Prepare For Disappointment: New Bubble Wrap Won’t Pop When You Squeeze It
If anyone loves taking sheets of Bubble Wrap, holding it in their hands, and squeezing the bubbles until they pop, you may soon be disappointed. A new version of the packaging material and time killer is going to be coming out soon, and it won’t pop when you squeeze it.
The Verge has revealed that Sealed Air, the company that makes Bubble Wrap, is going to introduce a new version that doesn’t pop.
People losing their marbles over #BubbleWrap? I was gonna try & say something profound about priorities but, come on, have they no soul?
— teecee (@Neon_Canary) July 2, 2015
No, this isn’t being done to burst your bubble, but it is being done for economic reasons. It appears that the current version of Bubble Wrap takes up a lot of space and makes for some really expensive shipping. On top of that, the expensive shipping causes more trucks to be used. Not only is that another added expense for Sealed Air, but it also produces more emissions, which is not good for the environment. The new version of Bubble Wrap will be called iBubble, and it’s going to arrive deflated to those that will need it. Customers will then inflate it themselves and use it to package their belongings. Here’s the thing — there will no longer be small, individual bubbles. There will now be one long row that is a connected chamber of air. This will not only cut down on costs, but it is said to be a bit more reliable too.
BREAKING NEWS: #BubbleWrap is no longer going to have bubbles. We WISH we were joking. pic.twitter.com/MN2vPrm8WR
— ASOS (@ASOS) July 2, 2015
Believe it or not, Bubble Wrap has been around since long before many things, and that includes Back to the Future, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary. It began in 1960 and has been sold ever since to those needing to package something or looking to mindlessly waste hours popping the bubbles.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Sealed Air will be aiming their sales of iBubble Wrap to “space-conscious online retailers who are driving swift growth in the global packaging business.”
When all is said and done, this change makes economic and environmental sense. One roll of deflated iBubble Wrap will use up about one-fiftieth the amount of space that a roll of original Bubble Wrap will use.
For the truly disappointed, there will always be Virtual Bubble Wrap, but it obviously won’t make up for the real thing. Sealed Air has made their decision, and old-school Bubble Wrap will soon be a thing of the past as iBubble Wrap is the future.
[Image via Shutterstock]
