Vinyl Sheet Protectors

Now that I answered the question about what polypropylene sheet protectors is I get the obvious question what is vinyl or PVC as it is also named.
PVC stands for polyvinylchloride. It was very common used in the past for page protectors but as mentioned it is being used less and less. The reason to be is that vinyl contains a plasticizer that is added to the material to keep it soft. Unfortunately with time this softener is easily transferred from the sleeve to the surrounding environment this may be to what ever the page protector holds as photos, documents, maps, papers, etc. etc. but it will also transfer between the sheets of the sheet protector. This can easily been seen if you have a box standing around for a few years and suddenly the entire box of sheet protectors have attached to each other and often the are stiff and hard as sheets of glass perhaps being slightly yellow in color. They may even crack as glass if they are old enough.
For all of the above reason it can not be said often enough. Don't use vinyl sheet protectors for long term storage of documents, photos, well vertical any documents unless it is just for temp. use.