As a supplement to the standard copier paper your company uses, you can use cover stock when you need a thicker, stronger type of paper. It's considered a type of card stock that has a special coating that can give the paper a glossy or matte appearance. Your business can find cover stock handy for making items such as business cards, posters, invitations, report covers and certificates. Before purchasing the paper, you'll want to understand its features, pros and cons to decide the best applications for your business.

Tip

Cover stock refers to a heavier type of matte or glossy paper that your business can use for heavier items like business cards and posters.

Cover Paper Definition

Cover stock is a heavier, coated paper that typically comes in weights ranging from 65 to 130 lbs. When looking at weights, this refers to the weight of 500 sheets of cover stock at the standard full sheet size of 20 x 26 inches. This doesn't mean your pack of cover stock actually weighs this amount since you'll often buy smaller printer-friendly sheets that are 8.5 x 11 inches. When comparing 65-lb. vs 110-lb. cardstock, you'll find the latter stronger while the smaller weight can work better for things like folding, hole punching and embossing.

Using Cover Stock at Work

Due to its thickness and durability, cover stock has the following common business uses:

  • Business cards: With the help of a template in Microsoft Word, you can use a single sheet of cover stock to print up to 10 business cards and cut your costs versus using a printing company.

  • Posters: Whether you need to make small posters that mention your company's principles, safety guidelines or display an important graphic, a piece of cover stock will last a long time and be easy to hang.

  • Tags: You can use cover stock to make identification tags, price tags and gift tags. Brightly colored stock can come in handy for categorizing inventory and other items.

  • Invitations: Rather than buying custom invites for a company party or other event, you can use some graphics software to design invitations, print them onto cover stock and do any necessary folding.

  • Report covers: A piece of paper stock makes a good cover sheet for a report or presentation. You can use a hole puncher to make separators in a binder as well.

  • Employee award certificates: You can find cover stock that has decorative borders and easily make certificates for awards such as employee of the month or top salesperson.

  • Menus: If you operate a restaurant, you can create your own menus using cover stock and laminate them so they last even longer. This can also work for company dinners.

  • Table displays: Useful for trade shows and presentations, table displays made of a folded piece of cover stock can display advertisements for your company or even act as brochures.

  • Custom greeting cards: Folded cover stock also works well for printing greeting cards from a template to hand out to employees for their birthdays, work anniversaries and major holidays.

  • Event tickets: As an alternative to buying perforated tickets for events like company banquets and ceremonies, you can use cover stock to make tickets to hand out to employees, their families and clients.

Cover Stock: Pros and Cons

Using cover stock comes with the advantages of having durable paper for a wide variety of uses. This paper can withstand folding and heavy use and will be less likely to tear than regular copier paper. You can also find it in different finishes to suit your needs, whether you want to make glossy business cards, matte certificates or colorful tags.

Cover stock does require more attention when it comes to printing since your printer may not handle the heavier weights and you'll need to adjust your printer settings when you use the paper. This kind of paper also comes at a higher cost, so you'll likely want to limit its uses to those purposes where regular paper doesn't suffice.