M Bag Question~ Foil?

I was in my local Post Office yesterday, and there was a guy shipping an M bag full of books to Argentina. He had wrapped each book in aluminum foil on the recommendation of a friend who said it would help to keep the rats on the ships from making lunch of his books.

Anyone heard of rats eating books???

haven't heard of rats--but I think the foil would be a great idea......it would keep damp out and stop paperbacks from bending as easily I would think. We used plastic wrap for extra special books to keep damp out but I think foil would be easier!

Anyone heard of rats eating books???

anything is likely to nibble on things on a long boat ride. I don't know that I'd have patience for foil and could just be a bother if your stuff needs to get checked. I wrapped stuff in regular plastic bags to keep damp away from the books.

why not box them before you bag them?

Yeah, just seems like a waste of foil to me.  We put all our books in plastic bags (supermarket ones) before packing them in the boxes just in case of water.  That was about it.  The box my husband just sent did NOT have the plastic bags  as I was not there to supervise - but it was fine, no water damage or anything.

I'm going to use M Bags as well.  I bought commercial grade saran wrap from Sam's, under $8.  Then I wrapped each book - was easy because the plastic wrap had a cutter build on the box.  Then I loaded a box with books. 

By living in the country, I can tell you that rats / mice will eat through anything, including industrial grade plastic, if they are determined enough.  I don't think the foil will deter them.

~BEG

I packed mine in small boxes (reused from Amazon orders etc.), taped up then in the M bags.  No damage at all. 

I would think that foil might potentially cause issues if the bag were to get x-rayed or whatever.  Plastic wrap or plastic bags seems a better idea to me.