What sort of crazy, mean, spoilsport invented this stuff? Got a sheet of this in a delivery today, and was giddy…I really needed to pop some bubble wrap! And then I discovered that it was unpoppable bubble wrap, which I never knew existed. Each bubble is connected to the rest in rows, so squeezing one gets you NOTHING! Instead of the wonderful stress-reliever I was expecting, I got MORE STRESS! It is an abomination in the eyes of the Lord…and the rest of the sane world! Oh, if you cut or poke a hole in one bubble the whole row deflates, but where’s the fun in that? Just how cranky a person do you have to be to invent something like this? Were you the kid people always made fun of for being such an prissy prude? Bet you were just sitting there on your high horse, smirking when you created this evil. Did the sounds of happy little bubbles popping and giving people joy irritate you that much?
The most charitable explanation I could imagine might be, that was just a defective manufacturing run? Let’s hope that’s so! A world without poppable bubble-wrap (especially the little bubbles, not so much the bigger ones) would not be long fit for human habitation, what with all the out-of-control angry people and nations declaring nuclear war on each other, all for the lack of poppable bubble-wrap to release some of the tensions.
I admit I can’t necessarily relate to OP’s woes, having never myself seen an example of the defective mal-designed bubble-wrap (how can we truly call it that?) that OP discusses – and I hope to Og I never do! But I can sure relate to the deep ancestral human need to pop those bubbles, having done much of that myself, channelling my inner troglodyte caveman.
Yes, do let’s hope that OP’s experience merely resulted from an aberrant malfunction in the manufacturing cycle, and do let’s hope that all known shipments of the stuff have been located, recalled, and melted down into door-stops.
Not a defect, unless it’s a widespread one. I got some of it the other day too. I ended up getting stabby with it, which relieves stress too, but it just doesn’t give you the same satisfying pop.
I got stabby with mine, too…but the resulting pfffft and collapse of a row was SO depressing. Can we get Congress to ban this substance? I did come across a youTube of some poor depressed teen stepping all over a few sheets of it to no avail.
Oh** Annie**! Eternity spent in popless bubble wrap? No, you’ve got to stick around and help fight the good fight.
I, myself get all OCD about bubble wrap, but love to watch others have fun. Those giant pillow bubble wraps are nearly as good. You have to jump on 'em just right and then poomp! a nice explosion.
Do you think this need to pop bubble wrap is instinctual? Think of all the things we like to pop, like hosta flowers and seed pods. Maybe it’s in our DNA! Unpopable bubble wrap may be some sort of human rights violation!
Sounds like your bubble wrap is made by Sealed Air. It’s like that because it was delivered to the shipping company as a small roll of film and inflated on a machine like this. It’s filled all the way across so the machine can fill it from one end.
We had one of these machines as a trial for a few months last year and it saves a tremendous amount of space over regular bubble wrap or Styrofoam peanuts. Here it is in action.
I am very disappointed in your lack of creativity. I expect better from denizens of the Dope!
Take it by the end long ways and twist off a section (like making a balloon animal). Pop each row.
Keeping that bit twisted (you may have to tuck it under your arm if it’s really long) twist off the next section and pop each row again.
You can also twist it in the middle while folding in half the long way at the twist. Then twist in the middle long way again. Now, step on it! Tommy Gun Pops! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh.
I picked up a bunch of it the other day. It’s superior in every way to traditional bubble wrap for protecting packages. It’s not nearly as fun for people who want tiny little popping sounds. That having been said, there are ways to pop it. As TruCelt has mentioned, you can section off a couple of bubbles at a time by twisting it and then pop those sections, or you can roll it around something until the few bubbles at one end are very taut and then pop them. They’re still poppable, it’s just more work.
We found it to be less flexible when trying to stuff it into a small box. We shipped that back out as quick as we could so it wouldn’t depress us anymore.
