Sticky

[threemonkeys]

Personal confession time. I really dislike labels. I don't mean the categories that get applied to people or things in order to stigmatise them. I mean ordinary sticky labels that get put on stuff. Really, I'm talking about price stickers on retail items here. But it isn't just them. All those extra "special offer" or "gift inside" type advertising stickers also bug me. And don't even get me started on the censorship category stickers on DVDs - I have a special hatred of them.

I don't know why I dislike them so much. I thing perhaps they offend my aesthetic sensibilities because they sully the original design of the object in question. A manufacturer takes the trouble to design something and then some retailer comes along and slaps a sticky label on it which changes the appearance of that object. But then I also object to these labels on very ugly objects.

Which brings me to the real problem. Obviously the solution is that whenever I buy an object, I peel off the label as soon as I can. But some labels just don't come off, or when they do they leave behind a nasty glue residue that is even harder to remove. Yes I know that there is an anti theft/fraud element to this, but some labels get around that by pre-made cuts. In any case, barcodes and computerised systems make the threat from swapping labels so much less. For that matter they tend to eliminate the need altogether - it is the case in most supermarkets. None of which explains that the "special", "sale" and the like labels are usually the hardest of all to remove.

What brought this rant on. Well, not for the first time, no matter how careful I have been, the removal of a sale sticker has actually resulted in damage to the item I have bought. It just bugs me.

Comments

[mortonhall.livejournal.com]

I recommend using a hair dryer over the sticker for about a minute and then try removing the sticker. We do that with almost all of our stickers on products and it works really well.

[catsparx.livejournal.com]

there's a liquid you can buy from the supermarket called something along the lines of 'goo remover'

[threemonkeys.livejournal.com]

I've tried a number of solvents in the past and they haven't been all that much use, but I'm always willing to try new suggestions.

[catsparx.livejournal.com]

the trick with this stuff is you gotta leave it on for a few minutes.

[threemonkeys.livejournal.com]

I'll give it a go. Even if only to have some actual reason to keep my hairdryer - given the state of my hairline.

[threemonkeys.livejournal.com]

Roger wilco. Thank you.

[hravan.livejournal.com]

I feel your pain... I use a bit of zippo fluid on some cotton wool - that usually does the job

not so much so if its a book or a gatefold CD though

[threemonkeys.livejournal.com]

Yeah - hydrocarbons do a good job on the non fragile stuff. The stuff I damaged was a foamed plastic - zippo fluid would have turned it into little drops of tar. Fun but not the effect I was after either.

[kesalemma.livejournal.com]

Eucalyptus oil is really good for getting labels off. Dampen a cloth and hold it over the label for a minute or so, then wipe under as you peel. :)

[flinthart.livejournal.com]

Fingernail polish remover -- diethyl acetate -- generally does the trick for me. Doubles as the lethal agent in a proper insect killing jar for collecting bugs, too, so that's all good.

[threemonkeys.livejournal.com]

Just don't get it on your fingernails. :)

Actually I'd forgotten about that as a general solvent. Now that you remind me, I can remember back in the days when I cohabited with polish wearers that it got regular use for dissolving duties.

[threemonkeys.livejournal.com]

Plus the smell bonus.

[lobelet.livejournal.com]

The one I particularly hate is the sticker on BNZ credit cards that tells me I can't use the card until it has been activated. When I peel this sticker off, it always leaves gunk behind which causes the card to glue itself immoveably to the pocket in my wallet where it is stored. I suppose it's a good way of stopping me racking up massive credit card bills, since I can't get it out of my wallet to use it!

There doesn't seem to be much I can do about it -- I'm fairly sure that anything that will dissolve the gunk will probably also dissolve the card, or at least damage it to the point where it won't be usable.

What a conundrum!

[threemonkeys.livejournal.com]

The card plastic and mag stripe is surprisingly resiliant (i.e. inert), but you wouldn't want to get any organic solvent on the hologram or signature strip. And the shiny paint on the embossed numbers will just come straight off.

I was working there when those things were introduced. Nobody was very happy with how sticky the labels were but it was all that was on offer from the company that actually manufactures the cards. The labels get attached by a special module that bolts onto the card making machine. It seems that if the labels were easier to remive, they would come off during the enveloping module.