What is the Best Tape for Shipping?

We perform international shipping for everything from trailers full of products to single, important boxes that need excellent care and supervision. Sometimes that means we tell you about ports halfway around the world, or the ins and outs of antique car shipping. Today, it means we tell you about shipping tape. That may not seem just as exciting, but for packages and sending boxes on pallets, it might be the single most important factor for keeping your shipment intact.

Many experts (yes, there are tape experts!) measure tape using three qualities: adhesion, strength, and usability.

Adhesion: Adhesion measures how well the tape will stick to a surface. Yet it can get pretty complicated. Many tapes stick to some types of surfaces better than others. For instance, duct tape does an amazing job sticking to most surfaces…but not cardboard. It has a tendency to come off cardboard surprisingly easily. Adhesion will vary between type of tape and surface.

Strength: This is the tape’s ability to support a certain amount of weight. Will it hold up under pressure, or will the contents of your package come spilling out mid-shipment?

Usability: This is more about how easy it is for you to use. Do you have to fight it? Will it keep sticking to itself instead of the package? This has as much to do with a user’s patience, so it’s a bit more variable than the other two qualities.

The best solution is shipping tape. Many people use packing tape, and while this can be effective, it’s not as good an option.

Shipping tape uses an adhesive that’s designed to sustain through handling and movement. Packing tape assumes a box won’t be moved very often, so its adhesive is an acrylic that’s designed to last for a decade without cracking or separating through cold, heat, and humidity. Shipping tape only remains effective for a year or two, but it won’t break or crack by being handled. (Filament, or strapping tape, is a good second option if shipping tape isn’t available.)

Look for shipping tape in particular if you’re sending something along for international shipping. Shipping tape will hold up well through handling and travel.