Most people are familiar with cable ties (aka "zip ties"), the nylon strips that are designed with an open-cased ratchet on one end through which the free end can be pulled to the desired location on its built-in gear rack. We have learned to keep a supply of them in the trucks we drive professionally.

Since the ratchet prevents the tie from slipping backwards, it can only be pulled tighter (unless the ratchet is manipulated). This "one-way" feature generally makes them single-use devices.

When it comes to fastening things together, cable ties have many advantages. They are easy to use; lightweight; strong (up to the loop tensile strength); come in a variety of widths, lengths and thicknesses; and have other variations suitable to fit applications and situations. They are also generally for single use since opening the ratchet to release it makes the tie weaker.

Suppose that you were in the market to buy a bag or bundle of these handy devices. Your needs would be different depending on your uses. If the situations where you would be using them are always the same, then buying a single size will work. If your situations vary, you would be wise to consider a variety pack. Consider the following types of specifications before you make your purchase:

Vicki held her hand behind the cargo net so that you can see where near the end she chose to install the cable tie. Instead of putting it on the very end (with only one thickness of netting material), she chose to put it through the net where there were two thicknesses.

She ended up looping the nylon strips through the net's double-thickness segments for each knob all along the entire length of the storage compartment.

Here, two cable ties anchor the tie down on the corner of a container chassis.

You never want for the tie downs to vibrate out of place and the container to fall off the top of the chassis.

A container coming off its chassis will damage the container, whatever is in it, whatever it lands on, and require the equipment to pick it up and haul it off.

Since publishing this page, we have learned that there is a product called Velcro Reusable Self-Gripping Cable Ties.

We would be interested in learning from drivers if these have the same strength as regular plastic ties. For one thing, these are advertised to be reusable. You may wish to use them in applications where re-usability is important.

Money saving tip: Cable ties are sturdy and inexpensive fastening solutions that can be used in appropriate situations. They can be found in most hardware and home improvement stores. If you anticipate that you might need them in a variety of situations, consider buying a variety pack containing different lengths, widths and thicknesses.

Sometimes, the larger the bundle or bag you buy, the less expensive they are individually. However, to get your money's worth, they have to work in the situations that you will encounter. There is no sense in buying a large quantity (no matter how good a buy they are) when they won't work where and when you need them to.