Taping Over Barcode

[surogo-0]

Hi y'all. I hope everyone is safe and well and gearing up for a relaxing Thanksgiving and some butt-kicking Black Friday/weekend sales! 

I was having a discussion with my husband this morning about why I do not tape over the shipping label barcode. I said because the instructions say not to (I'm really good at following directions). He basically said **bleep**, and that the barcode could get torn or smudge if not taped over. Just so happened that today I had to journey to the USPO, so I asked and she said No, but these are the same people who told me I could put a First Class label on a Priority box. (I quickly found out where that gets you).  So, I'm asking y'all. If the tape is not creased, and has no bubbles . . . . 

What are y'alls thoughts please?

[nobody*s_perfect · Accepted solution]

USPS employees who post on the boards always strongly recommend that you DO tape over the bar code, for the very reason that you suggest: to protect its legibility.  A small tear or a drop of water can ruin it. And on those same threads, Sellers with loads of experience explain that they tape over the barcode and have never had any problems with getting them scanned.

Perhaps this is some old urban legend based on defective tape or early-generation scanners.

[surogo-0]

I was taping over the barcodes when I first started selling, but then stopped after reading some old forum posts and seeing the instructions on the labels. I have to admit that not taping over seemed to be a disaster waiting to happen, but it's what the USPS wanted. I can see that if sloppily done it could be a disaster, but if carefully done there shouldn't be one. Hopefully the USPS scanners are better than they were in 2014 when many of the forum's posting took place.

[7606dennis]

I always tape over mine.

[surogo-0]

And you've had no problems when taped correctly?

[surogo-0]

Correctly meaning no bubbles or creases in the tape.

[buyselljack2016]

Tape away.  Today's scanners can handle it.  Maybe an occasional problem with excessive glare from the sun if positioned so that the sun is directly on it, but I have sent thousands of packages with the barcode taped over(clear tape) without problem.

Compromise with hubby, and as another poster suggested in a recent thread...............  leave part of the bar code not taped over.   I did that for a while, but found it to be an unneeded pain in the behind to worry how I was positioning the tape.

[surogo-0]

I have lots of tape! 

[7606dennis]

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@surogo-0 wrote:

Correctly meaning no bubbles or creases in the tape.

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Yes, I advise to make sure that you don't have bubbles or creases over any area that is going to need to be scanned.  Otherwise I've found that the tape protects the ink from smudging and also protects it from water damage.  Of course, make sure that the ink on the label is dry before attaching it to the package.