Category Archives: Packaging Tape

Home Ideas for Quarantine

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This year I found myself at home for the last 8 weeks. It was not by choice and as a matter of fact it was not for any personal health reasons. And no I was not fired either.  The reason I am at home is because of the Covid-19 Pandemic that has spread across the world.  The state I live in created unconstitutional laws that forced me to not go to work.  My job was labeled not vital enough to go to work for.  So I have been at home and it has actually been rough.

Physically my body was really struggling due to not having my work gear at home.  So I have had to improvise to create a work environment that is capable of going to each day.

At home I do not have my own desk.  I started out working from my couch and with a laptop computer.  This was workable for several days until my back began to hurt.  It started at a slow pain that was manageable and I started working out more thinking I just needed to keep moving.  Instead it began to get worse and my back pain turned into my sciatica nerve shooting pain all over my body.  It turns out this was due to the couch not providing enough support.  So I spent a week on medication to lessen the swelling around my nerves. 

From there I went on a journey to find a better way to work.  I brought in kitchen chairs into my living room and created a makeshift desk and sitting chair.  I found that my wrists started to hurt after days of typing because the keyboard was not at the proper height.  I then decided to grab some games which are made from cardboard boxes to prop up my laptop and mouse. 

This eliminated my wrist issues and my back slowly started to become more comfortable as well. From there I actually used side tables to put my cardboard boxes and computer on.  This allowed me to pull my chair up under it and make it a very small and mobile desk.

The mobility allowed me to then put it all back after work was done.  This gave me the psychological break I needed between work and home that I was also struggling with. Work cannot go on all the time and need not be thought about at all times of the day especially from home.  So be adaptive and safe as you are trapped at home too.

Facts about The use of Cardboard

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The world has become increasingly smaller and people are now able to get items from all across the word.  This has been marvelous for economic reasons and allowed many places in the world to thrive where their local economies would not allow it. It has also had some detrimental effects on different areas including the environment. 

In particular the use of cardboard has been increasing not only in the last few years but centuries.  It was created in the 17th century and slowly become the leading item for packaging supplies in the world. The United States per household throws away roughly 13,000 separate cardboard boxes every year.  That number will most likely increase due to the covid 19 pandemic.  Now since most Americans are forced to stay at home we are ordering more from online stores and being shipped our items in cardboard boxes. It has become possibly its own pandemic in a way due to the excess amount made and the inability to dispose of it properly.

A fact that will blow the average individuals mind is that the amount of energy used to create cardboard.  If the amount of cardboard that was thrown away each ebay was instead used to heat houses. Then 50 million average households would have the energy to heat their homes.  That amount is staggering and it shows that we spend more on creating cardboard then we most likely should.  In the United States alone we throw away 850 million tons of paper and cardboard. 

That number is staggering to me and what that really means is that 1 billion trees were mostly likely cut down to create that amount of waste.  This means that the average American uses 7 trees all on their own just in paper waste. For me personally that would mean I would cut down every tree on the property I own in one year.  This for myself would be unsustainable because it would take 40 years to get my trees to grow back to the same size and that number and time involved is hard to wrap my mind around. 

The amount of waste we are creating and the amount of energy we are spending to create that waste is most likely not sustainable.  If we could instead recycle every amount of paper we might be able to slow the degradation of our tree population down. This at the very minimum should be what we all due.  So keep in my the need to recycle and try to do so with your paper products.

Using the right knife on Cardboard

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A little known fact is that cardboard boxes are very dense. This may sound a little funny but in a way its very obvious.  We use cardboard boxes all the time and in many cases every day.  Look in your pantry and you will see them every where and they are used many times in heavy applications.  This is simply because of the density of cardboard and if you work in a factory or in packaging you may find yourself cutting lots of boxes every single day.  This becomes a problem if you are using cheap knives.  The problem is obvious if you are in the industry, and its because your knife is always dull. So how do you choose the proper knife to work in a factory?

The answer is complicated and yet simple.  Stop buying the most inexpensive knife you see that looks cool.  Yes, it may have a great looking design on the handle or blade, but most likely it is made from the lowest bidder and out of the least expensive materials.  Instead look for a brand name that is known in the knife industry.  Yes the knife industry, not the sporting goods industry.  So this means you actually need to do a little research.  Brands are not country of origan specific either.  Some of the best knife brands come from China, because they use quality materials and craftsmanship.  Look for brands like, Benchamde, Spyderco, We Knives.  These are the most known brands in the knife industry and starting with a high quality brand means most likely you will be getting a better knife.  Now the actual steel on the knife is important. It actually will be what determines how often you need to sharpen your knife if you do the same task each day.

Ask yourself an important question. Do I work in wet conditions. If the answer is yes, then you will most likely want a stainless steel.  Now remember, all steel rusts. Stainless, means it stains less quickly or rusts less quickly than a normal carbon steel.  There are more types of steel than I can count, but here are a few good ones to look for.  If you need a good stainless steel, look for knives that are made in cpm s35vn,  cpm154, or vg10. 

These knives will cost more than your truck stop knives, but will be 10 to 20 times the quality.  Which means they will be tougher and last longer at your normal cutting tasks.  For Carbon steel look for, cpm 3v, m4, or m390.  These steels are amazing for edge retention but will rust faster than your normal kitchen knife.  So keep them dry and enjoy your knew experience of cutting boxes without sharpening your knife every other day.

Wardrobe Boxes

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Spring is always the busy season for buying and selling a home. People have been inside all winter and they are just too excited to get out. They plan on planting a garden, hosting barbeques, and just enjoying a new yard. They want to buy in early spring so they have time to work on their new yard before summer. There is also the benefit of buying in the spring to be able to do any repairs or renovations on the outside of the home. Not to mention the move will be in much nicer weather. No one wants to move and haul all of their belongings with snow on the ground. That’s why it is best to haul your cardboard boxes for moving in the spring.

You have to pick the right type of cardboard boxes, though. No one wants to be moving a box of heavy things and then the box bust on them. It is best to go with sturdy, durable boxes when it comes to moving heavy things. Packing your things into boxes you know won’t break is the responsible thing to do. It is also great to use the appropriate boxes for what you are packing in them. Yes, there are multitude of different boxes to choose from when it comes to moving.

The greatest box for moving that I didn’t even know existed is a wardrobe box. For so many times that I have moved I have had to just throw all of my clothes into a box. Even when I would try and fold them as neatly as I could, the clothes would still be wrinkled by the time I got to the new place and started to unpack everything (because let’s be honest, the clothes will sit in the boxes for a few days). This specific type of box is taller than regular boxes. It also has a bar across the top that your hanger goes right on! That way, your clothes are hanging up on your own hangers the entirety of the move. So even when I get a little lazy and wait a week to finally unpack my clothes, they will still be sitting nice and next to the closet just waiting for me.

Moving can be stressful, but it doesn’t have to be terrible. Make sure you are set to move during a nice day. Also make sure you are using the best boxes you can to make the move as smooth as possible.

Your Online Business

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Most businesses are shifting to an online business model. It seems like brick and mortar storefronts are on the decline more and more in every town. People enjoy searching for a product at home, filtering through thousands of options, reading reviews, and then making a final decision all while they are sitting on their couch at home. This means marketing has also started to shift. More and more advertisements for online stores are popping up all over social media. Influencers are even being sponsored by these online businesses to show off their products.

One thing that most of these influencers have hit on is the packaging of their products they are receiving. Plain, cardboard boxes seem to be a thing of the past when it comes to these popular millennial and Gen Z websites. Almost any box is colorful or has a cute little logo from the company. It may just seem like novelty, but it really seems to get the attention of buyers.

Aesthetic has really seemed to be the word of the decade. Everyone is focused on how something looks and if it matches their personality or their style. Cardboard boxes are just another way companies can appeal to consumers. If there are cute ads of a model holding their beautifully decorated box, then more people are likely to check out that website. Amazon uses this with their “smile” packages. Everyone associates these boxes with Amazon, which is just a marketing scheme for them. Some companies even change up their design depending on the season or the holiday. So the boxes then become sort of a collectors item, and people are more inclined to buy at certain times of the year.

Even the size of the box is something companies have to consider. Are they just going to have one medium size box that every item(s) gets shipped in. Or will they have multiple sizes with multiple different designs? These are things to think about when thinking of marketing or branding.

Next, companies need to decide how these are going to get stuffed. They could look into fun, colored shredded paper. Or they could choose packing peanuts or maybe even inflatable fillers. Maybe each item could be wrapped in pretty tissue paper. The same amount of thought that goes into the outside of the package should go on the inside. Companies should always consider adding extra inside the boxes. A little friend referral of 10% off your next purchase really keeps the customer coming back to their site.