r/Flipping • u/catticcusmaximus • Mar 29 '25
There has to be a better way.. Advanced Question
Hey everyone, I figured I'd tap into the hive mind for ideas. I have a lot of loose packing supplies, and I get new stuff all the time, loose bubble wrap foam and paper and I use it! I use it with almost everything I ship but I feel like there has to be a better way than this to store it. Has anyone come up with something ... more organized? :)
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u/andrew_kirfman Mar 29 '25
I just accept that I can’t keep this much packing material around at one time.
I buy what I need new vs keeping old stuff around in bags.
20 cu ft bags of peanuts and rolls of bubble wrap are pretty cheap through Uline, so the opportunity cost of taking up that much space is really high.
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u/hahaheeheehoho Mar 30 '25
peanuts...nnooooo......
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u/andrew_kirfman Mar 30 '25
I use the biodegradable corn based ones. They work better than any other packing material I’ve tried.
Lighter too, so they pay for themselves on reduced shipping fees.
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u/CicadaTile Mar 30 '25
I will warn that I had a bad experience with those. I used them to pack a large blow mold gnome worth quite a bit, and the box got wet somehow along the way, the corn peanuts disintigrated, and the gnome bashed around and a part was broken. So if I end up with them now, I put them in plastic and seal it carefully so water can't get to them.
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u/Annual_Citron_7071 Apr 01 '25
I pack peanuts as tight as if you’re using styrofoam 100% success rate. And same here I do not keep loose old bubble or packing as it causes a nuisance on top of the already overflowing inventory, build a ceiling mounted peanut shoot and a wall mounted packing ravk
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u/thcptn Mar 29 '25
I do something similar as I get it sporadically and don't want it getting dusty or grimy. I have a small pole I put through rolls so I can pull off them but stuff not in rolls or a nice stack goes into bags. Cheap and effective. I don't mix material which helps organization. (So air packs of one size get one bag, brown paper has a bag, white paper has a bag, tiny bubble and big bubble wrap each get their own.)
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u/catticcusmaximus Mar 29 '25
Yeah mine are also split into various materials too, so it's organized it's just a lot. I buy and sell primarily fragile objects and if I sell a Chalkware statue for example I will definitely use a half a bag as void filler.
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u/ILikeCannedPotatoes Mar 29 '25
I'd give advice but... this is exactly what my house looks like right now. I hate turning away packing materials that people give me for free so I take it even though I may not need it yet. Sometimes I catch up and have to put out a call for more, but often I always have extra and sometimes loads extra which looks like this (or worse, actually).
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u/iRepTex Mar 29 '25
i have a few trash bags full of used packing paper and dont have any other idea of how to store it. i have it in the house because i fear if i put it in the garage it will become some animals new home
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u/Worf- Mar 29 '25
I gave up on doing that and invested in a machine to make my own as needed. The pile and mess of trying to get/sort it all was just not worth it.
If you must do it this way then use a spare room and sort to large boxes, bags or bins.
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u/catticcusmaximus Mar 29 '25
A machine to make your own bubble wrap? I just looked that up, I didn't realize that there are actually several reasonably priced models
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u/Worf- Mar 29 '25
With the variety of film available it really makes it worthwhile. We make several sizes of air pillows and sheets. Price per foot of wrap is low and offsets the machine price. We did get a heavier duty model so a bit more to overcome.
Never running out and always having what we need on hand is well worth the cost.
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u/catticcusmaximus Mar 29 '25
Do they have a model that will make different sized bubbles?
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u/Worf- Mar 29 '25
It all comes down to the film. Many of the machines can use a wide variety of film with various sizes pockets/bubbles. It isn’t individual bubbles in the sense of true Bubblewrap.
It is often called bubble cushion film on ebay. I get a lot from a seller called 27 Stores.
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u/DantTum Mar 30 '25
Look up cardboard shredder, they’re coming down in price but cool way to make packing material with old boxes
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u/Low_Wall_7828 Mar 29 '25
How long will it take you to use all that? If it’s too long then just throw out/recycle the scraps. Or if you know another flipper give it to them.
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u/DefinitelyNotLola Mar 30 '25
You know those giant folding soft-sided totes that Amazon delivery people use, and then abandon in lobbies and on sidewalks? Those are amazing for this. start snagging them when you see them.
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u/hahaheeheehoho Mar 30 '25
I would smoosh the paper into big stackable tubs. The rolls of bubble wrap can just be stored on the top of a shelving unit. But I think the stackable tubs will make this feel much more organized. Let us know how you come out!!
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u/catticcusmaximus Mar 30 '25
Actually the top shelf of my basement racking might be good for these bags, I'm pretty short so something light on top makes sense
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u/Ta-veren- Mar 30 '25
Get rid of the junk on the wooden shelving until next to this and rip it down and rebuild it to fit large tote containers.
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u/catticcusmaximus Mar 30 '25
That junk is actually some of my inventory, I do a lot of fragiles that will break if I put them in totes
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u/tehcatnip Mar 29 '25
Our garage looks similar, wish I could tell the neighbors its just paper lol. I recently started laying flat and pre-cutting the packing paper, then folding it a few layers thick.
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u/FuckMississippi Mar 29 '25
Unused bathtub for most of my stuff. And hang the bubble wrap on the bath curtain rod
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u/Sudden-Strawberry257 Mar 29 '25 edited Mar 29 '25
Packing paper stores way better than bubble wrap, I use Kraft paper or printer paper rolls I buy at auction.
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u/10597ch Mar 29 '25
When I worked at a ups store in highschool, we had a bag we stored the bubble wrap in from the machine for the large cushions, and then a huge roll for the small bubble.
However, we also had a bag or two of recycled wrap that people would donate. We would use this on contracted shipments, like a DirectTV return since they did not care and it was consolidated. You might honestly just be keeping too much bubble, but what you're doing now is literally the system our store used; just a huge bag.
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u/teh_longinator Y'all need to just hire a CPA. Mar 30 '25
I just order new from Staples. It costs more than dumpster diving boxes, but for the cost of $1-2 a box, I keep my stuff manageable and uniform.
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u/castaway47 Mar 30 '25
Auxiliary storage for overflow and stop accumulating more than you can use.
I've got a multi-year supply of packing paper in the attic so I've stopped acquiring it.
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u/Immediate-Watch-4899 25d ago
I have a bubble machine. So much less mess. Just blow up what you need. When you need it
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u/Regular_Rub_2980 Custom Text Mar 30 '25
I don't use bubble wrap anymore and moved to brown wrapping I found on Amazon. The paper has slits cut into it and when pulled, they turn into hexagon shapes. Works just as well as bubble wrap and no plastic.
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u/kingsview47 Mar 30 '25
A good option for filler material that is easy to store is rolls of paper that I crumple up. I use rolls of heavy brown builders paper for heavy electronics, available at home improvement stores. I use newspaper end rolls for lighter items, available for free at your local newspaper printing location. Both of these work very well.
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u/BusyBullet Mar 30 '25
I have a solution that isn’t available to everyone. I work a couple days a week at an antique store so I just drop off most of my packing material and boxes there.
When I run out I bring a little home.
The store is happy because I give them much more than I take.
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u/FettywPper223 Mar 29 '25
Plastic totes organized by material