Fumbling with a traditional sticky tape dispenser is kind of a drag. The end gets lost easily, forcing you to drag your fingernail along the roll until you find it, and the cutting edge has been known to cause some nasty injuries. So it’s not the most pressing problem in the world, and solving the tape issue might not save the world. But if some creative soul saw fit to redesign the typical tape roll we might all be just a little happier.

Our hopes were answered by Zhichuan Tang, who took a simple but creative approach to the tape roll problem. The V-Tape features a small notch cut into one part of the roll that does double duty to keep the end of the tape easier to find and eliminate the need for a cutting edge.

Taking off that sharp, serrated piece of plastic makes a big difference in the tape roll’s ease of use. It’s hard to believe that no one has thought of this solution before, given what a simple and common-sense change it is. The only drawback to the design is that it doesn’t make it very easy to tear off short lengths of tape. However, any tape that might be wasted because of it is a small price to pay to get rid of those bulky plastic cases that only end up in the garbage once the traditional tape roll is exhausted.