New bubblewrap is unpoppable - WAAAHHHHH?!?!

[Charmonium]

This is a travesty - WRITE YOUR CONGRESSMAN!!!

http://www.wsj.com/articles/revamped-bubble-wrap-loses-its-pop-1435689665

Charlotte N.C.-based Sealed Air is betting iBubble Wrap will appeal to space-conscious online retailers who are driving swift growth in the global packaging business, even as fans are disappointed by the lack of pop. Traditional Bubble Wrap ships in giant, pre-inflated rolls, taking up precious room in delivery trucks and on customers’ warehouse floors. One roll of the new iBubble Wrap uses roughly one-fiftieth as much space before it’s inflated.

 

[Ichinisan]

Saw this come up on my social media feed. It's familiar. I've definitely seen this stuff before. I think it was with items I got items online 1-2 years ago, so it's strange they're saying it's "new."

 

[Charmonium]

Probably because it's going to be a Sealed Air, Inc product. I'm guessing that they won't be making the "traditional" bubblewrap any more. The patent on it must have expired decades ago if the product first came out in 1960, so they either need to lower mfg/shipping costs or increase margins. And I guess there's too much competition to increase margins.

I don't know if I've seen this exact product before but I've definitely seen things that are very similar.

edit: I'm sure we'll still be able to buy the normal bubble wrap. 3M still makes it I think, it's just on the expensive side. What will probably happen is that you won't see many products you order online come with the old bubble wrap. Honestly though, the only things I see wrapped in it any more are things that are highly fragile. For example I order a lot of Solgar supplements and these normally come in bubblewrap with adhesive, although In some cases I've gotten bottles in little molded paper-mache cases.

 

[lxskllr]

It'll pop. It just takes better technique. That'll separate the pros from the punters. I wonder how you fill it. If it's by hand, that would be a crappy job.

 

[Charmonium]

It'll pop. It just takes better technique. That'll separate the pros from the punters. I wonder how you fill it. If it's by hand, that would be a crappy job.

I'm curious about how this will play out. You may save money on shipping and storage, but cutting the sheets to order, inflating and sealing them has got to add a significant amount of time to the packing process. Even if you can buy a machine to automate the whole process, I wonder how much it slows the process down.

 

[Thebobo]

WHAT?

 

[her209]

nvm

 

[Red Squirrel]

Someone needs to start a petition! I love popping bubble wrap.

Though TBH, from an environmental point of view, Bubble wrap is not exactly the best thing to use. I noticed Digikey uses some kind of paper based packing material that looks like it went through a machine to "Tab" it kinda like an A/C condenser coil and it's much better for the environment as if it does not end up in the recycling at least it's biodegradable. Amazon just uses crunched up paper, which is fine too.