From the Department of "You've Got To Be Kidding Me."

Floss storage.  There are dozens of ways to store embroidery floss out there, and for each one there's someone who claims it's the One True Way.

Myself, I've liked bobbins since the first time the local Big Box carried Anchor floss already wound onto a bobbin.  Sure, winding can be a pain, but once you're done you've got your floss on this little easy to store, easy to sort piece of cardboard.  The floss isn't going to tangle and it's easy to wind off the amount you need.

Some of the other methods look promising, but they all use some sort of plastic.  I'm trying to reduce my consumption of plastic.  I won't pretend I can eliminate all plastic, but you know, the less you use, the better.

So this is where we come to the "you've got to be kidding me" part: plastic floss bobbin.  WTF?
Someone needs to explain this to me, because it makes no sense.  They're more than twice as expensive.  They take up more space than the cardboard ones.  You can't write the numbers on them except with a Sharpie marker.  And of course, most plastic never goes away.  It can break down into a state that's no longer useful, but it doesn't break down into something that normal biological processes can use.  You just get tinier and more useless particles of plastic.

Is it an archival thing?  Because I'm thinking the cardboard ones could be made of acid-free lignin-free material and still be cheaper, and frankly, your basic "hi, I'm a cheap plastic" isn't archival either.  Outgassing and breaking down and stuff.

Is it stiffness?  Because using two of the cardboard bobbins is still cheaper than one of the plastic, and again, I'm thinking using a thicker cardboard would still be cheaper than the plastic.

These are the only reasons I can think of to use the plastic bobbins instead of cardboard.  Yet of the three big craft stores in town, only one carries the cardboard.  I was afraid I was going to have to special order some.

I do not get it.