obsolete is my filing cabinet and my shelves of binders full of information. I scanned a lot of the materials I keep but do not frequently use and discarded the paper versions. I did the same with the filing cabinet as many of the files being kept did not need to be originals as they weren't signed documents. There will always be a few things that I need to keep but I now need much less storage space around my desk as my computer can store the data far more efficiently.

 

I think notepads are not really that obsolete because there are still situations where it is faster and more efficient if you take down notes through paper. However, I agree that for reminders and other simple notes, they are best done online or through your smartphone so there is no need for that. I think post-its are obsolete and they just cause mess in the office, having them hanging around constantly on white boards and cubicle walls. I'm sure there are much better ways to post your reminders.

I also think planners are not necessary anymore as most people have smartphones which can store and sync your schedule much better.

 

I still use my pen - in fact, every single day won't be the same without a pen. I can do away with paper except during seminars, conferences or chance encounters with people who want you to jot down their number. There are times, though, when I feel the need to write by hand instead of typing down something I want to remember.

 

I think paper is far from obsolete . In fact I use it every day in many capacities. If we are really talking about an obsolete office supply I would say a typewriter or white out or something along those lines.

 

Carbon papers. Some offices might find them useful but most don't use them at all anymore because most of the records are stored in computer systems. Actually the last time I saw a carbon paper being used anywhere was about 10 years ago.

 

Office supply are still important and still heavily used by most companies, but their importance is starting to fade because most offices have gone paper less.

 

One of the things that I think is obsolete is pencils. I like mechanical pencils with too small erasers. Pencils are no longer on my list to get. I got some old ones that's in my pencil holder though from years back.

 

Some of the items that immediately spring to mind for me are - Calendars, Rolodex, Desk Top Diaries, Filofax organizers plus their refills and Tippex - along with adding machines that printed paper receipts and probably calculators to some degree too - as although not yet entirely obsolete - the majority of those items are not only noticeably absent in most offices these days - but are also becoming increasingly hard and often quite difficult to find - especially now that most people just use their phones/computers for organizing, record keeping and any calculations that need to be done

 

I would have to agree that paper records are now starting to become obsolete, since most records are now stored in the computer. I also think that liquid papers are now obsolete, I don't see them being used in general nowadays.

 

I bought a 3 hole punch to help organize my papers two years ago and have not seen it since. At my last salaried job, I needed a rubber finger for a major filing project. I thought the office manager was being funny when she said nobody makes them anymore. Eventually I bought my own but it was not easy.

 

Printers, paper, pens, pencils - anything involving snail mail and hand taking notes. We just bring our laptops to meetings and take notes on our computers. If someone draws out some notes and sketches on the marker board, all we have to do is take a picture with our phones and email it to ourselves instead of frantically trying to write everything down. In fact it's even more convenient to do it that way because then you have a copy of that stuff in your email, dated, which you can search for and retrieve easily instead of searching through stacks of papers and notebooks.

One of my coworkers was such an archaic idiot, he would email us something, then print off the email and come over to our desk and read it to us then leave the printed copy on our desks. I wanted to strangle him when he did that, lol.