# DYMO label machines
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dymo-label-machines/993032
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [November 12, 2023, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dymo-label-machines/993032 "2023-11-12T17:25:45Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2023, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dymo-label-machines/993032/1 "2023-11-12T17:25:45Z")
The DYMO came out in 1958. It must have sold well as I recall them being used everywhere by the time I was in high school (1960-64). What an awesome idea it was! My favorite use for them is in the Bond film where he flies the “Little Nelly” gyrocopter. The entire instrument panel is done in Dymo labels so if it was cool enough for “Q” it was good for anybody. You can see the instrument panel starting at 2 minutes:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFozWDLne7c](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFozWDLne7c)
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### Author:  [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2023, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dymo-label-machines/993032/2 "2023-11-12T17:36:29Z")
I love the look of dymo labels. I have the labeler my Daddy used, forever.
I remember the adhesive no being so great. It must’ve gotten better, I have some boxes with labels my Daddy put on, they are still in place.
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### Author:  [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2023, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dymo-label-machines/993032/3 "2023-11-12T17:55:31Z")
DYMO produces great organizational tools says this perpetually disorganized poster who shouldn’t be listened to. The company has been bought and sold over the years and now is a subsidiary of Newell Brands. They now make paper tape adhesive labels like their competitors.
I personally like using blue painter’s tape and a magic marker, though I occasionally use my Brother printer. I see that Wirecutter gives various Brother labeling products top marks: they favor a compact version that uses a smartphone app as an interface.
> **[Dymo Corporation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dymo_Corporation)**
>
> Dymo Corporation is an American manufacturing company of handheld label printers and thermal-transfer printing tape as accessory, embossing tape label makers, and other printers such as CD and DVD labelers and durable medical equipment.
> The company is a subsidiary of Newell Brands.
> Dymo Industries, Inc. was founded in 1958 to produce handheld tools that use embossing tape. The embossing tape and handheld plastic embossing labeler was invented by David Souza from Oakland, California.
> The compan...
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2023, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dymo-label-machines/993032/4 "2023-11-12T18:05:30Z")
Were they the ones that had a big dial at the top that you’d use to set the letter, and then squeeze a big trigger to stamp that letter onto the tape and advance the tape one character? Mom had a couple of those, though I think they saw more use from my sister and I playing with them than, you know, actual use. I’m sure she had some things labeled with it in her classroom, though.
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### Author:  [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2023, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dymo-label-machines/993032/5 "2023-11-12T18:40:54Z")
Huh. Remember them well. Most of that is that I remember that they fell off anything that you stuck them too.
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### Author:  [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2023, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dymo-label-machines/993032/6 "2023-11-12T18:43:06Z")
The “new Dymo” is Brother’s P-Touch. Man, that thing is awesome.
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### Author:  [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2023, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dymo-label-machines/993032/7 "2023-11-12T19:28:07Z")
I remember using an old-fashioned Dymo label printer back in the 1970s, though I also remember that the labels didn’t stick well. And now, we use Brother P-Touch printers and labels all the time at work. I’ve been avoiding buying one for home, simply because of the cost and the razors-and-blades marketing model.
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### Author:  [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2023, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dymo-label-machines/993032/8 "2023-11-12T19:31:50Z")
> [@enipla](#):
>
> Most of that is that I remember that they fell off anything that you stuck them too.
It made a big difference if you cleaned the surface first you were planning to stick them to. Alcohol was the best bet.
There were also those big industrial things used in offices to make nameplates and office plates. I feel like they lingered into the early 2000s. Probably already 20-30 years old though.
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### Author:  [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2023, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dymo-label-machines/993032/9 "2023-11-12T19:37:37Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#):
>
> Alcohol was the best bet.
Truer words were never spoken, My Friend!
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### Author:  [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2023, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dymo-label-machines/993032/10 "2023-11-12T20:52:15Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#):
>
> I feel like they lingered into the early 2000s. Probably already 20-30 years old though.
Yeah. Sadder every year. “Well that was just in 2010”. Oh… you weren’t born yet. Never mind.
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### Author:  [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2023, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dymo-label-machines/993032/11 "2023-11-12T21:03:41Z")
I have a friend who bought a labeling machine a couple years ago. It’s similar to that one, although i have no idea what brand it is.
I use a sharpie marker and some masking tape. Or sometimes a “paint” marker that writes in gold ink and works well on plastic. Or sometimes nail polish.
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### Author:  [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2023, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dymo-label-machines/993032/12 "2023-11-12T21:38:34Z")
A friend of mine got one of the early Brother label printers way back, and used it to obsessively label everything in his garage. Every box, every bin, every switch, every outlet and air hose connection. _Everything_. I am less fussy and mostly rely on remembering which general area I put various things in.
> [@puzzlegal](#):
>
> I use a sharpie marker and some masking tape. Or sometimes a “paint” marker that writes in gold ink and works well on plastic. Or sometimes nail polish.
Duct tape and a sharpie for me. Most of my box labels aren’t permanent–I slap labels on boxes full of props and costumes to indicate where they need to go in a game without helpers having to look inside or know the script. (The helpers might be playing in the game, and I don’t want them to know that, for example, they carried zombie costumes to site #3.) Since the use of the boxes changes with every game, I need labels I can quickly peel off and replace, but that won’t fall off from sitting in a truck in a Texas summer.
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### Author:  [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2023, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dymo-label-machines/993032/13 "2023-11-12T21:47:44Z")
My labeling system is to wrap some duct tape around 5 gallon cans that hold diesel and nothing for the gas cans. Makes it easy when you have to fill those cans back up. Easy to ID to make sure you are slogging out the right stuff to the right thing (of course you could just sniff it).
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2023, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dymo-label-machines/993032/14 "2023-11-12T21:58:57Z")
I want to know what kinds of games @Balance is running. And probably to play in them.
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### Author:  [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2023, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dymo-label-machines/993032/15 "2023-11-12T22:48:30Z")
I’m in a LARP group. We run live-action fantasy games with boffer combat (using lightweight foam weapons), and we generally don’t take ourselves too seriously–we’re more Monty Python than Shakespeare, though we also have games with dark themes. Our typical game is laid out on a looping hike through a local park, with encounters at discrete sites that may involve combat, puzzles, physical challenges, roleplaying, or any combination of those. There’s a game producer overseeing the whole thing (who may or may not be the writer of the game script) and game masters who travel with each party to deliver narrative, make rules calls, and improvise when things not covered in the script come up.
I’m the quartermaster, in charge of maintaining a shed (actually my garage) full of stock props and costumes. I work with the producers to prep boxes of things they need and haul the boxes out to the park on game day. The labels are important, because we only have about an hour to set up props, costumes, and scenery for what is, essentially, a sort of minimalist play–we don’t have time for volunteers to peer into boxes and ask the producer, “Where does _this_ go?”
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### Author:  [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2023, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dymo-label-machines/993032/16 "2023-11-12T22:53:10Z")
I had one of the mini-Dymo label makers–small enough to fit in the palm of my hand. It worked well enough for my needs but the cheap plastic cracked and I replaced it with a Brother P-touch, which is much (much, much) more versatile.
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### Author:  [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2023, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dymo-label-machines/993032/17 "2023-11-12T23:08:53Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> Were they the ones that had a big dial at the top that you’d use to set the letter, and then squeeze a big trigger to stamp that letter onto the tape and advance the tape one character?
Yesss (5 character lower limit)
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### Author:  [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2023, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dymo-label-machines/993032/18 "2023-11-12T23:22:51Z")
My cat loses her collar/ID tag so often that now I print out her name and the phone number on a P-Touch label and attach it to the new collar.
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#):
>
> I’ve been avoiding buying one for home, simply because of the cost and the razors-and-blades marketing model.
Yeah, the default on some of those is something like an inch of blank tape on either end of the label or more. I reset it for the smallest blank tape at the ends. Still expensive, though, for something that’s rarely used once you’ve got everything labeled.
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### Author:  [@vbob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vbob)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2023, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dymo-label-machines/993032/19 "2023-11-12T23:43:21Z")
There are various print options on my P-Touch; I use ‘chain-cut’ which does NOT feed an extra inch of tape out between each label - rather, I print a generic label that I’ll likely need later after the ones I want NOW, and that one gets fed out the next time I use the printer.
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### Author:  [@Lare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lare)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2023, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dymo-label-machines/993032/20 "2023-11-12T23:53:51Z")
Ahh, I miss the real Dymos. I had machines that would print (actually emboss) on 1/4, 3/8 or 1/2 inch tapes.
I had interchangeable wheels for some that let you change fonts. I even had a script font wheel!
And, for a while, I could get _clear_ tape, which was my favorite.
And I still have things that have the original labels staying in place nicely, thank you, decades after being applied.
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