those dang tags

[Tammy]

I never remember, or almost never remember.  We stopped off last night and I bought a few nice Christmas ornaments still with the store tags on them.  Got home and started to peel the stick on SA tag off and noticed the paint starting to peel off.     Had to use the warm water on it but that isn't the first time their sticky tags ruined something.  The desk I'm at was in perfect condition until my husbang pulled the scotch taped price tag off the top and it pulled some of the varnish off with it. 

[foutchie]

try veggie oil or peanut butter - works well at loosening the sticky!

[alexandra]

I hate the staples through fine fabric!!!

I do keep a staple remover on hand at home -- so I can more easily remove the SA tags.  And I have had paper stickers affect the finish of something they were on too -- but I don't know that there is much other choice.

Thriftily,
Alexandra
www.livingwithoutmoney.blogspot.com

[Tammy]

Oh Alexandra, I hear you on the staples.  Once I had a shirt that had several staples in it but I didn't see one of them.  Talk about ouchy when I got scratched by the one that was hiding. 

[genuineimitation]

i've worn sweaters from goodwill with the barbs still sticking out at the shoulder.. and no one has told me!

[Thrift Shop Romantic]

Yup, those stickers on the surface of comic books are almost impossible to get off without ruining the comic.

[Mattie]

I've heard that lighter fluid will take sticky price tags off paper items but I haven't tried it.  I have a card of buttons from the 1940s that has a cool illustration of a sharp-dressed guy on it.  Wouldn't you know it, someone at St. Vincent's put the 7¢ price tag on his face.  It always irks me when I look at it, but I'm afraid to start picking at it and I don't want to buy lighter fluid for something that cost 7¢.

[moonie]

My husband always usues lighter fluid to remove tags and residue from the covers of books and their dust jackets.  Works like a charm.  Just a little on a Q-Tip and you are in business.  No oily yuck afterward like WD-40.  It just evaporates. 

I wonder if one day I'll burst into flames while enjoying a good novel.  Maybe that's his plan!

-moonie

[foutchie]

Just don't sit near a bonfire or fireplace while reading! 

[thunderthrift]

Hi,

Savers has giant price stickers that include a bar code.  They always stick these labels on the bottom of products, covering the name of the brand and the location of manufacture.  Even when there is enough space NOT to cover either of these, the clerks still seem to go out of their way to cover up this information with the stickers.

I suppose the barcode does make things more efficient, but they are a pain to remove, compared to Goodwill, which uses much smaller price tags and doesn't cover the brand and origin of manufacture.

[Femme1]

I'm not sure if this is done in every Goodwill, but ours here in Bloomington, Indiana, make black marks with some type of permanent magic marker on the bottom of every piece of china, plastic, and anything else that they can mark (excluding clothes). I haven't tried acetone yet, but perhaps that will get it off. They also place their big tags (with barcodes) over manufacturer marks. Yesterday, when I was there thrifting, I noticed someone had been there before me, peeling off the tags to check on dinnerware marks!

I've complained several times to clerks about these marks, as well as the super sticky tags they put on books, so I'm glad to hear about the lighter fluid; I'll definitely try that, Moonie!

[oceangurl]

There's also a product called "Goo be gone" that you can probabley find at walgrens,walmarts, cvs to name a few, it smells citrusy and removes all kinds of stickers on household items, new bought items, really anything,that is what I use...

[LadyinRed]

I've had good luck with goo-be-gone, too, it's some pretty good stuff.  But I've only used it on glass/plastic.  I was scared to use it on anything pourous.

[superiorgirl]

Permanent marker - that was my pet peeve. However, a mechanic friend told me that permanent marker ISN'T!! Carburetor cleaner will take it off. It won't do any good on porous material, but works excellent on metal, glass, plastics and the like. It will wipe prices right off the bottoms of dishes!!!

[Jay2TheRescue]

Permanent marker - that was my pet peeve. However, a mechanic friend told me that permanent marker ISN'T!! Carburetor cleaner will take it off. It won't do any good on porous material, but works excellent on metal, glass, plastics and the like. It will wipe prices right off the bottoms of dishes!!!

Regular rubbing alcohol takes off permanent marker, and isn't as dangerous as carb cleaner.

-Jay