Have you ever wanted to mark an aisle, but then couldn’t because you didn’t have the right kind of packaging tape? Most of you might laugh at this question, because it sounds silly, and I admit that it does. However, it’s a real scenario. If you have ever gone through a warehouse, or an airplane hangar, or a factory of any kind you would never notice that the floor is not plain. Instead, it is covered in boxes and arrows and lines, and all of those are put into place by aisle marking tape.
You know that if you cross over the red and white striped line you will more than likely get your head chopped off by some piece of heavy machinery. If you cross over the yellow and black stripped line you know that you are walking onto the flightline and that you need to make sure you have your personal protective equipment with you. Stay inside the walkways clearly marked with plain white tape when going from point A to point B. If there weren’t these markings on the ground, people would just wander aimlessly, completely exposed to bumping their heads, burning their flesh, and getting crushed.
Or, even worse, they would drive their forklifts and wheelbarrows in random patterns, without the aid of guiding lines complete with multiple lanes. We never notice the markings because our brains just process them as a necessary part of the environment, but someone actually had to put them there. Enter: aisle marking tape. At PackagingSupplies.com this would belong to the packaging tape family. They sell it in widths of two or three inches, thirty-six yards a roll, in six different colors (solid or striped).
This tape is specially designed not only because of its colored patterns, but because it is able to handle a lot of abuse while simultaneously standing up against moisture, grease, oil, solvents and scuffing. PackagingSupplies.com also sells this nifty little device called an aisle marking tape dispenser, also available to find under the search for ‘packaging tape’. It looks like the front half of a scooter (namely, the handle bars and front wheel), although including the part that you stand on might be a good idea for the next model.
The tape mounts to the bottom wheel and you can conveniently apply by holding onto the handlebar and pushing it along. If you don’t choose to go the accessorized route, which would allow you remain upright, you are going to need some serious knees pads and a back brace.
Shipping boxes
When I say that packaging tape never gets olds, I mean it. I mean it figuratively, and I mean it literally. Literally, packaging tape does not age. It doesn’t have a shelf life or an expiration date. You all know what I’m talking about. How many of you saw the same rolls of tape down in Dad’s workshop from kindergarten up until junior high, when you stopped going in there?
That is the convenient thing about the English language. When you say “trash can” it can’t be confused with anything else. It doesn’t have to look like a trash can (some friends of mine use an old hamper, actually. It’s very retro). It might also be outright disguised. You might say, “Where is the trashcan” and whomever would show you, or direct you to it. If you were to say, “Where is the bin”, that leaves a lot of room open for interpretation. Bin for what? Bin for firewood. For sorting hardware. For separating toys. The word bin is far too general. “Trash can” is specific.
Ah, yes. Poly sheeting. The scary stuff. I call it the scary stuff because it reminds me of that tv show about the serial killer who wrapped everything and everybody up in plastic, and this must have been the stuff he used. These are giant sheets of plastic. Like twelve feet wide and two hundred feet long. If you wouldn’t use them to protect your crime scene you would probably use them to protect your construction site. They even come in three different thicknesses, and in clear or black.