Men and women who work in packaging “see” packaging, but to most consumers, packaging is invisible.

When I go to Costco, I see v-board. Lots of v-board. Nearly every pallet of product above the ground level has a piece of v-board on the corner, with plastic stretch wrap holding it together. But most shoppers just grab the chips and head to the next aisle.

If paper tubes and edge protectors had personality, they’d be confident. Confident in who they were. They’d have to be, since they’d mostly go ignored.

Think about it. Who drives past a construction site and looks for the large diameter paper tubes with rebar inside? When you’re in the produce section of the grocery store, and you unravel a plastic bag to put your peaches in, do you look inside the plastic to see the paper tube? Probably not.

But we do!

We notice the paper cores inside fabric and carpet. We see the poster tubes the mailman is carrying. We see the heavy duty shipping tubes driving around Los Angeles on the back of flatbed trucks.

The next time you go shopping, count how many paper tubes or paper corner protectors you notice. We think you’ll be surprised.