BREAKING NEWS.....

Tape-Rite is now an official distributor of TOMBOW. We will be wholesaling The Craft Collection of Tape Runners and Tabs.

TOMBOW Tape Runners are the fast and easy way to assemble your stationery projects. They are perfect when you don’t need a full sized ATG dispenser. They are also perfect to supply to your customers that are assembling stationery and/or invitations from components.

We offer small minimum orders with discounted prices.

TOMBOW products we are featuring:

Permanent Adhesives:
This adhesive works on photos, paper and cardstock.
Great for a strong, permanent bond.
Easy to refill with the snap-in cartridges
Non-Toxic, Acid-Free and Photo-Safe
You can get either the regular (1/3” x 17.5yds) or the MEGA(1/3” x 27.36yds”)
Both sizes are refillable

Removable Adhesive:
This adhesive works on photos, paper and cardstock.
Great if you want a temporary bond (like a post it)
Easy to refill with the snap-in cartridges
Non-Toxic, Acid-Free and Photo-Safe
This comes in, 1/3” x 17.5yds
Is refillable

Specialty Adhesives
Adhesive Clear:
This gives you the invisible, instant permanent bond.
Great for use on acetate, acrylic, vellum, glass and so much more
Non-Toxic, Acid-Free and Photo-Safe
Easy to refill with the snap-in cartridges
This comes in, 1/3” x 12.3yds
Is refillable

Power Bond:
This is the strongest of the strong permanent bond
Great for textured, heavyweight and multilayer papers
Non-Toxic, Acid-Free and Photo-Safe
This comes in, 1/3” x 7.7yds

Adhesive Tabs:
Fastener Tabs:
Long lasting, ultra thin hook and loop tabs, great for sealing and re-sealing gift bags, cards, envelopes and folders
They come, 1 3/8” x 1/2”
24 tabs per pack

Foam Tabs:
Double-sided adhesive foam tabs for instant pop-up and 3D effects
The foam is does not deflate
Acid-Free and Lignin-Free
Assorted pack: 414 pieces 1/5” and 50 pieces 1/2”

For further detail and pricing please contact us by calling 800-882-7348 or email us at supplyside@taperite.com

For more information visit our website www.taperite.com and click on The Supply Side.

Thank you for your interest in adhesive.

Happy Taping!

A Little Height Adds A Lot Of Interest

Hello to all you Stationers out there! My name is Felicia and I am the newest member of the tape team. I am your go to girl if you need tapes to put together and enhance your stationery products.

Today, let’s discuss the power of foam tape and the amazing things it can do for you. I know you guys are used to the simple ATG tapes with its different grades to stick your papers together, but did you ever wonder what you can do to enhance the look of your work? Did you ever want to make your work different from everybody else’s? Do you want to give your stationery height and dimension? Do you want your graphics to POP off the page? The best and easiest way to do this is using double-coated foam tape. Just put a piece under the area you want higher off the page and STICK IT.

When a customer sees it, it’s all OOOOO AAAAAAH WOW amazement.

Just look below and see for yourself.

You can get the foam in different thicknesses, 1/16”, 1/8” and 1/4”(special order). We can die cut the tape into different shapes and sizes. It comes in black or white. The foam tape is very sticky and will work with any paper that you use.

If you are interested in using this amazing double-coated tape contact us, The Tape Team here at TAPE-RITE and we will happy to help you get what you need.

Thanks for reading and Happy Taping!

The Daughter Also Rises!

Dr. Tape would like to welcome the newest member of the Tape Team, Felicia Machover. Felicia is the third generation of the Machover family to work at TAPE-RITE. She started to love tape even before she knew what to do with it. I would bring home projects that had to be put together and guess who did it for me, Felicia, while she sat in front of the television watching her cartoons. In elementary school, her science project compared three different types of packing tape and discusssed which was the best one to use (this is not a lie).

As Felicia grew older she ventured away from tape to discover what was new and exciting in the outside world. She became fond of science and math and she got a BS in Meteorology from Penn State University (We Are.... Penn State). While at Penn State she was the President of the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences Undergraduate Student Council.

It's been a year since she graduated and now she realizes that tape was always her calling. Now she is with us at TAPE-RITE. We are pleased to announce that we have our very own Meteorology-Tape expert.

Felicia will be running the Stationery Department here at TAPE-RITE. If you have any questions about ATG tapes, doubles-coated tapes or Meteorology contact her. You can do this by phone, (800) 882- 7548 or you can email her at supplyside@taperite.com.

A Most Unusual Life

Doctor Tape's best friend (yes, I do have friends) moved to the Florida Keys and he has given me an open invitation to crash at his place. I have gone to visit him and experience the totally unique lifstyle that is the Florida Keys. For those who have never been it is a different world.

I read the following in the Key West Citizen back in December of 2010. It is possible that in my youth I met this guy because I lived in Miami during the late 1970's and went to Key West many times. In a nutshell this sums up the Conch Republic.

Obituary of "Fat Bobby" Bottorff

Longtime Key West resident Robert Melvin Bottorff died in South Bend, IN on Nov. 4, 2010.

It's doubtful you knew him by that name; hell, even his best friends were never clear on that last name of his. But if you spent any time in Key West between the late 1970's and the mid-1990's, odds are you had more than a passing aquaintance with the Big Boy. (That's one of Key West's charms; freedom from bourgeois naming conventions. Names? We don't need no stinkin' names!)

Not that he lacked for his share of sobriquets, of nom de party. Jamaicans called him "Babylon Bob". Locally he was "Fat Bobby" or "Big Bobby" or "Cute Bobby" -- or just "Bobby B" for those to whom a man is more than mere morphology. But by any name, once you knew him, he was a comrade for life. He was our Bluto Blutarsky, our Brown Bull, our Doctor Gonzo, the 300-pound Samoan client who gave as much advice as he took.

They say fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life (though it's not a bad reputation to have in some places). But fat, funny and smart was a fine way to pass the time here in Bobby's day, and he went at it with an unmatched ferocity. The Fat Boy got away with murder in Key West -- or maybe just "attempted murder" and only "allegedly" (as well as too many lesser included offenses to recall in one sitting). But they could never pin anything on him and make it stick.

Some people will claim that the liver failure that finally claimed him was just a bill that came due -- like the bar tab he used to run at the Mascot, when a working stiff could still get credit in this town -- the payment for too many vices, too long indulged.. Maybe so, but if (as Fitzgerald claimed) we're all just boats beating against the current, then Our Boy -- call him the Great Fat-sby -- was a supertanker out in the deep-sea lanes, battling a sucking rip current to a draw for most of his 55 years.

He might be gone, but on moonless nights when the wind is right you can go down to the Southernmost Point, and with the right kind of ears tuned to the breeze blowing in from out past Tail End Buoy, you can still hear the Fat Boy howl. We will miss you, Brother. And we'll keep cold beer and comfort food in the fridge, a bed roll by the hearth in case you ever come home. You'll always be welcome back here, Bobby -- alive or dead.

Please join us this Saturday, Dec. 11, 2010 for a celebration of Fat Bobby's life. Festivities kick off at the Half Shell Raw bar at the crack of noon -- or maybe 1 o'clock. Bobby would have understood.

Doctor Tape again. I have to say, Bobby, you were the man. Oh yeah, this was totally reprinted without permission.

Hope I die before I get old -- The Who

Burning Up For Burning Man!!

Yes, it's that time of year again. Time to get ready for the annual series of Burning Festivals culminating with the ultimate non-conformist gathering that is BURNING MAN!! While Doctor Tape has never experienced any of these I live vicariously through the tales told by my more adventurous and Avant-Garde acquaintances. They make it sound very inviting.

I am actually interested in letting all of you Burning Fanatics know that Doctor Tape has your tape for HEXAYURT construction. Don't know what a HEXAYURT is? It is a durable, temporary shelter invented by Vinay Gupta as a means of housing victims of war and natural disaster. It's also quickly becoming the housing method of choice for those attending the Burning Festivals. You can build it with a few sheets of plywood and some tape. Just type Hexayurt Project into Google or the search engine of your choice and you can get all of the details.

The tape used for building a HEXAYURT is a very strong tape for holding it together. If you don't use the special, super strong HEXAYURT tape it won't hold together. I am proud to say that I am the supplier of this tape to most of the people building HEXAYURTS at these festivals. If you are going to be building a HEXAYURT and you need the tape just go to www.taperite.com/Bi-di.html and then give us a call. I suggest that you try to get a bunch of people together and combine your orders into a single larger order. That way you get the quantity discount and you can save big on shipping. We take Visa or Master Card (No Amex or PayPal, sorry).

If any of you has a tale about Burning Man or the other Burning festivals that you would like to share please e-mail us at Sales@taperite.com I will post them on a future blog.

Thanks for reading, have a unique experience today.

"Grief is the price you pay for love" -- HRH Queen Elizabeth II speaking about the tragedy of 9/11

Going To Pieces Is Not Always A Bad Thing

Many people are surprised to learn that most types of adhesive tape can be pre-cut into pieces of almost any shape. This pre-cutting can save lots of time during the assembly of a wide range of products. And you know what they say "Time is money". Now I don't know who "they" are that first said this but it is the truth. Very often labor is a major component of the cost of a finished item. And what is labor? It is TIME.

In addition to saving time (which is money) you are increasing consistency of the finished product by eliminating sloppy cutting. This also saves money by eliminating product waste and preventing defective products that would require more time (and money) to fix or replace.

The key to using pre-cut pieces is to have a large enough requirement for them. Depending on the size and type of material the minimum order could be just a few hundred pieces. But the truth is thatthe minimum is usually 1000. A good rule of thumb is thatthe smaller the piece the larger the minimum order. Why is there a minimum order? To make pre-cut pieces requires labor on our part. You need to buy enough to pay for the labor. The more you buy the easier it is to amortize the cost of the production run. In addition there may be tooling charges that have to be absorbed as well.

The easiest way to find out if it's worth it to have the pieces made is to ask. If you never had pieces made before we can suggest the right tape and give you a price per 1000 pieces. If a die needs to be made we will quote that as well. If you haven't used the tape before we will send you samples to make sure it does what you want.

Pieces can be made on rolls or sheets or as loose individual pieces. If you are making a kit that requires the end user to apply the tape pieces you should get the pieces on sheets with the right amount per sheet or as loose pieces that can be put in the kit. By making the end user apply the tape pieces you are saving labor (and money).

Sometimes you are using the tape pieces to assemble the product yourself. In this case getting the pieces on sheets or rolls is the way to go. Notice how sheets work with both situations. The pieces are much easier to handle this way and it makes production go that much faster.

So remember; The next time you need to apply lots of tape think pre-cut pieces.

Yours in all things sticky,

Dr. Tape

"Duct tape is like the force. It has a dark side and a light side and it holds the universe together."

Sometimes It's Not That Sticky

When most people buy adhesive tape they want it to be as sticky and permanent as possible. Over the years adhesive development focused on this. Many types of adhesive systems were developed that allowed for very high performance bonding on a wide range of surfaces.

But sometimes the tape is only needed temporarily and then it needs to be removed without leaving a residue. These tapes are made from a variety of materials and have many different uses. By knowing what's out there you can find the one that's right for you.

Lettering Application Tape (Sign maker's Tape) -- This is a low tack paper or polyethylene tape that is used to transfer pre-cut vinyl graphics from the roll to the sign or vehicle while keeping them in register. Certain vinyls may have special requirements for peak performance.

Surface Protection Tapes -- These tapes help keeps finished metal, wood or plastic from getting dirty or scratched during processing and handling. Lettering application tape also makes a good general purpose surface protection tape for most flat or simple curved surfaces. They can be left on for extended periods but they won't do well at high temperatures or in direct sunlight.

PVC based films are much softer which means they conform to complex shapes much more easily than paper or polyethylene. In addition they can withstand being stamped or bent. This means they can be placed on flat polished metal that needs further processing. The PVC film protects the finish from damage during forming. Many PVC films have UV inhibitors in them that allows them to stay outdoors for up to a full year. This makes them an excellent choice for protecting window and door frames during construction.

Polyester based films are very stiff compared to PVC, polyethylene and even paper protection tapes. This means they don't conform to sharp or compound curves very well. Yet they are extremely durable and are the most effective at preventing scratching or other surface damage during manufacturing and shipping. If you ever see a picture of an airliner during construction it may be covered with a green plastic. That is a polyester surface protection tape. These tapes are also more expensive than most other surface protection tapes.

Carpet Protection Tape -- This is a very low tack polyethylene tape that is used for keeping carpets clean during construction or installation. It is an inexpensive way to prevent clean carpets from expensive damage.

The best way to determine which one you need is to give us a call and let us help you figure it out. That's why TAPE-RITE is here, to make sure you get the right tape for your job.

Veni, Vidi, Ductii -- I came, I saw, I used Duct Tape

Julius Caesar