Many people wound up with excellent gifts during the holidays, but one really annoying thing is getting something with a sticky price tag on it. On Second Thought's acting senior producer Don Smith has a thing or two to say about those pesky price tags.

 

I yield to no one in my appreciation of places that find ways to charge less for things you actually need or want to buy. Good old American competition.

But there is an apparent fear that some bottom-dwelling sneaks will somehow manage to remove or swap price tags on everything from gift bags to golf balls to signs that describe how Mama’s disposition determines everyone else’s.  You know – if Mama ain’t happy, etcetera.

 

These price tags are attached to whatever they deface with stickum that would probably work to repair battleships. They are often located where they can best be seen. They are usually designed to break into a number of smaller pieces, each as sticky and impossible to get off your fingers and hands as modern science can devise.

 

They do not come off cleanly. There is residue left. That requires some chemical compound like Goo Gone to detach. This leaves a stink, and sometimes a stain.

 

Trying to get the goo off with a tool of some sort often results in gouges, scratches, even breakage.

 

Is there now, or was there ever, an epidemic of price tag swapping?

 

Are modern science and technology incapable of devising price tagging that does not require tear apart tags, attached with adhesive from Hell?

 

We never had this problem at Rich’s.