In my cupboard at home I have about 20 rolls of sticky tape. There is a reason for this. I send a lot of letters and packets to various places.
When I have something to post, I tend to go through the same ritual. I take the contents into work with me. At lunchtime I go to the stationery shop and buy one of their wide selection of padded envelopes. I address the envelope and fill it. I then press down the sticky portion of the envelope flap to seal it. I then observe the flap peeling open again, return to the stationery store, buy a roll of sticky tape, and actually seal the envelope in a way so that it will stay shut over a 500 or 5000 mile journey.
I realise I could carry a roll of tape around with me at all times. I could buy the envelope, take it home and seal it there from my collection of adhesive ribbonry. But is it unreasonable to expect that someone in the world could invent a self-sealing envelope that actually stays firmly shut and doesn’t mock you with its open mouth before you’ve reached the end of the queue in the post office?
Why is it so hard to make a self-sealing envelope that seals as well as a few inches of Scotch tape? How much would it cost to include 6 inches of tape with a padded envelope that already costs 30p (50 cents)? Is there a secret dealer round the back of the store selling padded envelopes that actually stick shut at $10 a time?
My message to stationers? Adhesives are a wonderful and brilliantly useful product of human ingenuity. Celebrate them. Don’t make me duct tape your limbs together and throw you in a locked room with a flimsy envelope full of bees.
Thank you for listening.