Staling? Light damage? I hadn't even thought of those issues!
I was thinking that 1/2 lb bags of coffee would go quickly enough that customers wouldn't let the coffee get too stale before wanting to order more. I'm going to label them with company name, web site, phone number, bean description, and roast date.
Some of those "1/2#" bags look rather light when holding less than 10oz of French Roast or 12-14oz of Full City.
Kraft paper is fine if you load them up there, but they are nowhere near protective, and the staling clock starts ticking right away. If you roast the night before, the offgassing will buy you enough prophylaxis so that they will be fine (no noticeable quality loss) for about a week. Realize that many of the customers are people that will be buying for someone else, so the coffee might not get brewed for weeks, especially when the recipient waits until they finish the coffee that they are currently using because your bag is still unopened. Most folks have no clue that the clock is ticking, but then again, most wouldn't notice the difference, either.
Someone did show me some pretty oblong foil labels that I can use with my inkjet printer.
Foil labels will smear/not dry properly on an inkjet unless they are specially-coated papers, and those cost quite a bit. You are better off bringing in foil labels to a copy store and having them run on a copier - you don't have to worry about moisture causing them to run, either. If you have access to a laser printer, that is the best way to go.
DataLabels.com has decent prices on label stock.
Greg, Datalabels.com didn't seem to be a real site. Are you thinking of a different one? I'd like a good source for four to a page labels I can run through my printer...
Thanks