Just a comment about styrofoam peanuts:
They are recyclable. That is you can use them again and again. Also, if you don’t do any shipping yourself, they can be delivered, if not mixed with other trash, to shipping outlets like UPS stores, or Mailboxes, and they will gladly reuse them.
Interesting tidbit (not recommended):
If your ferret manages to eat a bunch of styrofoam peanuts, they will have styrofoam poops all the rest of the day.
They’re a real bitch to flush when you’re using scoop-n-flush litter in the box, too… little fuckers* float too well.
*the poops, not the ferrets.
There are now biodegradable packing peanuts. They’re made from corn starch, dissolve in water and taste just like rice cakes, which would also be preferable to styrofoam peanuts.
Did anyone else do this? When styrofoam peanuts first appeared in the early 70’s, in chemistry class we would use a red pen to draw eyes and a mouth on one end, place a thumbtack in the other end, stand them up on the teacher’s desk and call them albino Chee-tos. They became part of the permanent “Collection of Weird Stuff” on our chemistry teacher’s desk.
I’d hate to see the after-effects of a post-coital smoke! :eek:
I send a fair few packages, but I would never, ever force the curse of styrofoam packing peanuts on anyone else.
Nasssty peanutses. We hates them.
Seriously, why on earth would I perpetuate the use of these horrible little things, when there are so many better options to keep things nice and cushioned?
And that reminds me, I need to have a little talk with my mom.
Why?! As **pasunejen ** says, why would I wish my curse on someone else? Unless I hate them.
All hail the fucking bubblewrap.
Part of my job requires working in the Pack & Ship Center. There are times that bubblewrap does not work. With an irregularly shaped object, peanuts are required to fill the gaps between the bubblewrap and the box. I have also found that peanuts work better than bubblewrap at preventing compression damage - bubblewrap just pops and becomes a flat piece of plastic; peanuts squish together and become a dense foam core. And those bags of air are completely, utterly useless unless you are shipping a rectangular item inside a rectangular box and you have air bags of exactly the proper size and thickness.
I do wish we’d switch over to the biodegradable type, though.
That’s who you’re supposed to wish your curses on, ya big doof…
Say, does every thread you start end up being a flirt thread? Just curious.
I don’t mind if it does or not, but I would like to state for the record that I had nothing to do with the turn *this * thread took. It was **manhattan’s ** fault and **Shagnasty ** followed up on it.
Actually fucking styrofoam is rather…out there.
I hate styrofoam peanuts with a burning passion. I would never use them myself, except for the fact that I am into recycling. (BIG surprise…I live in WA, I understand that we in WA recycle more than any other state…[sub]I won a GC from my local radio station with this guess[/sub] but I digress 
)
SO, here is what I do. When I am unpacking a box that some misguided soul used styropeanuts in, as I remove them I place them in the plastic bags my dad gets his paper delivered in. (It is also possible to sort of “pour” them into the plastic bags, depending on what you are unpacking.) When the bag gets almost filled, I tie a knot and then I use this for packing material myself. This way, I am not inflicting the dreaded static problem on anyone who receives my packages, but I get to reuse the scourge of the earth styrofoam peanuts again. It isn’t much, but it IS something.
I realize this thread is not really about “helpful household hints” but I just thought I’d share.
Cheers!