This thing about tags...

....price tags, I mean!

There's this popular handicraft store here in Bangalore where I always get small gift items to take back for friends and co-workers. Its mostly local crafts and specialties, unique to this region. Hence my affection for this store and its wares. And I visit the store every single trip and I have this gripe every single time.

That is with their price tags. Nope, not the price itself. Since these are gift items, I pack them lovingly sans price tags. And therein lies the problem. Most times these are small items-like keychains, paperclips and the like. And in India, since most stores dont install CCTV surveillance cameras and barcodes on each item, its hard to protect from shoplifters. Hence they stick price tags directly onto the item. No complaint there- one's got to do what one's got to do.

But try peeling these off....and then come talk to me. Geez. They never come out altogether in one attempt. So one resorts to scratching and tearing it in pieces...end result- firstly, there's a glue stain on the item. Secondly, however long you try, there's always bits of the white sticky tag debris. One is so hesitant to use sharp objects to scrape the tags out, for fear of leaving scratch marks on the gift items.

I have a plethora of these small, cute and pretty gift items with ugly white scrape marks on them. Ugh!

Anyone else have this problem? And what does one do to avoid them? I hear, water softens it out and wiping it cleans it up. But I am leery of resorting to this water treatment, specially for wooden items, and definitely not on sandalwood.

Hmmmm.....