Plastic Inserts go Back to School
With the new School term nearly upon us, it’s hard to escape the ‘Back to School’ advertising displays and point of sale in all the high street shops. But have you ever thought about the process to get these point of display stands and advertising into the shops?
With the new School term nearly upon us, it’s hard to escape the ‘Back to School’ advertising displays and point of sale in all the high street shops. But have you ever thought about the process to get these point of display stands and advertising into the shops? Much of the retail point of sale designs for ‘Back to School begins months in advance, in late spring time and early summer. Shop fitters, design agencies and steel fabricators use a variety of plastic inserts and plastic caps to finish off neatly the tubular framework of any retail rack and display stand. Plastic tube inserts and plastic caps are specifically designed to suit hollow tubing, and can are available in a variety of shapes, sizes and colours. These tube end caps can suit round tube, square tube and rectangular tube and are commonly used to neatly finish off the sharp ended hollow tubing. These plastic caps also prevent items being placed in the tubing, once on the shop floor, such as children’s fingers!
Plastic inserts seem to be one of our unsung heroes of the retail shop floor environment, and admittedly unless you look for them they are hard to spot. Once you get your eye in, however, tube end caps and plastic inserts appear almost everywhere. Each plastic end cap has integral collapsible fins surrounding the plastic insert, which ensures a snug fit. These plastic plugs can be bought by shop fitters in their thousands, and they certainly use them on every piece of point of sale and display stands that go into store. As well as plastic plugs, many retail displays are mounted upon castors and wheels. Often retailers prefer their racks and displays on non-marking rubber castors, as this then doesn’t mark the floor when they are moved around the shop floor.
It seems plastic inserts and plastic caps are utilised not only in the in store on promotional displays, but also by the Schools themselves. It’s around this time of year, prior to the next school term that schools maintenance departments are in full swing. One of the most popular items at this time of year, are round plastic end caps that are suitable for capping off the hollow metal chair legs. Do you remember those plastic moulded school chairs, with metal legs, that enable the chairs to stack? Remember leaning back on these plastic chairs, and being told off, well times haven’t changed. However the end result is that the chair end caps wear out over time and need replacing. School maintenance departments want to prevent damage to flooring, and buy these small cheap chair leg caps in their thousands. School Laboratory departments tend to favour rubber ferrules on their wooden stools. These rubber caps fit on the outside of the leg, rather than fitting internally, and help protect lab floor surfaces from wear and tear from heavy wooden stools. So from shop fitters, to retail outlets to the Schools themselves, plastic end caps, tube inserts and rubber ferrules are heading Back to School.
