Office Supplies, Ranked

Ranked by how often they do the one thing they were made for.

Entries
10
Category
Stuff
Updated
  1. A rotating card file full of worn business cards on an executive desk.

    10. The Rolodex

    Zephyr American · 1958

    Engineer Hildaur Neilsen designed it at Arnold Neustadter's Zephyr American, and it was first marketed in 1958. A spinning wheel of business cards for people you will never call. It ranks for confidence: it still sits beside phones that remember everyone.

  2. A rubber band stretched over a finger aimed across an office, a rubber band ball on the desk.

    09. The Rubber Band

    Stephen Perry · 1845

    Patented in England in 1845 by Stephen Perry for holding papers and envelopes. A record rubber band ball from Florida weighs 9,032 pounds and belongs to Ripley's. In offices it is mostly fired across the room, a use not covered in the patent.

  3. A yellow legal pad with a red binding strip and a ruled left margin, a pen resting on it.

    08. The Legal Pad

    Thomas W. Holley · 1888

    Thomas Holley of Holyoke, Massachusetts, reportedly started it around 1888 by stitching together factory paper scraps, and a judge supposedly asked for the left margin. Lawyers use it for notes. Everyone else uses it to write a grocery list with gravitas.

  4. A roll of clear tape in a heavy desk dispenser, its loose end stuck flat and invisible.

    07. Scotch Tape

    Richard Drew · 1930

    3M's Richard Drew made the clear version in 1930. The name came earlier, from a worker who told Drew to tell his Scotch, meaning cheap, bosses to put more adhesive on his masking tape. The roll's end is always lost and is found by thumbnail.

  5. A single silver paper clip on a bare desk, with a giant paper clip monument on a hill in the background.

    06. The Paper Clip

    The Gem clip was being made in Britain by the 1870s and was never patented. Norway credits a local inventor whose design was different and never made, and still built a seven-meter Gem clip near Oslo in 1989. Holds paper fine. Mostly resets routers.

  6. A small bottle of correction fluid with its brush cap off beside a typewriter.

    05. Liquid Paper

    Bette Nesmith Graham · 1956

    Bette Nesmith Graham, a typist, invented it in her kitchen in 1956 and called it Mistake Out. She sold the company to Gillette in 1979 for about $47.5 million. Her son Michael was in the Monkees, the second most impressive thing in the family.

  7. A glossy red stapler alone on an office desk in a cramped basement room.

    04. The Red Stapler

    Swingline · 2002

    The one in Office Space was a Swingline 646 painted red for the film, because Swingline didn't make one. Fans asked so often that the company released an official red model in 2002. Staplers rank this high for staying in their lane.

  8. An open textbook with an entire page streaked in highlighter, the uncapped marker lying across it.

    03. The Highlighter

    Carter's Ink · 1963

    Frank Honn invented it in 1963 and Carter's Ink sold it as the Hi-Liter. Yellow is still the standard because it doesn't leave a shadow on photocopies. Students use it to highlight the entire page, which is technically emphasis.

  9. A large black binder clip clamped on a thick stack of paper, its silver handles folded back.

    02. The Binder Clip

    Louis E. Baltzley · 1910

    Louis Baltzley invented it in 1910 so his father, a writer, could hold manuscripts together without sewing them or punching holes. It grips anything, folds flat and doubles as a phone stand and a cable organizer. It asks for no credit.

  10. A computer monitor edged with square yellow sticky notes on a cluttered desk.

    01. The Post-it Note

    3M · 1980

    Spencer Silver made a weak adhesive, Art Fry wanted a hymnal bookmark, and 3M launched it nationwide in 1980 after a test flop as Press 'n Peel. The canary yellow came from scrap paper in the lab next door. Still the best idea anyone has stuck to a monitor.

Honorable mentions

  • A corkboard with colored pushpins holding up paper menus, one pin lying on the carpet below.

    The Pushpin

    A plastic-headed pin that holds a takeout menu to a corkboard for ten years. It comes out easily and is lost easily, which is how one ends up in the carpet waiting for someone in socks. Works great. Also a hazard.

Dishonorable mentions

  • A staple remover with its jaws open on a desk beside a torn page corner.

    The Staple Remover

    Two pairs of metal fangs that remove a staple by tearing the corner off the page, then biting the hand holding it. Every office has one and everyone uses a fingernail instead. It is the only office supply that looks like it wants to hurt you.

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