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Colored Staples by Swingline

Paper Fasteners — 15 October 2010
Colored Staples by Swingline
Color Bright Colored Staples by Swingline

Color Bright Colored Staples by Swingline

A few weeks ago, one of my loyal readers, @DIYSara asked me if I had ever tried any of the colored staples out there, and unfortunately I had to tell her no.  I didn’t like not having an answer for her, so I immediately went on over to Google to start searching to see what I could find.  My results landed me on Amazon.com where I found these Swingline Color Bright Colored Staples.  I never thought I would find myself doing a review of staples, but here we are, and I have to say I am glad I checked these out.

Blue, Green, and Red Staples by Swingline

Blue, Green, and Red Staples by Swingline

As you can see, these staples come in a pack of 6,000 and are evenly split so that you get 2,000 of each color: blue, green, and red.  Upon opening up the package, I was pleasantly surprised by how bright and vibrant each of the colors were, although I was a bit nervous to see that on the edges of some of the staples, there was already some chipping of what I now realized was just paint on them.

Color Bright Colored Staples by Swingline Residue

Residue from the Color Bright Colored Staples by Swingline

Wanting to test these out, I quickly loaded a sleeve of the blue staples into what I recently discovered to be the best stapler ever, my  PaperPro, to see what would happen if I just started clicking away straight through an entire sleeve.  I ended up being slightly disappointed when I saw that the plate and the head of the stapler both had blue residue on them from the colored staples.  Ever the optimist, I convinced myself that this was probably just some extra paint that was somehow between the small crevices where each of the colored staples met one another, and not from the surface of the staples themselves.

Color Bright Colored Staples from the Front

Color Bright Colored Staples from the Front

Hoping to see better results when I used the colored staples as they were intended to be used, I folded up a sheet of paper and got started stapling a few of the colored staples into the paper.  I tried out each of the colors, and was equally disappointed to see that slivers of the paint came off on each one, leaving the natural silver color of the staples behind.  I assume there must be a way to accomplish a truly colored staple that isn’t just painted on, however I guess maybe it would just be beyond a reasonable price point that people would expect to pay for such a commodity.  Anyway, I’m glad I tried these out because I hope my experience and the photos here will keep any of you from wasting your hard-earned money on these.

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  • http://diysara.wordpress.com/ Sara

    I think “Yikes.” is a great way to sum this up. :/

  • Claire

    In 1996 or 1997 I bought at WalMart a smallish pack (2000 count) staples in “Hot New Colors” by Swingline “Made in Great Britain”. The color is fuchsia or dark purply pink. I hoarded them. The paint chips are not a problem once the staples are in place. Once I asked a young PC salesman, “Why do computers have to be beige, gray, greige, or black? I want pink.” His shocked response was “Do you think it would work?” Those were his exact words. A couple of years later Apple produced translucent colored Macs starting with Blueberry. If forced to choose an actual color, men choose blue. I like happy colors.

  • Wanderer

    Have to say, I purchased some of these (same brand, smaller pack) a while ago (year+) and they are identical. They chip all over the place, leave nasty paint flakes and are a HUGE mess. I hope somebody has a properly made color staple out there, but no way are these worth the money. I think I threw mine away as junk after I saw how messy they were and the garbage quality. Thanks for the review, hopefully more people save their money now.

  • Patrice

    I also bought the colored staples at Wal-mart with the back-to-school supplies. By the time I found them, they were $1 per package. I have not experienced any color flaking at all with the ones I bought – I’m currently using the hot pink ones. I have them here at work, loaded into a Swingline 747; no problems with them at all.

  • http://www.officesupplygeek.com OfficeSupplyGeek

    @Sara – Totally agreed, thats a nice short and accurate way to sum up the whole situation!

    @Claire – Thats interesting, I will have to see if I can find those other colors to try out as well. Funny how you foreshadowed the coming of colorful computers like that, I dont think anyone misses the days of gray/beige at all. :)

    @Wanderer – Sorry to hear you had to learn the hard way too. The only reason I have not tossed mine yet is because I keep meaning to check and see if I can put them in with the recycling? Anyone know?

    @Patrice – Sounds like those other color options might be the way to go, thanks for sharing.

  • Lylah

    I was disappointed with the coloured staple experience for the same reasons, but I still liked having fun tinted fasteners. So I made my own by taking my Sharpies (in all 843 colours) and shading regular staples. I discovered I liked that better, anyway, because I could use more than one colour and get some really awesome designs! They perform great, look great, and don’t cost me any more money :)

  • http://www.officesupplygeek.com OfficeSupplyGeek

    @Lylah – That is a great idea! I might have to try that out myself and see how it works! Thanks for sharing!