Introduction
Some of us spent our childhoods slathering on the stickers on our folders and books. Whether it was our favorite bands, cartoon, comics, or book characters of our choice. We derived a lot of pleasure from personalizing our possessions using this affordable, easy to apply, and fun medium.
As adults’ stickers can be used as brand personalization or as marketing. Stickers are needed to label and categorize products. As well as the necessary and useful applications, stickers are still used by us to personalize our spaces and proclaim our beliefs, our heroes, our hobbies, and our passions. We do this through the judicious use of bumper stickers.
Stickers are a versatile and multipurpose medium of personalized expression. This is because stickers are easy to use, quickly produced cost-effectively, and are easily available in our preferred custom designs, cuts, and shapes.
As sticker users, we all ask the main question regarding stickers. Should we go with paper or plastic? Apart from the difference in price, what else should we be looking at when choosing stickers. Read on to learn all about vinyl and paper stickers, their materials, features, uses, and more. Also, if you were thinking of personalizing your car with a bumper sticker you will want to know the pros and cons of bumper stickers below.
Materials Used to Create Vinyl Stickers
- Raw materials used to produce vinyl stickers include PVC resins and plasticizers. Stabilizers such as UV absorbers are used to improve absorption of UV light and different pigments are also often used.
- Butyl and Polyisobutylene are commonly used as an adhesive material.
Benefits of Vinyl Stickers
- The lamination on the vinyl stickers means that it can withstand wet outdoor weather conditions.
- Vinyl stickers offer protection against the fading effects of UV light.
- Many custom cuts, shapes, sizes, and styles are available.
- High quality printed vinyl stickers are available at affordable prices.
- Stickers can be created quickly and at an affordable cost.
- The material is thicker and stronger than paper stickers.
- Vinyl stickers may be created in custom die-cut shapes
- Vinyl stickers tend to have pressure-sensitive adhesive. This means that no heat or water is required for the adhesive to work. Vinyl stickers may also be pulled off and reused in some cases. However, it also means that adhesion properties decrease with an increase in temperature.
- Vinyl stickers can be opaque or transparent.
Uses of Vinyl Stickers
- Vinyl stickers can be used outdoors since they are a tough, weather-resistant, and long-lasting sticker solution.
- Vinyl stickers can be used on cartons, packaging, and brand identification on labels.
- Vinyl stickers are a great option for cars, vans, and trunks as bumper stickers. This is because they are more weather resistant as compared to paper stickers.
- Moreover, vinyl bumper stickers which are designed for car windows can be created out of a clear vinyl film. This is not possible for paper stickers.
Materials Used to Create Paper Stickers
- Matte and glossy paper are the two most common types of paper used to make paper stickers.
- Paper stickers are not laminated. However, more specialized paper stickers may use paper which is called ‘satin’, parchment, or premium matte among other paper types.
- Pressure-sensitive adhesive is often used on paper stickers nowadays.
Benefits of Paper Stickers
- Papers stickers are affordable.
- They are easy to apply on nearly all surfaces.
- Paper stickers have a quick printing time.
- High volumes of paper stickers can be printed easily and at an affordable cost.
- Paper stickers have a glossy or matte finish.
- Papers are solid and do not have an opaque or transparent option.
Things to remember when using paper stickers are that since paper stickers are not commonly laminated it means that they are subject to the vagaries of the weather. This means that rain, sunshine, etc. will fade or disintegrate paper stickers. This also means that paper stickers are mostly for indoor use, or use with limited exposure to the weather.
Uses of Paper Stickers
- These can be used to provide the perfect finishing touch to packages after packing.
- Paper stickers can also be applied to personalize envelopes before posting.
- Paper stickers can be used to label bottles, jars, boxes, and shelves in the home, office, or factory.
- Paper stickers are easily applicable to personalize boxes or containers for any brand or company.
Differences between Vinyl Stickers & Paper Stickers
Apart from the very obvious difference of paper stickers are made of paper and vinyl stickers are made of polyvinyl chloride or vinyl film, there are a few other differences to consider. These differences include the fact that paper stickers are thinner, and can scratch or tear easily. Moreover, paper tickets can be written on and will disintegrate after getting wet. Since the color is not treated with stabilizers to improve UV absorption, the colors on paper tickers tend to fade with time.
Paper stickers are produced in large rolls. Paper stickers are cheaper than vinyl stickers and this may be a point you need to consider if you need to mass-produce stickers for your brand. However, many businesses choose vinyl stickers for the following reasons.
Vinyl stickers are tougher and more scratch, as well as weather resistant. Also, it is much harder to write on them or rub them off. Vinyl stickers also retain their color better due to the stabilizers which are used to improve UV absorption. Vinyl stickers are also more durable since not only is it harder to tear them off but it is easier to wipe them clean. And when we tear them off it is easier to get them off in one piece.
Pros and Cons of Bumper Stickers
You can personalize your vehicle, declare your political beliefs, stand up for a cause, or promote your business or favorite brand through the use of a bumper sticker. With a bumper sticker, we can promote a humanitarian cause close to our hearts. We can communicate with the world through the use of stickers. Also, bumper stickers can help you individualize and easily identify your vehicle as well as promote your business with some free advertising, there are some cons associated with their uses as well.
These include the fact that if you work in government as a civil servant or teacher it may not be appropriate for you to peddle your political beliefs in a public way. Moreover, your employers may not support the causes you support so it can cause trouble for you to display your support so openly. Apart from the politics of the situation, it may be really hard to remove bumpers tickets, especially if you opted for the paper variety. This is because these tend to rip in the middle and need to be scraped off with quite a bit of elbow grease.
Conclusion
Since such a diverse medium of expression is available to us, why not take advantage of it at the earliest opportunity. Order your customized paper or vinyl stickers today to personalize your car, promote your business, or support your cause. Get a FREE quote now.