You can’t improve bubble wrap. 3M, hold my beer and watch this…

NEWS – Bubble wrap – arguably the greatest invention for protecting packages, not to mention providing hours of satisfying popping fun.  How could you possibly improve on that?  I mean, shipping items is pretty simple – get a box, put in your item to ship, pad it completely with some bubble wrap, get out your handy-dandy tape gun, tape it up, typically after pulling apart some of the tape that stuck together while muttering a few choice words, and finally, you’re ready to ship. OK – that’s really a lot of steps.

3M found a better way and came up with flex & seal – a self-sticking sheet of bubble wrap that allows you to make a perfectly sized padded envelope to ship your small items.

To use, drop your item on the sheet, cut it to size, fold it over and it self-seals, creating a sealed, padded shipping envelope. The gray side sticks to itself, but not your item.

While this certainly can ease your shipping woes, it does look like a single-use item, whereas boxes and traditional bubble wrap can be used multiple times, assuming your delivery driver didn’t destroy the box when they threw it on your porch and ran.  And, this doesn’t look like it will be very satisfying to pop.  On the upside, it is recyclable as plastic wrap and you can find a store drop off location here.

If you regularly ship smaller items, this does look like it would make life a lot easier. To learn more, visit the flex & seal site.  To purchase, visit Amazon. It is available in 15-inch wide rolls in 10, 20, 50 and 200-foot lengths. Prices start at $9.99 for a 15-inch x 10-foot roll.