Are Swingline staplers really all that?

Paratus

Lifer
Jun 4, 2004
16,614
13,297
146
Or were they just used as a gimmick in Office Space?
44181458.jpg
 

Eug

Lifer
Mar 11, 2000
23,583
996
126
The high end staplers are awesome. I paid about CAD$25 IIRC for a higher end one and it goes through 25 pages of paper like butter.

However, it doesn't haven't to be Swingline. The one I bought looked nicer than a Swingline but was a store branded one.
 

shortylickens

No Lifer
Jul 15, 2003
82,854
17,365
136
They are good staplers. And if you've ever spent at least one whole day at an office job, you WILL appreciate the difference between a quality stapler and a flimsy stapler.

Having said that, I am utterly disgusted we still rely so heavily on paper in the year 2016. Its a giant freakin waste most of the time.
 

madoka

Diamond Member
Jun 22, 2004
4,344
712
121
They suck.

As a test, I bought about a dozen different staplers ranging from $15-50. I tried stapling 17-20 pages together using premium staples. The Swingline were just outclassed compared to the new generation of spring loaded staplers.
 

local

Golden Member
Jun 28, 2011
1,850
511
136
I will bet the fancy spring loaded stapler breaks long before the Swingline which should last until the sun boils the earth.
 

madoka

Diamond Member
Jun 22, 2004
4,344
712
121
I will bet the fancy spring loaded stapler breaks long before the Swingline which should last until the sun boils the earth.

I actually staple a LOT. The Swinglines I have are fine for up to 10 pages. Once you go to 15+ pages, they turn into jam-o-matics. The spring-powered ones will eventually wear out (around 25,000 staples from my observations), but it's well worth all the time not having to dig out jammed or failed staples.
 

zinfamous

No Lifer
Jul 12, 2006
110,514
29,100
146
I actually staple a LOT. The Swinglines I have are fine for up to 10 pages. Once you go to 15+ pages, they turn into jam-o-matics. The spring-powered ones will eventually wear out (around 25,000 staples from my observations), but it's well worth all the time not having to dig out jammed or failed staples.

Oh man, I want to see your spreadsheets from this testing.
 

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
57,364
7,516
126
I have one of these...

C6dj39.jpg


Probably from the 40s or 50s. Still works great.
 

Imp

Lifer
Feb 8, 2000
18,829
184
106
Are you Mayne's alt account?

But seriously, no, I've used Swinglines professionally as office bitch. No better than the 50 year old super heavy duty staplers. Hate those things. If it doesn't go through all the pages, you get an ugly looking hole. Each pair of holes tells people how stupid or weak the person stapling it was...
 

Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
67,201
12,029
126
www.anyf.ca
I kinda want a red Swingline just because of the movie. But it's one of those things I won't bother buying unless I happen to think about it while ordering other stuff. I do have a Bates 550 though, that thing is a tank. It's made of mostly metal.

iu
 

nakedfrog

No Lifer
Apr 3, 2001
58,055
12,245
136
I kinda want a red Swingline just because of the movie. But it's one of those things I won't bother buying unless I happen to think about it while ordering other stuff. I do have a Bates 550 though, that thing is a tank. It's made of mostly metal.

iu
You ought to stencil "Master" onto the top of it.
 

IronWing

No Lifer
Jul 20, 2001
68,855
26,649
136
Are you Mayne's alt account?

But seriously, no, I've used Swinglines professionally as office bitch. No better than the 50 year old super heavy duty staplers. Hate those things. If it doesn't go through all the pages, you get an ugly looking hole. Each pair of holes tells people how stupid or weak the person stapling it was...
A man is known by the holes he leaves behind.
 

Imp

Lifer
Feb 8, 2000
18,829
184
106
I just realized... They should invent a staple drill/screw. It drills two holes through really thick pages then puts the staple through easily.
 

Imp

Lifer
Feb 8, 2000
18,829
184
106
Hole punch?

No, punches are shit. They'll work until you get too thick a load and then it'll just emboss the page. Drill and it should go as deep as the bit.

I've had to poke my own holes, 5 pages at a time many times for thick packages. Same with punching to put in a binder.
 

MrSquished

Lifer
Jan 14, 2013
21,004
19,446
136
Had a spring-powered stapler on my food truck while it was open for a couple years. Looked like this but different colors and brand:

shopping



Worked like a charm and that thing was abused - tossed about and thrown about nilly willy. Stapled through a gajillion triple folded over heavy paper bags for every order that went out. Brought it with me over to real estate. Never tried it with 20-30 pages, but it worked like a charm on like 15 page contracts. Finally broke after a few years of that. I didn't break it, it was returned to my desk broken. Heathens! Cost like 15 bucks. I'm sure you could get a higher-end version.
 

Zorba

Lifer
Oct 22, 1999
14,452
9,837
136
No, punches are shit. They'll work until you get too thick a load and then it'll just emboss the page. Drill and it should go as deep as the bit.

I've had to poke my own holes, 5 pages at a time many times for thick packages. Same with punching to put in a binder.
They make drills for hole punching thick stacks of paper. Anything that needs drilled is probably too thick to be useful stapled.
 

Chapbass

Diamond Member
May 31, 2004
3,143
88
91
Seriously, this is why they make assistants. So we don't have to argue about this shit.