Revamped Bubble Wrap Loses Its Pop

wsj ^ | July 1, 2015 | Loretta Chao

[JoeProBono]

Bubble Wrap, the packaging material popular with shippers and toddlers alike, is losing its pop. Sealed Air Corp. , the original seller of Bubble Wrap since 1960, is rolling out a revamped version of its signature product. Dubbed iBubble Wrap, the new packaging is sold in flat plastic sheets that the shipper fills with air using a custom-made pump. The inflated bubbles look much like traditional Bubble Wrap, with one key difference: They don’t burst when pressure is applied.

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.

[Yardstick]

Got a chuckle out of your peanuts story. I’ve got a big bag full of those things in a storage closet and I can sense that they are waiting for the right moment to make their escape and go rampant.

[glennaro]

Those things are more alive than any “Big Foot” or “ET” ... ARRRGH!!

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

I just hope they keep the traditional stuff around for us small businesses.

[defconw]

Not the same. :(

[defconw]

:) Someone I know and I refuse to name nammes, once filled someone’s cube with packing peanuts. Then bubble wrapped it all around and over the top.

[JoeProBono]

keeping our kids safe one bubble at a time

[Twinkie]

The Supreme Court fiasco; and now THIS?! Instead of POP!, it’ll be FIZZLE. Taking everything away!

[ken in texas]

... use the styrofoam "peanuts" instead but as a receiver of such a package .... have you ever tried to get rid of those things?

You can always dissolve them in gasoline for some do-it-yourself napalm. /s

[Oatka]

A "custom-made pump" all shippers must buy to use the new "un-bubble-until-inflated-at-the-labor cost-and-time-to-the-customer" wrap.

Reminds me of all the "Bake at Home!" gimmicks I see in the grocery store bread section - at the same price they charged when they had to bake it.

A distant cousin to "Some assembly required".

[Fast Moving Angel]

It takes way to much force to break them and when you finally do, all you get is a very unsatisfying "whoosh".

Unless you put them on the floor and jump on them ...then you get a loud explosion that's heard three offices away (don't ask me how I know that ;-) )

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

The “New Coke” of bubble wraps. It will flop.

[JoeProBono]