eBay

gobswapper · ‎05-31-2017

I am about to buy some more packing tape, and I want to find out if there are any other options for quiet packing tape than the stuff I get directly from the Post Office.

Normally, when I am taping up a package, since I'm a 'super-sensor' (i.e. the sensitivity level of all of my bodily senses are off the charts), the sound the tape makes as it comes unstuck from the roll is so loud that it drives me NUTS!

Sometime in the past few months, I discovered the tape at the Post Office when I needed to tape up a package at the counter and had to buy a roll from them.

Wow! It is quiet!

Any ideas on other brands/models of packing tape out there that are quiet?

southern*sweet*tea · ‎05-31-2017

Duck brand EZ Start packing tape. It's thick, holds like gangbusters, you don't have to fold the end over to keep it from sticking to the roll (it truly is easy to start), and it's quiet as a church mouse. No annoying rippy taping sounds, absolutely no sound at all coming off the roll.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p3984.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.TRS0&_nkw=duck+ez+star...

(Hint: it's cheaper at Walmart)

The easier you are to offend the easier you are to control.

We seem to be getting closer and closer to a situation where nobody is responsible for what they did but we are all responsible for what somebody else did. - Thomas Sowell

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southern*sweet*tea · ‎05-31-2017

Duck brand EZ Start packing tape. It's thick, holds like gangbusters, you don't have to fold the end over to keep it from sticking to the roll (it truly is easy to start), and it's quiet as a church mouse. No annoying rippy taping sounds, absolutely no sound at all coming off the roll.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p3984.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.TRS0&_nkw=duck+ez+star...

(Hint: it's cheaper at Walmart)

The easier you are to offend the easier you are to control.

We seem to be getting closer and closer to a situation where nobody is responsible for what they did but we are all responsible for what somebody else did. - Thomas Sowell

lintbrush* · ‎05-31-2017

@southern*sweet*tea

I was just going to say the same thing! Duck EZ Start is very quiet. Scotch Sure Start is quiet too.

They cost more, but are thick, work well and quiet.

lja440 · ‎06-01-2017

Though I never really noticed it, I also use Duck EZ tape.

I get your sensitivity issue. Mine is my sense of smell, smoke, and most perfumes. I can tell if my one customer is outside even if I can't see him, or that he has recently checked his mailbox, I can smell his cologne. I also keep a gallon size Ziploc freezer bag in my Jeep for outgoing mail from some smokers houses. One of my customers had Tru-Green spray their yard. I don't know how they dealt with the stench. I could still smell it a week later in the area. I was really glad that the smell dissipated over the long weekend.

annadryl · ‎06-01-2017

Omigosh. So I'm not the only person this annoys! I pack all my stuff ASAP so sometimes it's late at night...

I hear ya but all I have to add is I NEVER buy any supplies from USPS. I'd love to support them (they need it) but who can afford them? It's Wally's or dollar store for me, if you need bulk, I like Quill.

gobswapper · ‎06-01-2017

@lja440 wrote:
Though I never really noticed it, I also use Duck EZ tape.

I get your sensitivity issue. Mine is my sense of smell, smoke, and most perfumes. I can tell if my one customer is outside even if I can't see him, or that he has recently checked his mailbox, I can smell his cologne. I also keep a gallon size Ziploc freezer bag in my Jeep for outgoing mail from some smokers houses. One of my customers had Tru-Green spray their yard. I don't know how they dealt with the stench. I could still smell it a week later in the area. I was really glad that the smell dissipated over the long weekend.

@annadryl wrote:
Omigosh. So I'm not the only person this annoys!

Indeed. For me, I keep zip-locks in my vehicle all the time too.....in case anyone gets 'left-overs' from eating at a restaurant. 🙂 Ya, it's that bad. If I let them just sit somewhere in the vehicle, I'll be smelling it for days, and it nausiates me.

I know this heightened senses tendency was extremely helpful to our ancestors living in the wild (i.e. my type was probably a 'look-out', a hunter, and the safety & quality control guy....no tribe complete without it), but with having it all turned so far up like this here in the modern world, it's a bit nuts at times. lol

heydansmith · ‎06-01-2017

Gummed kraft tape -- its completely silent (you have to dampen it to activate the adhesive) and it has the advantage of being tamper evident.

(FYI, Rolex insists on kraft tape when sending a watch to them for servicing.)

gobswapper · ‎06-01-2017

I replied in here a couple hours ago, but it still hasn't shown up yet.
What's up with that?

UPDATE: Wow....that's crazy....then this one that I just posted showed up immediately.
So, ya...what's up with that?
What happened to my earlier response in this thread?

lja440 · ‎06-01-2017

Amazon uses kraft tape. Over half of the Amazon packages I have to deliver has some area with the kraft tape failing or coming loose. It especially fails if there are any voids within the box allowing the box to crush.

green-night · ‎06-01-2017

Quiet tape? Seriously?

Why don't you buy the cheapest stuff available and stick in some ear buds?

gobswapper · ‎06-02-2017

@green-night wrote:

Quiet tape? Seriously?

Why don't you buy the cheapest stuff available and stick in some ear buds?

Seriously?

I guess you missed the whole point, eh? lol

To help you out...

It's not the FACT that the noise is happening (as if we're just talking about how it somehow intellectually bothers me).

Rather, the problem is that my hearing is so sensitive (i.e. I can hear things most people either can't, or never notice) that it actually causes physical pain to my head.

If it were simply a matter of 'preferences' (i.e. I didin't 'like' the particlar noise it makes), then your suggestion could be a legitimate solution.

However, in my case (and that of a certain portion of all humans), your suggestion would make the problem worse, because it would mean that something else is producing an even louder noise just to drown-out the other noise coming from the tape as it peals away from the core.

Now, if you had said, "ear plugs", or "ear muffs" (i.e. instead of "ear buds"; which conotates ADDING more sound to the mix via tiny, powerful speakers shoved into in my ear canals), there would at least be the semblence of a potential solution to the problem.

However, given my OCD and 'safety-first' mentality, I could never be OK with completely disabling one of the most important, general safety and security mechanisms I have....my hearing. Seriously, I need to hear what's going on around me (Not a joke; it's just part of who I am).

Also, although I'm often 'self-concious' about being such a phreak, it's not completely my fault...
....I was born this way. lol

🙂

cbhamcollectorsestate · ‎06-27-2018

I too thought the eBay tape was extremely loud! I have a hearing condition called tinnitus, or ringing in the ears; any sharp loud noise can really set it off. I finally got around to doing a little test with my peak-reading decibel meter. Normal conversation is around 60 decibels - eBay tape clocked in at 120 decibels. That's piercing, pain-threshhold loud!

lja440 · ‎06-28-2018

Have you ever tried Ginkgo for your tinnitus? I have it too though not a severe case (I can ignore it most of the time). If it gets bad I go on Ginkgo for a few days and it calms down.

A former employer told me about it. He developed a bad case after getting kicked in the head by one of the milk cows while hoof trimming. He said it would improve with Ginkgo. I was sceptical as the mans pain threshold was off the charts. He had gotten another kick previously that split his lip and gums. On the way back from the ER and dentist he wanted to stop at a steak house.