I spent extra on these notebooks for my daughter who is in middle school as last year's notebooks fell apart half way through the year. However while this notebook cost more than twice other notebooks it started to split only one month after the start of school.
This is the worst product we purchased from Staples. The closure mechanism came apart in a say or so and could not be fixed. Even the cover coloring was not uniform. wee were so upset we did not even want to go through the trouble of returning the product. We replaced it with a binder from another store for my student daughter at a much lower price and much better quality..Very disappointed that Staples would carry such shoddy products..
i just want the product to last longer. trying to prevent/ reduce both material waste and cost. rubberized binder is useful in that it feels substantial without much added weight. think of the heavier fiberboard/ metal style. (old manuals from 1980's military; which are intended to last and perform for more than a decade) and other such service manuals.