I was recently talking about how packaging tape is more than just packaging tape. First I mentioned how “packaging tape” is just a general term. I followed it up by explaining how technically all tape can be used for packaging, but each kind of tape was created with a specific use in mind. Last time I used gaffers tape as my example. I said, “Take gaffers tape, for instance”. It is a premium grade, cloth tape, used to secure electric cords on stage floors, and it cannot be substituted with duct tape.

Both gaffers tape and duct tape could technically be referred to as packaging tape, but you cannot use duct tape in the place of gaffers tape because gaffers tape was made specifically for stages and/or show booths. If you use duct tape a sticky trail of residue will lead right to you. You know how when you duct tape the center consul closed, but then the duct tape winds up coming off eventually and there is a perfect patch of gum left that your arm sticks to every time you drive? Yeah, you know what I’m talking about. It totally sucks. Gaffers tape could solve that problem for you. Or a new center consul. But I’m thinking that gaffers tape would be cheaper.

At the risk of lingering, again, on gaffers tape: consider aluminum tape! And no, I’m not pulling your leg. By now we know that aluminum pops up just about everywhere. It can be used to protect the sides of our houses; when molded into the correct form it can hold perfectly carbonated nectars from the heavens, and it is even being used to line wallets to stop hackers from reading the magnetic strips of our debit and credit cards. And yes, it’s even a tape! Most commonly, it is used to seal the seams and joints of metal ducting. We even used it on the aircraft we worked on in the military. We called it one-hundred-mile-per-hour tape because it was supposed to withstand some crazy type of resistance.

First of all, if you look for one-hundred-mile-per-hour tape on Amazon they will show you heavy duty duct tape, so one of us got it wrong. Second, whatever the meaning behind the nickname, it was a gross exaggeration, therefore it was perfect for a military nickname. All the same, we wound up with a roll of aluminum tape when we moved back home, and we used it around the edges of the window units when our main air conditioner went out. Not only does it mold well, it could withstand the humidity from outstand, and it didn’t begin to curl at the edges or peel away until the kids started messing with it (“Oooh, shiny!”). And yeah, I guess you could probably use it for packaging tape too.