Colored Staples Stacked

Three years ago we reviewed some colored staples by Swingline and the results were pretty bad.  Since it has been so long it seemed like a good idea to try and seek out some other colored staples that might perform better.  Today we are taking a look at the colored staples offered by Officemate.

Colored Staples in the Package

Much like the other colored staples we reviewed, these look great in the package and before you actually use them.  The colors are nice and vibrant and have a slightly glossy look to them.  Unfortunately one has to eventually use these and that’s where the problems start.

Colored Staples with Paint Flakes

Depending on which of themyou look at in the above photo, you can see how bad some of the flaking is.  Keep in mind that these are the results of simply loading the colored staples into a stapler and stapling the paper with them.  There was no other variable that caused ware on these staples.  You will particularly notice that the one green staple in the foreground has almost no green paint left on it.  You might also notice flakes of paint on the paper and photo surface.

Colored Staples Back Side Paint Flakes

The back sides of these surprisingly seem to do a little better than the front sides.  It appears that less paint flaked off which I find surprising since this side is actually forced to bend when you staple with them.  I’m not an engineer so my amateur explanation here might not make any sense but thats just my best guess.  One would think that the bending of metal would force more paint to flake off but for whatever reason that didn’t happen here.

The verdict on colored staples?

Sadly after reviewing our second set of these we would still have to recommend against using them for any visual appeal that you may be seeking from them. If anyone out there has used any brand that doesn’t flake like this, we would love to hear from you so we can get our hands on them and check them out.

©2015, Brian Greene. All rights reserved.