I reckon a couple of the suggestions above would help – don’t buy the item, and explain why not to the retailer (the owner or manager, that is, not the sales assistant); or have the sales assistant remove the label for you – and if a queue builds up behind you, all the better. 
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I agree however I feel the attitude of the sales assistant would be"Oh we don’t do that " or you may have your money back. I think I may contact the manufacturer and see if I can’t get them to change their labels.
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This is one of my absolute pet hates.
I bought some storage crates from Bunnings recently. The labels drove me insane.
Absolutely huge, pretty much covered one entire end. Took me 30-minutes to remove one label. As I had 8 crates I gave-up.
I just don’t get it. There is no conceivable reason for me to want this label on the crate & all it does is turn me off ever buying the products again. I guess the bonus is the label is still there to remind me which brand to avoid…
I in-fact have a number of brands on my black list that I will no longer purchase for just this reason.
Have you tried warming the label and surrounding area of the product with a hair drier, has worked eveytime for us with IKEA labels!
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I use gaffer tape on stubborn labels. Wrap it around your fingers, sticky side out, then pat at the glue you want to remove. Never found a label glue this doesn’t work on.
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Absolutely agree. I’ve often said that they use Araldite to affix their labels to tin and glass. I’ve given up trying to remove them – they go into the recycling as is. Is that a problem for the recipients of our discarded tins, jars, and bottles? Does anyone know?
Or rather, hot water in the jar for a few minutes. Some labels will come off more easily when warm.
A big thumbs-up to Mayvers, manufacturers of tahini (and other foodstuffs, presumably), who have a peelable label which leaves no residue, and even has advice on one corner telling you that you can peel it off to re-use the jar.
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@margarethannaleslie, I hear you completely. I work on the basis that any jar where the label won’t come off easily is immediately put in the recycling bin. However with jars that I really would like to keep, I make a label and stick it on over the top. I include those make-up labels which fall off after a while and leave the sticky patch. There are many alternatives for labels, but that’s a whole other story.
if the container was glass, nail polish remover (usually acetone) or mineral turps will usually work.
Acetone can damage the surface of plastic items, fine on glass and unpainted metal. Also should wear protective gloves.
Depends on the type of plastic. Gloves not really an issue because it evaporates so quickly. Anyway, it will attack plastic / “rubber” gloves. Women don’t wear gloves when using nail polish remover, which is basically acetone.
Did not affect the natural rubber latex gloves that I used, but certainly ruined the surface of the plastic document tray I tried to remove felt tip marking from. You are right about not needing gloves anyway.
I dislike using my nice eucalyptus on these jars, surely something less enduring would be good.
Go to your hardware store. There is a number of effective products to remove this gunk.
John Neilson
Step 1. I try heat to remove the label. A hair dryer to warm the label and soften the adhesive so the label part can be removed. Be careful not to overheat, but if removing with one hand, your fingers will know if it’s too hot.
Step 2. Use an orange oil based solvent to remove remaining adhesive and any remaining label. I have found that other volatile solvents (acetone, lighter fluid) will sometimes react with plastic surfaces and leave permanent discolouration beacuse of the chemical reaction that seems to occur.
Step 3. Remove traces of the oily solvent with normal detergent washing.
Acetone works easily every time.
There are several products available for removing the remnants of the adhesive after you have removed the label. Dissolvit and Oops are two I can think of.
olive oil or any oil also wd40 or other spray oils usually work
Also stuff called Stain remover. It comes in 4 separate bottles each for a different stain. You have to buy them in a pack of 4. The one that fixes adhesive is in a red label and called 'Grease, Adhesive, Gum and More"
I think acetone would work out cheaper
