The TikTok Hack That Helps You Find The End Of Your Shipping Tape Every Time

Shipping tape is an ultra-convenient item to keep lying around the house, whether you're making a big move, mailing a bunch of packages, or simply trying to remove fuzz from your paint roller, but there's nothing more frustrating than having to search for the loose end on your tape to get it going. The end of a typical roll of duct tape or painter's tape is easier to find — still an annoyance, but doable — but the thinness and transparency of packing tape mean finding the edge is practically impossible, at times. Thankfully, clever TikToker @lorafied shared a hack in a recent video that's sure to make all of our lives just a little bit easier.

Instead of desperately hunting for the barely visible line on the roll of tape, finding the corner after serval minutes, and pulling only to end up with a mess of splits and tears, this TikToker recommends using a part of the tape dispenser to help do the job for you. It's so simple, it's guaranteed to leave you wondering, "Why didn't I think of that first?"

To do this yourself, you're going to need a roll of packing tape on a dispenser. This dispenser should have three main sections: the round part that holds the roll of tape, the metal blade that allows you to rip it, and a third plastic piece that just kind of hovers over everything. This third, previously unused piece is what TikToker @lorafied suggests you use to find the end of your tape.

When you're about to roll out your tape, all you need to do is press down this third plastic piece onto the roll. Rotate your roll of tape toward the free edge of this plastic piece, and, after a few rotations, you should feel where the end of the tape is. With enough pressure, the end will start to bunch up a bit, leaving you with a crinkly, but easily-grabble end that's less likely to split into multiple pieces as you start to pull.

While @lorafied's TikTok video is a great tip if you find yourself with a difficult-to-start roll of shipping tape, there are other things you can do to help avoid this annoyance in the first place. The most obvious method is to find a way to mark off the end of your tape. When you first buy most rolls of tape, there's usually a small, non-sticky tab to help you get things started. This piece is frequently tossed in the garbage on the tape's first use, but you can use the same line of thought to make life easier in the future.

Before you let go of the end of your tape, either grab a small piece of paper, like a post-it note, organizational tab, or business card, and place it on the sticky side of the end of your tape. This will prevent the end from sticking down, helping to avoid this problem to solve in the first place. If you don't have any paper handy, you can also just fold down the corner or edge of the tape to give yourself a more visible starting point, though this doesn't help much if you're looking to avoid splitting on your next use.