Cold Weather Labeling Tips

An older Planet Label article worth a read - Written by Ron Vahle

I wanted to write this short article because this is the time of the year that we start receiving a few questions from our customers wanting to know if we have changed the adhesive on our label stock.

The typical caller states that the labels do no seem to be sticking as well as they did earlier in the year. While there are many factors that may cause labels not to adhere well, this time of year one factor jumps to the front. If you have read a few of my previous posts, you'll notice I try not to get too technical with my explanations. So keeping in the tradition with the KISS principle, let me suggest that in most cases the cause is cool weather. Cool weather effects label adhesion.

Our labels are warehoused in a temperature controlled facility. Your house, office or warehouse is also probably nice and cozy. So how can cold weather impact performance? Let's first take a look at the label stock.

After you place the order, we pull the labels, box them up and at the end of the day load them into our friendly UPS driver's truck. At this point, they spend most of the time in cool to down right freezing delivery trucks. This causes adhesive to become less "tacky". Depending on the surface you are applying the labels to, the lack of tackiness can be more or less noticeable.

Which brings me to my second point, the surface you are applying the labels to. If you store the objects that receive the labels in a cool or unheated location, it is less likely you will get good adhesion. If at all possible, keep you to be labeled objects in a clean storage facility that is room temperature and away from windows.

Now that we know why this may be happening, how do we fix it? The answer is heat. Allow the labels to sit in a warm area before applying them. It may take a while for them to warm up enough to get the optimal adhesion. It all depends on how cold the labels became and how warm of a spot they are acclimating in.

Adhesive reacts differently to many different substrates. Make sure the products you will be applying the labels to are clean, dry and free from oil and silicon. It is also a good idea to let the objects the labels are going to adhere on acclimate to room temperature as well.

If you have any questions regarding this problem or any other label issue, please feel free to email us at pinfo@planetlabel.com