Electric Stapler - A Lifesaver

I staple often. After a while, repeated pressure on my wrist and palm got to be painful. Sounds crazy, doesn't it? Stapling is not top-of-mind as an office hazard, at least not to my mind. I kvetched to my husband [and business partner] about my predicament. He suggested - bless his soul - that I look at getting an electric stapler.It seemed a little ridiculous but I thought I'd at least get more information about them. 

Now, I'm not cheap. Frugal, yes. Careful about how I spend money, yes. Never thought I'd spend a dime more than a manual stapler and staples to attach paperwork together. Couldn't quite bring myself to spend even this little bit for an electric stapler. I cheaped out, in the worst way, and got myself another manual stapler but an ergonomic one. Thought that would alleviate the pressure pain [again, seems absurd to have a stapling 'injury']. Unfortunately, it did not. 

One can spend an inordinate amount - to my mind - on an electric stapler. I got a lower-mid-range priced model. Chose the store brand. This one holds 1/2 magazine [rack, whatever it's called] of staples. Purchased the 1/2 magazine staples to go with it [not included in price of product noted in this review]. 

Can I tell you I love this thing? No more painful wrist or palm at the end of the work week or the end of the day.

Very easy to use: align your papers, insert them into the horizontal 'mouth' of the unit until the papers hit the backstop... et VOILA! Perfectly stapled papers. I love the "chuzzunka" sound it makes every time, too. 

Will staple up to 20 pages together. Have not had to test this number. Max pages I've used it for is about 12. Have also used it to close padded mailers without a jam, mis-fire or other problem.

The unit is small - maybe 5" in length, 3 1/2" wide and 2" or so tall. Takes up minimal space on my desk. Very unobtrusive. Cord length is adequate enough to position it where I can acces it quickly as part of my daily tasks.

When the magazine is almost used up, it has been known to mis-fire and/or leave a single unused staple in the rack. Not a big deal to me.

Must admit, being in a "Green" industry, it does pain me to use electricity for such a task as stapling. Since it doesn't have an on/off switch, I unplug it at night. I've not gone so far as to gang my stapling tasks until the end of the day, plug it in, use it and then unplug it again. That's an inefficient use of my time and would be a hassle. It's about convenience for me. I plug it in each morning - when I turn on my paper shredder - and leave it until I'm ready to go home. 

I've had it for 15 months or so and have been very pleased with the performance, reliability, quality and durability of the Office Depot Brand Electric Stapler Model #196-156.