Why is our packaging tape peeling off?

Many people think packaging tape is just packaging tape. They assume it’s all the same. However, when you’re running a business you can’t afford to see things that way. Not if you want to keep all your products safe and in one piece, and isn’t that what any business wants?

Tell me more . . .

Packaging tape is used for a wide variety of purposes. It’s one of the most common ways to seal a cardboard box and it’s regularly used to hold all sorts of things together. The most common width of packaging tape in industry is 48mm. There’s tape for use by hand, often combined with a handy tape dispenser and there’s also machine tape which is used with various tape machines. The good thing is, it’s easy to buy packaging supplies such as packaging tape online on our website.

People are often unaware of the differences in packaging tape and end up buying something that’s not suitable for the job they’re doing. Can you imagine that?

Packaging tape consists of a backing film with an adhesive on the surface. The backing film is usually measured in microns and generally the thicker the microns the stronger the tape and the more resistant the tape will be to tearing. However, the stickiness is due to the adhesive. When it comes to packaging tape, there’s three main types of adhesive, and in order of adhesion quality they are – Rubber solvent, Hot Melt and Acrylic, with the best adhesion coming from the Rubber Solvent adhesive.

Where do people go wrong?

Where many people go wrong is that they go for the cheapest because they don’t understand why the rolls at their packaging supply specialist cost more than the rolls at their local supermarket. The cheapest tape is usually the Acrylic adhesive, although price can also vary according to the backing film thickness.

Naturally people want to save money so they buy the acrylic tape unawares, go back to work and start sealing all the cardboard boxes which contain their treasured products. This all seems fine until they send products out and discover that some of the tape is starting to come off, or worse still, they get complaints from their customers because the boxes have come apart in transit and products have been lost or damaged. Wouldn’t you rather avoid these kinds of problems?

Many time’s people don’t understand why the tape is peeling off and are therefore unable to address the problem effectively. We’ve heard many stories like this before.

But we only want to seal up some boxes!

These days, many cardboard boxes are made using recycled material. This is great for the environment and for keeping manufacturing costs down, but it’s not always compatible with the acrylic adhesive used in many cheaper packaging tapes sold these days. You can usually tell the Acrylic tape because the roll appears very clear and transparent, unlike the slightly more opaque colour of the Hot Melt and the honey coloured tone of the Rubber Solvent adhesive tape.

At Boxes for Business we recommend a good rubber solvent adhesive tape for sealing all your boxes. Why not shop for tape now?

Rubber solvent might cost a little more initially but in the long run it’ll save a lot of hassle and potentially save you more money because your boxes of goods will be kept secure. Wouldn’t that be nice? Acrylic tape will stick better to plastics and other surfaces like that, than it will to cardboard, but it’s still not going to have the same adhesion as the rubber solvent tape.

At the end of the day you‘ve got to choose what’s best for you and that’s why we’re happy to share this information, so you can make a more informed decision.