From time to time, one of our distributors will ask about a competitors coasters.  Usually the end-user will find a coaster online and wonder why the item they see is less expensive.

As you’re about to see, not all coasters are created equal.  For over 40 years, we have been producing the finest coasters in the promotional products industry.  We do this by using the best materials we can so that your coasters will look as good in 20 years as they do today.  Of course, not everyone has the same needs, so we do offer 5 styles of metal coasters to fit every budget – but each of our 5 coaster styles is made to last.

1) Solid Bass means solid brass – not brass plated, not iron, not brass wrapped around zinc.  There are a number of products out there purporting to be brass coasters, when in fact they are not.  Take a look at the following example.   Some things to note about this coaster.  First off – Iron (aka steel) is a really bad material to use in a coaster for the simple fact that Iron will rust.  Nobody wants a rusty mess leaking out from their coaster.  That is precisely why no PinLine coaster contains any iron material.  Our Solid Brass Coaster is made of solid brass.

2)  Don’t Flake Out .  All PinLine coasters feature felt bottoms.  With over 40 years of experience manufacturing coasters, we found that cork bottoms simply do not last.  If you have a ruler on your desk with a cork bottom, take a look at it.  I’ll bet that unless it’s brand new, the cork is flaking off.  That is why we choose to use felt bottoms on our coasters – not cork.

3) Real Gold – Not “Imitation Gold” – Years ago, PinLine recognized that not all customers had the need or budget for a solid brass coaster.  That was why we developed our Boardroom, SlimLine and Executive (Square) coasters.  These coasters are made of zinc, hand polished and given your choice of finishes (polished gold, polished silver, satin pewter, satin brass or matte black).  Not long after we introduced our line of Zinc coasters, others followed with imported products (Our coasters are Made in USA).  In addition, to save costs our competitors zinc coasters often have a nickel and brass plated finish.     It’s a common trick used to save money and it’s sometimes called an imitation gold finish.  First nickel is plated on the piece to give it a shine, then brass is laid over the nickel.  Brass plating has a much more pale yellow finish than actual gold plating which has more of the deep red hues of real gold.   It may be enough for some folks to have a gold tone to their coaster, but we choose to use real gold.   You be the judge….

We are certain that you’ll agree there is no finer coaster line in the industry.

Why did PinLine start a blog?

Last night, the kids were asleep, Mythbusters was over so I unfolded the laptop and checked email.  A distributor had emailed some art – probably had been used for a print job – and now they wanted some pins to recognize years of service – but they only needed about 100 total pins and wanted to create 5 levels of recognition.  This is a scenario we face all the time.  As I was writing back to this distributor with some ideas of how to accomplish this feat, it occurred to me that I must have written the same email at least 100 times in the past.   And for each of those 100 times that I’ve suggested solutions – there are probably 10X as many distributors who’ve dealt with similar scenarios and come up with their own creative solutions.   

Thus the PinLine blog was born – the goal is to share experiences and address common challenges we all face.  The blog will be written with our distributors in mind and will address the design and use of custom emblematic promotional products.  We encourage readers to share comments and experiences.  In particular we encourage you to tell us how you’ve used these products and the results your end users have achieved. 

Looking forward to the discussion

-Dave