When do you peel off protective film?
8I just received an Amazon Fire TV Stick and most all of the components, remote, AC/USB Power Supply and the Fire Stick HDMI module had a protective film on them. The packaging was a thing of beauty. When do you, if ever, peel off the protective film over displays, etc? I do immediately and it bugs me, maybe more than it should, when people leave it on as protection. Whatever you’re protecting looks a lot better without the film.
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I take it off. Why pay for some super badass display and then leave on the slightly opaque cover? I put tempered glass screen protectors on my phones, but the film ones are terrible.
IMMEDIATELY.
immediately
Immediately if not sooner. My SO and I fight over who gets to do it.
And if I see anything in your place that still has that film on it I am in a raging internal struggle to not tear it off for you every second it's in my sight.
@JonT you just described exactly how I feel about it.
@JonT I leave the protective stuff off until it gets kinda gross, but now I'm just going to send them to you with return postage. The way I save my bubble wrap for my coworker a couple of cubes down.
@JonT This x1000, for me it is like religious experience. It's like winning the lottery when you find some tiny one in a crevice months after you unboxed the device. Best was when we bought a new freezer, and the entire thing had one.
@TehMaliron Haha, my fridge was like that. My kids were disappointed when I tore it off before they could
I never take it off. Ever. I'm not paying more money for a screen protector.
@Klisk You're a horrible person.
This is a great question. I left the protective stuff on the sides/back of a fancy monitor forever- eventually forgot it was even there. When I finally took it off I felt like a huge douche for having it there so long. I still cringe.
Is this trick question? Take it off immediately. It's not even clear, and looks like crap.
Wait, there's protective film on stuff?
@spavlis I HAVE occasionally been surprised to realize that I missed the presence of film on an item, but not very often.
@PhysAssist I bought a 42" LG a few months back. When I went to clean the bezel and screen a few weeks ago I realized I still had that film on the sides.
For those that say "immediately", your significant other, if you have one, must love that it only takes you 20 seconds to "finish".
One must take their time in peeling off the protective film. Savor the moment. Show that you care.
Exactly! Wait until the film is a bit messed up, and then peel it of to "make it new" once again!
I peel it off immediately. My brother insists on leaving it on indefinitely and it drives me nuts.
I guess I will be the one weirdo to say I leave it on as long as I can. It's not new anymore once all the plastic is gone. Of course, I've never had a new TV or anything where the film significantly impacts using the thing or looking stupid on the wall.
Actually, that's not true. When I bought my iPhone I forgot that I'd left the film on it and it took me a while to figure out why all my pictures were coming out so blurry
@Kleineleh My smartphone had a tiny square of protective film over the camera lens. Didn't notice it for a month.
It's part of the unpacking process. One of my "beat head on brick wall" things is when someone tells me they don't much like their new touchscreen whatever, only to discover they never removed the film on the screen. The usual puzzled question: "Oh! We're supposed to take that off?
@rockblossom I have facepalmed a lot over this too!
@rockblossom I've noticed that the past 2 or 3 smartphones I have gotten have some sort of text on the film. I guess just to piss people off who liked to keep it. Or you know for these clueless people
@chellemonkey Never underestimate the ability to be clueless. The last person who called me about their new tablet and why it was "not as good as they expected" : There was a protective shipping cover over the screen. It was thick and wavy. It was blueish. It was not bendy. The camera took really crappy pics, the screen was hard to see (and bluish) and the touch sensitive screen was more than a little .. not. That should have been a clue to take the wrapping off, but nooooo. I have considered e-mailing the companies to suggest that the shipping wrap/film all be opaque. Maybe that would work, but I'm not confident it will. "I turned on the tablet, but all I get is a glow around the edges ..."
@rockblossom the last one I got said something like "remove this film before using" and had an arrow to the non sticky corner. Now I work in IT so I feel like I particularly understand the lengths users go to to be completely clueless about technology when seemingly normal in every other way but it seems like the company was trying to make your "job" easier
@chellemonkey Mine has that but I left it on anyway.
@chellemonkey @rockblossom I laughed a little bit when I opened the Neato I ordered here and the very first step in the startup instructions was to remove ALL of the protective film from all the pieces
I have to say, I leave the protective film on appliances as long as possible -- it irritates the living daylights out of my husband. It is these minor victories that make a marriage work ;)
@mikibell I used to date a girl whose grandma did that. it drove me nuts. every single appliance still had a the blue film over the sides and the control panels. ( she was living with grandma @ the time, so it wasnt just an occaisional thing )
@earlyre Did her furniture look like this?
@jsh139 thankfully, no....
During the initial unboxing, right after chucking the user manual in a random desk drawer.
@deichernc My favorite run-in with an instruction manual was when I bought a shredder. Incidentally, the page capacity of the shredder and the page count of the manual were exactly equal. Needless to say it was fed to the shredder before any learning happened.
Never.
@Fen_Star GET OUT
Until I decide if I'm keeping or returning said item.
Immediately... If you leave it on it eventually yellows and gets stickier. I had to change desks at work one time and got the phone that had been there a couple of years. They never peeled the films off the keys... Trying to peel it off it came apart so I had to peel it bit by bit and it left a nasty stick residue.
Peel it like a snake ASAP! The only answer!
@jennkaotic I bought a glass door on clearance one time. It was obviously old stock. Took lacquer thinner and a magic eraser to clean the glue residue left by the protective film.
@jennkaotic I agree totally. I've ran across old calculators and such that people have left the film on and you can hardly remove it without damage.
I stage manage for a local community college theatre program sometimes. My obsession with peeling protective film is known in that group. They did a show with tap dancers and the hallway to the green room had very recently been resurfaced and waxed and they didn't want the tappers to ruin it so they put blue protective film on the entire hallway (like... 60x10 feet of it). They let me peel the whole thing and it was bliss.
My husband lets me peel the film off of his electronics. That's true love. :)
My bff handed me her older phone one day to look at something and I started to peel the film off, telling her that this stuff can be removed. She was yelling "No! No! I want it to stay looking new as long as possible."
But...but...but.....
If it's something that I am going to buy a protective film for like a tablet or phone, I leave on the film till the protector gets here and then I switch them. I had the protective film on my tablet for months because no one made a reasonably priced screen protector for it (13.3" tablet), but Xtremeguard finally started selling them so I was able to switch them. Now the tablet's dead and I have a spare film. Stuff like Blu-Ray players where it's never going to get a special film, I peel it off immediately.
Speaking of which I bought a tablet today so I guess I need to go look for a screen protector for it.
How many of us also hate the MF'ing MFG's that assemble their products in such a way that it traps the edges of the protective films between parts that are made never to EVER come apart again, so that you end up needing a razor to cleanly trim off the remnants that otherwise sit there smugly reminding you of your failure as a consumer?
@PhysAssist Did somebody say MFing?
@lisaviolet I genuflect to your awesome video-fu.
Many times I have peeled it off too soon with bulk plastics. Then I curse. The plastic should stay on through most machining processes. (Note: you may need different settings for cutting plastic in the laser cutter if it is naked.)
Done right, it is a thrill to peal away the film with all of the saw dust and other crap and expose a perfect surface. The final project never looks as good when I have prematurely peeled the film.
@hamjudo Laser cutter. Jealous, me.
@moondrake I don't own one. I use the ones at my local maker space. Where do you live? There may be one near there.
@hamjudo Tatooine, aka West Texas. If there's a bright spot in the universe, this is the place furthest from it. We don't have the equivalent of a maker space. You take classes at the University, from private folks, or pony up the cash for your own equipment. There's a wood turner's club on the miltary base that shares tools for a monthly membership fee, and a stained glass shop that will let you use their equipment if you buy all the materials there, but that's it.
@moondrake Are you handy or willing to build your own? This seems to be a low-powered, reasonably cheap design: http://jenslabs.com/2013/12/16/what-can-you-cut-with-a-300mw-diy-laser-cutter/
@moondrake If you're not up to building your own laser cutter, you might consider building your own community. There was no robot club in town, so I formed one. (although, that was before I had children. Children change priorities, and deprive one of sleep.)
My Dad made sure we all knew; the fixed is best, and everyone will try to get it. The smooth top of a fresh carton of ice cream, or the glossy surface of a new jar of Skippy's peanut butter. To this day, all his kids tend to skim the entire top of either for the first serving... Everyone wanted the fixed.
The protective film... it is also the fixed, and the fixed shall be mine.
@duodec Our two Shelties are neutered, and they are ours.
@Stumpy91 "The fixed", not "fixed". ;)
@duodec I always used to take the first drink from a new gallon of milk...
Am I a bad person? I peel it off anywhere I see it, whether it's mine or…not. Nothing can stop me.
@dave You are normal IMHO. No support group required.
@dave I feel like knowing that you do this gives me some kind of permission to start doing it too.
Sometimes the film on a display will have air bubbles under it and people will still want to leave it on.
@Stumpy91 Maybe it was Texas Air. More likely Chinese though...
@duodec In which case it is a solid, not a gas.
I still have the little dangly tags on my recliner in the living room. I bought the recliner when I bought my house. 22 years ago.
Depends on what it is. If it's covering a screen, immediately and possibly inappropriately. If it's protecting something from scratches and it won't bug me to leave it alone, I let it be for as long as possible.
Is protective film our new bubble wrap?
These are for all of the plastic peelers in this thread:
@JonT Good lord, it's like porn for plastic peeling addicts.
@JonT I just got all tingly in my, um, nevermind....
@JonT hnnnnggg
I bought my phone back in March and it still has the protective film on it. It even has text on it, but I don't even notice it's there anymore.
For me, it is immediately after I realize there is a protective film. Sometimes though it is tough to tell if there is a protective film or not.
My mother on the other hand is one of those "leave it on till it practically falls off on its own" kinda people. When I was a kid, my family got a new microwave with the plastic film covering the top and sides. That stupid film was on that microwave for probably at least 5 years and actually had a couple holes in it where stuff was put on it a lot. I finally got sick of it and peeled off the plastic when she wasn't looking. I later got high praise for how good of a job I did cleaning the microwave.
Sometimes I never do.
Immediately immediately!
Leaving protective film on stuff ... Maybe it bothers me more than it should.
@Sarahsda Well I inherited an LG fridge from my sister in law- my partner had a new illegal compressor installed and it is a wonderful thing. although it did have a couple weird scratches. so it’s been eight months now and it’s 2 o’clock in the morning I am fixing crapes and I noticed something on the bottom part of the French door bottom freezer peeling and I pulled on it and it was the plastic film from five years ago and because they left it on and never took off Parts of it has melted into the actual refrigerator paint! Ill have to use something else to take it off. What a PAIN.
so remove the plastic film on ALL appliances immediately when you get it because right now I’m dealing with a terrible situation. I guess all of the cleansers that they used on it in five years made the plastic film metamorphoses into some weird goo
REMOVE ALL PLASTIC FILMS! they are only put on there in the factory to keep it from being scratched before someone buys it for no other reason than that.
My partner and his nine siblings all do the same thing they all leave the plastic film on everything.
Jesus Christ what a mess I’m dealing with right now!
my refrigerator looks like it has leprosy!
I was doing a through inside cleaning of our Dodge Dart this afternoon. I came across a small corner of the dashboard that still has film on it. We bought it new in January 2013. I left it there. It's the cleanest part of the car.
@Teripie You’re supposed to takeoff the plastic film on everything you’re not ever supposed to leave it on because you left that corner on it looks neat new and clean and it doesn’t look the same as everything else it’s not aging the same so you can have one area that looks old in the corners gonna look brand new
take the film off
I took the protective film off, and now I have three kids.
I always think I'll take it off later when guests come over or something, like I need a reason. My basement tv still has it all over the edges and still has the sticker that covers up the upper corner. I keep thinking about removing it but I figure maybe when I have a party so it looks new then.
Hrm, I didn't notice until now, but the base of all three of my monitors still have that plastic on them. If its not covering a vent or a screen, I pretty much just leave it.