Price Tag Pet Peeves

Pesky price tags. How much time have you wasted trying to get price tags off gifts? They were designed by evil elves.

There's the tag that is stuck on with crazy glue. No matter what you do, you can't get it off the item. Vinegar or alcohol may take some of the gummy residue, but who wants to go through that stinky process? Soapy water, sometimes. It takes forever to get the main part off just to get to the gummy gook they used to hot glue it on with.

And the price tags that come off fairly easy... in a million little slivers. They're designed to thwart those who like to switch price tags in the store. With great success I would imagine. However, they thwart all but the most adept at home, too. It seems that with bar code technology that we wouldn't need price tags. However, it takes time for a store clerk to run back to verify a price on the shelf... because if I understand correctly, if it IS marked with the wrong price on the shelf (or all of the products), they must give it to you for that price. That could be just a store policy rather than a "law" but either way, I can see the store's side.

I can understand, too, why they can't just go to a straight bar code system. I want to know how much an item is when I'm shopping and I don't come equipped with a bar code reader...

The last of my price tag pet peeves? The ones that are part of the package. There's no removing them and who wants to give a gift that shows how much you spent? Well, there are times you might not mind. For instance, if you got the item on sale you might want someone to think you spent the price on the package. My Mom used to always "forget" to take the price tags off gifts she gave. She wanted to make sure we all knew the value of the gift so we'd appreciate it. Didn't work, but it did give us something to laugh about as we were growing up. Kind of an added bonus to look for the price tag and snicker with the siblings! She stopped as we got older. Another Christmas tradition down the drain.

I think only the value stores do the permanent price printing on the packages. What's fun is when they put them on sale so then you have the added bonus of a price tag that either splits into a million pieces or one that leaves gummy residue on the package. Bargain shoppers nightmare.

There has to be a better way.