Elixir .009 Plain Steel Single String

I've bought couple of Elixirs of various light gauge as spare strings and for some experimenting with custom set. I was curious about it and Ernie Ball singles are available only as sets of six (which would take years for me to spent).
Anti-rust plain steel Elixirs are packed quite crude in paper sleeve and in my opinion are nothing exceptional, maybe even slightly worse in sound. Their price is higher than d'Addario's singles, but this difference doesn't matter. For the durability I have to wait, I don't play guitar intensively.

I've been using elixir strings for about a year and more now and they sound great and are durable. I was however a little disappointed in the packaging. I assumed that the loose strings were going to be sealed but they weren't and one of the strings nearly got loose.