I recently cleaned out my office and came to the realization that I have no need for "office supplies." I had bins filled with Post-it Notes, notebooks, pencils, pencil sharpeners, glue sticks, paperclips, scissors, rulers, and other OfficeMax detritus that I just never use. Never. But I also realized that I have a mild fetish for staples. In my worldview, papers that belong together should stay together, for all eternity. I have a good desktop stapler, but lately I've been moving around a lot between home and several remote offices. I've bought mini staplers for my laptop bag before, but they universally tend to suck. Mini staples are no good, and the machines themselves often collapse at the mere sight of a stack of papers greater than three high. Fortunately, I recently discovered the PaperPro 1820 Nano Mini Stapler. First of all, the Nano is very compact but uses standard staples. The real magic though is in the powerful stapling itself. The all-metal spring-powered mechanism provides the Nano with the satisfying ker-chunk of an industrial stapler. The product packaging claims "12 sheet push button stapling power," but I've given it 15 sheets before and it hasn't winced. The PaperPro Nano Miniature Stapler comes in five crazy colors and sells for less than $10 each from Amazon. I think I'm going to buy a 5 pack for $27, especially since my wife already snatched my first one.PaperPro Nano Miniature Stapler
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The downside is that now you'll have 5 staplers.
Knowing how likely I am to lose them, or have people "borrow" them, not for long.
I had to read that 5 times before it parsed.
Wow a stocking stuffer that actually makes sense.
My mother-in-law insists on giving us stockings of junk every Christmas. I usually wait until she is not looking and just empty the stocking right into the trash.
I totally agree on the point of no loner needing office supplies. It's been my (successfully-achieved) goal for years now to get through the day without using paper and pen. Since my work is digitally-based and since there are so many gadgets for recording data at hand, there's rarely any need for me.
I realized recently that I use an X-acto knife (for trimming production layout work) more than I do a pen/pencil now. And the only time I go to hard copy is final production product. I think many people could probably cut down significantly on the amount of hard copy they work with if they thought it through and made an effort.
I guess trying to cut down on staple usage would be a good indicator of success on that. :)
Use extreme caution around these little buggers - they may be small but they pack one helluva punch. If you happen to find your finger in the line of fire make sure you have a friend on hand with a pair of pliers. Ouch!
There was a wonderfully acidic piece in The Onion a few months back, about a bank that was too embarrassed to turn down a business loan to a pathetic guy who wanted to start an old-fashioned stationary store.
I have one of those rolling plastic organizers full of stationary crap. Staples, little gift packs of thank you cards & envelopes, some drafting supplies, rubber stamps, brads, that kind of shit. I should really try to reduce it to maybe one shoe box worth of stuff.
If it works that efficiently, it cannot have been manufactured in China.The last two mini-clompers I purchased lasted about a month.Junk!
I don't know what says about me (so I won't think about it), but this is the most useful post of the year. Thanks!
Oh, yeah, about the office: I snapped about a year ago that I HAD ALL THIS SHIT that had to go.
It's so gone. :)
Post-it Notes, notebooks, pencils, pencil sharpeners, glue sticks, paperclips, scissors, rulers, and other OfficeMax detritus
Man I love all that stuff. Seriously jonesin' now for a trip to Office Depot/OfficeMax, thanks to you. Feel free to send all that stuff to me. Feed my fetish.
How funny that others are feeling the same way about office supplies. It was an odd feeling to realize I could safely rid myself of it. I mean, I still love the *idea* of office supplies, but I just never use any of the stuff.
Some fap material for your mild fetish:
http://www.fark.com/cgi/comments.pl?IDLink=2083563
Obligatory xkcd: http://xkcd.com/478/
"But I also realized that I have a mild fetish for staples. In my worldview, papers that belong should together to stay together, for all eternity."
I wish you had a fetish for grammar.
#3, it parsed because you wanted it to. That sentence is 10 kinds of wrong.
i have the desktop version (20-sheet POWER) both at home and at work. they're great. no more bent staples.
I seriously enjoy my printing. Yes, I really do. I also agree that pages that are printed together should remain together until the end of time.
This is why my printers sport their own Swingline 747 stapler. Much like Ceiling Cat and Basement Cat, I have The Stapler of Truth in awesome chrome, and an very old stolen and slightly rusting Stapler of Evil.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swingline
There isn't a page for the 747 model, but if you've used one, you will at one point have remarked about its smooth lines and high function, and looked at the underside which proudly indicates its make and model.
My last places of work cheaped out on the crappy lesser models. No, they are not very portable. What about those things that cut a shape into the pages as a method of binding them together?
and, actually, the nano has been replaced by a newer version with a handle that's lower profile and less likely to snag on stuff in your bag:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_op_0_16?url=search-alias%3Doffice-products&field-keywords=paperpro+compact+stapler&x=0&y=0&sprefix=paperpro+compact
I have been using a PaperPro Prodigy (25-sheet) stapler at the office for years now and I swear by it. Best stapler ever.
@#14:
I know, I was just trying to be nice.
i really really hope you donated those "tossed" office supplies. you may not use them, but there are nonprofits, kids' centers, women's job assistance centers, etc. who sure would.
As a special collections librarian, I can tell you that the first thing we do with papers that are meant to "stay together, for all eternity" is remove all the staples and replace them with non-corrosive plastic paperclips.
@M. Dery
I really was trying to be nice, pointing the typo out in a humorous way.
For what it's worth, I'd like to find a stapler big enough to permanently close up every copy of every style manual I come across (read: I'm not a grammar nazi. I really did read that sentence five times over.)
Sorry if I offended, I didn't realize it wasn't David making the post (I now realize it was you).
I'll assume that David's supplies are already on their way to #10. Oh well.
But I'll add -- mini-staplers were not always born bad. I have a Swingline Tot that I've used since college, which makes it at least 30 years old. It's not my regular stapler, but it still works fine. The staples for it can still be found at old-school stationery stores.
OOOPS! I was logged in temporarily as our guest, Mark Dery, and accidentally commented under his username in response to @TRIPPCOOK, @TJ S and Anonymous @ 20. I've since deleted those erroneously-bylined comments. Here they are:
@TRIPPCOOK, @TJ S, I made a typo. Shoot me. Staple me to Strunk & White. Sorry.
@20, I gave them to my wife who is an artist/designer (er, analog mostly) and uses the stuff.
@24:
Everything makes so much more sense now! (And I need to learn not to comment late in my workday, when my blood sugar is dipping and my head isn't all there. Like now...)
I love these staplers. They also have animal-themed versions geared toward children. I have both minis and desktop. And office supplies.
@#21 (Anonymous)
Not a problem with stainless steel staples, BABY!!! You can also get them in monel. Still waiting for TITANIUM FUCKING STAPLES-- just for the bragging rights.
Plastic is crap. Plastic does not last. The only thing I've ever found plastic to be the superior material for is direct burial (providing it's deep enough to be out of burrowing range of ground squirrels, etc).
I have this stapler. My ex girlfriend stapled through her thumb and it went through her thumbnail and all...don't ask me why she did it.
All metal wants to be dirt...even stainless steel. Any paper you wish to keep should not be stapled. If you want to know what happens to old stapled paper ...ask a librarian, or an archivist...those would be the people advising you against the staples...
Gotta love a good stapler; crap ones cause pain.
Most staple metals long to combine with oxygen and become dirtlike - but modern staples have finishes that put that off long enough for business uses. For really long-term storage one should of course carve stone, and store in a desert...
I also have ridiculous quantities of office supplies, three-ring binders, staples, thumbtacks, notebooks, etc. that I know I'll never use. So this morning I packed up a big box with all the extras and took it to my local elementary school. They were very appreciative to get the materials, which they said they can definitely use when classes begin. I'm starting to pack another box for them now.
Wow a nice bit of product placement just above a link about the author of Life inc.
Impeccable timing is impeccable.
What makes colors crazy?
PS the sheet capacity is based on 20-lb paper (how many times have I written that...) so if you have lighterweight paper it can definitely handle more. (the office supply copywriter)
When I was maybe 7 years old, an aunt gave me for Christmas a nondescript box filled with all kinds of office supplies, even including a roll of adding machine thermal paper. It was one of my favorite Christmas presents ever.
Thinking about it many years later, I realized that she had probably swiped all of it from her workplace.
PANTOGRAPH @32, That wasn't product placement. That was a product review. Hopefully you were joking.
My tongue was firmly planted in my cheek if that is any consolation.