Staple collection must be some kind of record

Officially, according to me, this is the largest collection of used staples in the world.

I am confident my proclamation will hold.

Carol Riggs has saved, and piled, a 9½-inch-high mountain of used staples.

It took her 16 years.

When she reviews multiple-page documents, she removes the staple in the corner, puts it on her pile, and reads through the pages.

We’ve heard about building things one brick at a time, but this compilation is tedious with a capital “T.”

She’s moved her staple sculpture three times into larger bowls.

Funny, it lifts up in a blob, seemingly magnetic, but Riggs says it’s just the teensy ends clinging together. The staple mountain is on her desk at Chicago Title Insurance Company in Everett.

ADVERTISEMENT
0 seconds of 0 secondsVolume 0%
Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts
00:00
00:00
00:00
 

The staples hang together, like that kid’s game, Barrel of Monkeys.

Rusty Bennett, a FedEx driver, noticed the collection while delivering packages. Thanks, Mr. Bennett, for the hot tip.

I live for this stuff.

Riggs lives in south Everett. She has two daughters and adores her five grandchildren, including two who live in China.

“I send them comics from The Herald,” Riggs said. “They read them and wrap gifts with the colorful paper to give to other foreigners with a hankering for the funnies.”

A windowsill in her office is lined with fast food kid-meal toys. While parents or grandparents tend to mortgage business, their charges have toys to keep them occupied.

Still working at age 68, she just isn’t ready to retire, Riggs said, and she loves Chicago Title.

“I do payroll, accounting and human resources,” she said. “And plunger the toilets when necessary. But it’s a great job.”

I should say so. When she turned 60, the office gang chipped in for a trip.

“I went to Disneyland,” she said. “I had never been.”

And get this: The staple collection could be much bigger. She left a collection behind, 20 years ago, when she worked for Lawyer’s Title in Lynnwood.

The janitor in Lynnwood mentioned he had trouble with staples getting stuck in the carpet, so she began her collection.

The widow has other hobbies. She likes to go to the movies, has a dog and two cats and is a safe driver.

She plays books on tape in her car, so she carefully stops at all yellow lights to maximize listening time.

Modest enough to not take full credit for the staple collection, she credits co-worker Don Medema with additions.

He brings her little paper cups with staples he donates to the glob.

We weighed the bowl of staples on a postal scale. Three pounds, 12 ounces.

I took a box of 5,000 Bostitch staples, measured it, divided by the square root, considered thrust and velocity, and deduced that the pile has about a gazillion staples in it.

A world record, for sure.

Columnist Kristi O’Harran: 425-339-3451 or oharran@heraldnet.com.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

Students from Explorer Middle School gather Wednesday around a makeshift memorial for Emiliano “Emi” Munoz, who died Monday, May 5, after an electric bicycle accident in south Everett. (Aspen Anderson / The Herald)
Community and classmates mourn death of 13-year-old in bicycle accident

Emiliano “Emi” Munoz died from his injuries three days after colliding with a braided cable.

Danny Burgess, left, and Sandy Weakland, right, carefully pull out benthic organisms from sediment samples on Thursday, May 1, 2025 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
‘Got Mud?’ Researchers monitor the health of the Puget Sound

For the next few weeks, the state’s marine monitoring team will collect sediment and organism samples across Puget Sound

Everett postal workers gather for a portrait to advertise the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive on Wednesday, May 7, 2025 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Snohomish County letter carriers prepare for food drive this Saturday

The largest single-day food drive in the country comes at an uncertain time for federal food bank funding.

Everett
Everett considers ordinance to require more apprentice labor

It would require apprentices to work 15% of the total labor hours for construction or renovation on most city projects over $1 million.

Snohomish County prosecutor Kara Van Slyck delivers closing statement during the trial of Christian Sayre at the Snohomish County Courthouse on Thursday, May 8, 2025 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Jury deliberations begin in the fourth trial of former Everett bar owner

Jury members deliberated for about 2 hours before Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Millie Judge sent them home until Monday.

Christian Sayre sits in the courtroom before the start of jury selection on Tuesday, April 29, 2025 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Christian Sayre timeline

FEBRUARY 2020 A woman reports a sexual assault by Sayre. Her sexual… Continue reading

Marysville
Marysville talks middle housing at open house

City planning staff say they want a ‘soft landing’ to limit the impacts of new state housing laws. But they don’t expect their approach to slow development.

Smoke from the Bolt Creek fire silhouettes a mountain ridge and trees just outside of Index on Sept. 12, 2022. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
County will host two wildfire-preparedness meetings in May

Meetings will allow community members to learn wildfire mitigation strategies and connect with a variety of local and state agencies.

A speed limiter device, like this one, will be required for repeat speeding offenders under a Washington law signed on May 12, 2025. The law doesn’t take effect until 2029. (Photo by Jake Goldstein-Street/Washington State Standard)
Washington to rein in fast drivers with speed limiters

A new law set to take effect in 2029 will require repeat speeding offenders to install the devices in their vehicles.

Commuters from Whidbey Island disembark their vehicles from the ferry Tokitae on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2018 in Mukilteo, Wa.  (Andy Bronson / The Herald)
Bids for five new hybrid ferries come in high

It’s raising doubts about the state’s plans to construct up to five new hybrid-electric vessels with the $1.3 billion lawmakers have set aside.

City of Everett Engineer Tom Hood, left, and City of Everett Engineer and Project Manager Dan Enrico, right, talks about the current Edgewater Bridge demolition on Friday, May 9, 2025 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
How do you get rid of a bridge? Everett engineers can explain.

Workers began dismantling the old Edgewater Bridge on May 2. The process could take one to two months, city engineers said.

Christian Sayre walks out of the courtroom in handcuffs after being found guilty on two counts of indecent liberties at the end of his trial at the Snohomish County Courthouse on Monday, May 12, 2025 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Former bar owner convicted on two of three counts of sexual abuse

A jury deliberated for about 8 hours before returning guilty verdicts on two charges of indecent liberties Monday.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.