The packing tapes that are used in sealing cartons for inventory management, shipping and moving traditionally come in the standard brown or transparent color. Those packing tapes do the job, but it has been established that colored packaging tapes could make things easier. Colored packing tape has the same high holding power as the non-colored variety, and it also adheres well to various surfaces such as fiberboard, corrugated cartons, film and paper; however, the colors are the deal-makers. They could be used as a labeling tool, which would enable you to keep the cartons organized.

Performance
Most colored packaging tapes make use of mid-grade polypropylene film (commonly referred to as BOPP on the specifications sheets of most adhesive material). The material has considerable tensile strength and is durable and abrasion-resistant; it also offers minimal elongation, although like all adhesive tapes, they are not guaranteed to be splice-free. The material, however, is also burst-resistant. These tapes are also not hand-tearable so they are often used with dispensers or automatic case sealers. These features, along with the hot melt adhesive featured in most packing tapes, make it the ideal tape for manufacturing, warehousing and shipping.

Adhesive
Colored packing tapes typically come with rubber-resin hot melt adhesive (synthetic). Hot melt adhesive offers optimum flexibility in terms of applications. Packaging tapes with hot melt adhesive typically bond to the surface quickly. This quick and reliable adhesion, in addition to the tensile strength of the material, makes these packing tapes the ideal choice for medium to heavy-weight storage cartons. Note that you do not need heat to make it stick; hot melt merely refers to the process by which the adhesive was applied by the packaging tape manufacturer. Now, acrylic is another widely used adhesive variety in colored packing tapes; it also offers excellent performance and durability even when exposed to moisture and UV rays, but its features make it a better adhesive option for transparent tapes.

Specifications
Thickness typically ranges from 1.9 to 2 mil (1/1000 of an inch). Recommended application temperature range is from 35 degrees F to 110 degrees F and operating temperature range is from 20 degrees F to 150 degrees F.

Some manufacturers provide tensile strength statistics; some that are especially developed for warehousing and shipping have tensile strength of 27 lbs per inch (longitudinal) and 44 lbs per inch ( transverse ).

These colored packaging tapes are available in varying widths, although the most commonly used is the 2-inch variety. Those who can afford to purchase in bulk could generally get the tapes in widths of 3/8, ½, 1, 1.5, 3 and 4 inches, although in such cases, buyers only get to choose a single color. These packaging tapes are typically available in various lengths – 55 yards, 72 yards and 110 yards. The usual options in color include red, black, blue, green, white and yellow.

Applications
Packing tapes are widely used in keeping packages secured particularly during moving or shipping, but the colored ones are especially handy because they ensure efficiency. With colored packaging tapes, you can easily implement a labeling system of sorts. It would be an easy way to organize the packages. During inventory management, there would be no need to closely read and examine the contents after the initial labeling. Warehousing would be more efficient because of product organization and separation.

Shipping and delivery could be faster as well, because of faster product identification. You could also use the colors to indicate the logistics company that would be taking care of certain packages.

These tapes could be handy in moving as well because they enable you to organize your items and let you know outright about the kind of items that a certain box is supposed to contain. You could set it in such a way that a certain color could indicate the box that contains items for a particular room. There are even readily available specialty kits of colored packaging tapes for moving; some kits contain specially marked tapes for fragile items.

Colored packing tapes are the adhesive solutions of the future; they may feature virtually the same technology used in their brown and transparent counterparts, but they offer a lot in terms of making inventory control processes easier.