Please consider using rubber bands on bubble wrap

No rubber bands or tape. I bag each bottle individually with jumbo zipper bags, then bubble wrap, then wrap with this. No noise, and basically bomb-proof. Wal-Mart sells it for $7 a roll, and it lasts me about a year.

 

Even if I shred up someones bubble wrap, i save it and use it to stuff boxes with as it still works great at filling box space. I do need to get on the rubber band method though as it certainly is a much easier approach when unwrapping.

Speaking of the stretch or saran wrap...now that shits hard to get off if you have two layers over lap. I normally end up just cutting it all off with a knife.

 

I'm guilty of taping them. One of my trading partners (trartners?) uses the blue tape, which works really well. I need to switch to that.

 

Prefer to use tape so the ends are taped down to reduce the risk of the bottle sliding out the end and busting.

 

Glad I read this, I often tape - maybe not too much, but still a pain. I'll be switching to Saran Wrap.. Thanks BA's - necessity and a need for great beer makes people smart!

 

This. Scotch Blue is the shit. Sticks well while coming off perfectly clean and easy for reuse but, if the OP is correct and rubber bands are cheaper, I might have to do some price checking. You can't reuse the stretch or saran wrap so it seems wasteful.

 

Yes! Couldn't agree more!

 

Rubber bands are amazingly cheap at Wal-Mart. ( 60 cents a bag, I believe.) I always try to grab a bag. I keep them in a 32 oz souvenir tumbler w/lid that I got at a White Sox game. Makes them a lot easier to get while wrapping a bottle, instead of reaching into a little bag.

 

I rubber band the bubble wrapped bottle at the neck and the base to prevent the bottle from sliding out.

 

Packing tape on bubble wrap is about as frustrating as washing tree sap off your hands.

Rubber band or seran wrap FTW.

 

I roll the bottle in a full sheet of newspaper and rubber band at the neck and bottom to help contain any broken glass. Place that in a Ziploc bag, roll and seal. Then roll that up in bubble wrap and rubber band. Usually use just one, but like theidea of one at the top and bottom of the bubble wrap as well. Good call.

 

Rubberbands FTW... 2-3 rubber bands per bottle and it's all good. Just need scotch tape to tape the top and bottoms. That's usually how I go.

 

Guilty of taping... glad to have come across this thread!

 

If you need anything to hold the bubble wrap on the bottle, you aren't packing the contents of your box tight enough. Nothing should be able to move around such that the bubble wrap would slip off

 

@Lehighace06 (in case you missed this)

 

Thanks man, I saw your comment that my box was "like I was protecting the president"... As a relatively new trader (a dozen trades and a handful of BIFs in, but it's only been a few months) I'm still getting the hang of it when it comes to packing up a box efficiently. I've read so many horror stories of broken bottles, and worse, confiscated boxes as a result, that I probably have been a bit overzealous when it comes to wrapping everything up. A few boxes I sent out each 12oz bottle was nearly the size of a football...

I've definitely been scaling back on volume of bubble wrap, but I have still been using tape to secure it rather than rubber bands, so this is some good advice; it's good to not just get the recommendation, but some feedback as to how to do it without compromising bottle safety.

edit: It never occurred to me that packing tape on bubble wrap was frustrating to open, since I use a pretty big pocket knife to open boxes anyway, so to those of you who do receive a box with packing tape, I suggest this. While I agree that the bubble wrap is much more reusable without packing tape, anytime I've gotten packing taped bubble wrap, I use it instead of more packing peanuts or brown paper stuffing.

 

if you pack your boxes properly, it's literally impossible for a bottle to "slide out the end" of bubble wrap. don't use tape.

 

Target sells a plastic tub of 600 rubber bands for $1.75 or so.

 

Yeah it's a mental hurdle i'll have to get over, ridiculously over cautious when I don't need to be. Tape is expensive too

 

I'll have to start doing that... I've received a lot of boxes with rubber bands used, but never tried it myself. Thanks for the advice