Confusion about IC sockets

I bought an electronics kitset and the IC socket was placed in foam. I didn't think IC sockets were antistatic so why would it need to be placed in foam?

So what could be the reason why? We usually place ICs in foams to prevent potentially dangerous static electricity from building up between their pins. Especially important for CMOS chips. Consider the foam as a part of the kit and use it for storing your ICs. Foaming Sockets to my mind doesn't make much sense.

hi harry,
The foam on the socket pins is used to limit pin bending/breaking in transit.

Quite often the post man, on delivery, will ram the 'jiffy bag' thru the letter box and damage the socket pins.

If its anti-static conductive [black] foam, don't throw it away, its useful for protecting other devices.

Aren't straight pins so much easier to stuff into the right holes on the PCB?