It's been a few years, but when I worked in retail there were two types glue residue. Lemon oil (the furniture polish type) would remove one, and acetone (fingernail polish remover) the other. With things I've bought with stubborn labels, I still find that to be true.

ETA: I should have mentioned, there are now nail polish removers that are acetone free. They don't work on glue residue. I find they barely work for nail polish ;0)

I also use acetone (nail polish remover) to get rid of stubborn glue residue.

Goo Gone is excellent.

My husband swears by GooGone but I can't tolerate the smell. It causes immediate asthma attack. So if he uses it he has to be outside.

Tea tree or eucalyptus oil are quite effective as well.

WD-40 works very well. Smells awful and you cannot use it on all surfaces but it works great on glass.

JTC - I'd like to know why you're taking labels off? Does your recycling require that or are you talking about canning jars?

We use mineral spirits

If it is glass, you could also try putting very hot water into the glass jar...that will remove those really sticky type labels. I like to reuse bottles and jars also. I buy those big containers of nuts at Sam's Club and the label comes off with the hot water trick but you can't get it too hot or the container will melt (ask me how I know!). Then you can remove the rest of the sticky glue with goo gone or even oil will work.

Glass? spritz with ammonia and let it sit, typically a few minutes.

I have noticed that some labels that look like they are paper are actually a plastic, so soaking doesn't help. But they do just pull off.

Goo gone.

Try rubbing with a little mayonnaise. Let it sit a minute then, rub it off. Works for me.

Raye, sometimes price tags are no easier to remove than labels. Lots of reasons to remove stubborn price tags ;0)

Raye, I recently got into making kombucha and friends have been wanting to try. Rather than use my bottles that likely won't be returned, a friend obtained some perfect bottles for me to use to give away.

The bottles originally contained rum. The labels were unbelievable to remove almost as if they had been treated to repel water.