How to remove staples from old carpet to prep floor?

[John Fider]

Just ripped out the old carpets and have all these annoying staples that are ridiculously labor intensive to remove. Do you know of an easy way to remove them? I'm prepping the floor for vinyl installation.  

I'm thinking maybe I can use a gravel stamper to just quickly flatten them out...  any other ideas?

[Lynnette E.]

Don't flatten them out to put vinyl over them, they will not allow the vinyl to be flat.  

Its not fun, but we pull them up with pliers and put a flat head screw driver under them to push them up a little if we can not grab them with the pliers.  Its a great job for a teen who want to earn money.  Pay by the room, not by the hour.  Turn on the music and let them pull.