You Get What You Pay for in Date Stamps

Date stamps are just indispensable. You use them in the office to stamp inward mail. You use them to stamp internal documents. They find use in stamping official documents. It is just the date you are imprinting you say so why spend a lot on the stamp? As in any other thing in life you get what you pay for. 

Ordinary cheap date stamps

The simplest date stamps that many offices use are nothing more than mechanical devices with rubber strips that can be rotated. You have numerals for the day, three characters for the month and fixed numerals for the year. You may have up to 12 years. You will need an external inking pad. Each time you wish to print the date you wet the stamp on the pad and print on paper. It is cheap. It works. The impression may not be the finest but you may not need it. 

Self-inking date stamps

Now you step up to the world of self inking stamps to print date. This is a more complicated device. You have the usual rubber bands with the date characters in alphabet and numeric. There is a sliding mechanism. Depress the top plunger and it activates a toggle mechanism that brings the pad into play. The part with the date to be imprinted rubs on the pad before it travels down to print on paper. Most such stamps are made of plastics and will last moderately long with normal use. However, pads may dry out and rubber may deteriorate over time.  The more expensive types are made of metal and will last longer but the quality of rubber is suspect. You have the option of two or three colours in the more expensive stampers. Self-inking stamps are compact. This means you can carry them in your briefcase and not worry about smudging any other article with ink. Operation is fast. Place the stamp on the sheet of paper and press down. 

You may also buy stamps that have an additional column with a choice of 12 different messages to print alongside the date. 

Trodat and Colop 

Trodat and Colop are the best. They are also more expensive compared to relatively less known brands. You pay more but you get quality. You have the choice of plastic stamps and metal stamps. In either case the material is of high quality, precision engineered for smooth operation with minimum force. The mechanism simply lasts for years. 

Then there is the rubber part. Unlike other stamps in which the rubber part may be made using steam vulcanizing, these companies use superior rubber and laser cut the lettering. The result is extremely sharp and clear impressions that rival actual print. 

There is the lesser known CGS Pro brand that is equally good and cost less. However, if you want to create lasting impressions there is no substitute for quality. 

Stampstore in Australia offers choices in date stamps at various price points and quality grades. Take your pick.