The other day I was talking to a cab driver who has an air-conditioner that’s still going strong after 18 years. Now when he buys new ones that are from the same brand, they only last four years. He blames it on the company switching manufacturing from Germany to China. Indeed, in this day and age of racing to the bottom of cheap, wherever you look on the shelves, it seems it’s a never-ending seas of “they don’t make ’em like they used to.” But even still, reader Jospeh never expected his metal Swingline stapler to fracture outright. And he was likewise surprised, this time, pleasantly, when they replaced it for him swiftly and painlessly.

Joseph writes:

I’ve never really heard of Swingline staplers breaking before. Maybe jamming or a spring going missing like any stapler but all the Swinglines I’ve seen are usually built like tanks.

Mine broke. The base of my two year old light office duty Swingline actually fractured. Yep – that’s the right word. No bending, no torquing but outright metal failure. Granted, it was maybe a $10 to $15 dollar stapler and we don’t expect much from our cheap office consumables these days but having this happen to a Swingline was out of the ordinary (at least for me).

I hit up the Swingline website and put in a yell to their service dept. The next day I received a reply from a rep in ACCO Brands Customer Care, sent her a picture of the damage, and she told me to expect a new one in less than 10 days.

And that was it! The new stapler showed up a week later (this morning). The new one has a metal plate across the length of the base.

Swingline has a lifetime (limited) warranty and apparently they mean it. No receipt, no hassles, no charge. Sweet!

Nice! Hopefully the new one will be able to stand up to your mighty hand.

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