#704 Taking the price tag off in one clean peel

Neil Pasricha

It is time for battleHave you ever waged a quiet, ten-minute war against a stubborn price tag?

You know how it is: Slapped on the side of a souvenir, stuck to the bottom of a vase, you spot the sticker and start peeling it off with your fingers. But then it quickly tears and you hold a sad little scrap in your hand with the remaining bit stubbornly laughing at you. So you start peeling again from the other side but it is no use. It just rips off too — leaving you stuck with a sticky square of frustration.

That’s when it’s time to roll up the sleeves.

nail polish removerThat’s when it’s time to go Domestic MacGyver on it — wheeling out big guns like the edge of a credit card, nail polish remover, Windex, or even a hair dryer. Nothing is off limits as you fight for your right to give a non-sticky boxed action figure to your nephew for his birthday.

So you rub in oils and lotions, dig your fingernails in there, and finally, huffing and puffing, smear it all off. But it takes a long time, gums up your fingers, and causes a great deal of stress.

So just smile and love it lots when that tag rolls off in one smooth peel.

AWESOME!

macgyverPhotos from: here, here, and here

70 thoughts to “#704 Taking the price tag off in one clean peel”

  7. There are newer price tag stickers that are made to come off with little effort but they are still satisfying after years of scraping off the old ones which I can only assume were attached with thin layers of cement. Future generations will never truly appreciate removing their price tags in one smooth motion, but for now this truly deserves its place amongst the awesome things in life.

  8. ahhh, that’s SUCH a good one! it’s the worst when you have to scrape the tag off and there’s still residue left over. getting it off it one clean peel is such perfection! love it!

  9. How about those tags that have the little circles to prevent the swappage of prices? It’s extra awesome if you can get one of those off without leaving any circles behind.

    1. Ah, I never realized why they perforated them like that. I always thought, “Why do they make them so hard to take off?!” Seems so obvious now, I’m a moron.

  10. Ha ha ha “Domestic Macgver”. I hope he makes some return appearances in future entries.

    1. Agreed.

      However, I’m pretty sure this entire post was an excuse to post a picture of Richard Dean Hamilton (in full mullet-mode!)

      1. I really wish there was a comment editing feature, so I could edit to change Hamilton to Anderson. D’oh.

  13. A few years ago, my mom introduced me to one of the greatest cleaning inventions ever made….Goo Gone. It takes anything sticky off of any material. And anything that can save me from the perils of tediously picking off a price sticker bit by bit is…..

    AWESOME!

  15. So true… when the label comes off in one peel you feel like you’ve won some of your life back!!

  17. I always take the sticker off a little bit at a time. It takes a ridiculously long time, but it usually leaves the sticker in one piece. Usually.

  18. … don’t forget the joy of having the sticker roll up taquito style once you finally manage to peel it off…

    1. Ha! Taquito style. Love it!

      Another great is when you think you’ve defeated because the tag starts ripping, but you start again on the other side and voila! It’s a one-piece paradise.

  19. A real man grabs a Milwaukee Tools 4″ grinder and somewhere amid the sparks and ozone smell are the ragtag remains of the furschluginger sticker.
    Awesome!
    (Of course the wife just might object a little…..
    so you are jprobably better off with the nail polish remover.)

  21. OK – this has been a pet peeve of mine for a LONG time!! So I definitely agree it’s Wonderful when tag comes right off!

    Thing is, you Know they could make tag that easily comes off… I guess it’s so you can’t switch tags or something – STUPID.

  25. the absolute worst: when they are on bottles of wine and you are on your way to a party and you cannot get the price off without leaving a sticky little remnant behind. even worse: forgetting to take the price tag off altogether. doh!

  26. I agree with the Goo Gone. It does not damage the cardboard when the geniuses decide to put a tag on the cardboard of a collectible Barbie doll….

  28. I ALMOST did this the last time I bought something.
    But alas, there was a microscopic piece of 1-layer goo.

  29. I JUST did this today, and it was such a great moment! Bought a new journal and it had three different price stickers on the back and they ALL came off perfectly, in one go. Success!

  30. My God, people JUST STEAM IT OFF!! Or use a hairdryer to soften the glue! Garghhr… bah!!

  31. Artist’s turpentine. But not mineral turpentine, unless you want some bad things to happen to whatever you’re getting the sticker off.

  33. worst is CDs. many a time weve tried tee tree, and its gotten into the case and on the disk and made the stickiness even worse…. and each time we think “itll work this time” and it doesnt… :/

    1. AGREE! Total aggravation.
      Not long ago, my eldest daughter taught me this trick~ white out!
      Works for many other things too, like books for gifts too.
      She’s always been smarter than me=D

  35. I’m really good at doing that with a lighter. And I don’t even leave sticky residue behind! Awesome.

  40. I have the BOOK OF AWESOME.!! I’m going to get the BOOK OF (even more) AWESOME!!! soon… btw I have only accomplished today’s awesome thing like one or twice in my whole entire life!!,…. BUT I am only 11 yrs old lol

  41. I love it when those perforated stickers come off in just one try. It makes it easier if the store puts new stickers on top of the old if they do a price change. Sadly, most just slap it elsewhere on the package and then you’ve got two or more price tags to remove instead of one!

  43. Luckily, I have longer nails, but I still lose this battle. Next time I’ll have to try nail polish remover!

  45. When I was 14 my school had a CONTEST!! And the best part of was I won , I peeled 32 tags of perfectly!! Talk about wonderful!!

  50. OMG. Words cannot describe the joy of ripping that little piece of price tag off one time. I hate getting the sticky thing off later in multiple tries.

    I looove this blog <3 :)

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