From 2015 to 2016, retail-watchers carefully tracked the proposed merger of Staples and Office Depot, which itself had recently acquired OfficeMax. The Federal Trade Commission ultimately didn’t bless the deal, but the two chains have come back with a new idea: What if Office Depot were to acquire just the retail portion of Staples? [More]
office supplies
Staples Looking For A New Owner After Failure Of Office Depot Merger
By 4.4.17
Nearly a year after the Staples-Office Depot lovefest ended in a broken engagement following federal regulators’ anti-trust lawsuit, Staples is ready to move on, apparently with a private equity firm. [More]
Staples Still Doing Well After Failed Office Depot Merger; 70 North American Staples Stores To Close
By 3.9.17 — Updated: 5.10.17
While we consumers think of Staples as the brick-and-mortar retailer that we go to when we need a printer cartridge, that’s not how the company thinks of itself. After a disappointing quarter of sales while the company is still trying to get over the breakup of its engagement to Office Depot, its leaders told investors that they plan to focus on services, including delivery to offices and to homes. [More]
Staples Isn’t Coping So Well After Broken Engagement To Office Depot
By 8.17.16
It’s not easy to find your way after your plans for the future have been turned around. Staples planned to merge with Office Depot, but the Federal Trade Commission stood in their way and kept the merger from happening. Now Staples is having a hard time finding its way by itself, losing $766 million last quarter. [More]
Amazon Executive: Actually, We Don’t Have Any Big Corporate Office Supply Contracts Yet
By 3.23.16
Staples and Office Depot want to pledge their future and their fortunes together in corporate matrimony, and the Federal Trade Commission objects to their union. The companies and the Federal Trade Commission are making their cases before a federal judge, and the key question in this merger seems to be whether large corporations plan to buy their office supplies from Amazon in the future. An Amazon executive testified that they haven’t signed any major companies, and aren’t really pursuing big corporate contracts. Yet. [More]
Staples, Office Depot: FTC’s Opposition To Billion-Dollar Merger Is “Flawed,” “Wrong”
By 3.18.16
Three months after federal regulators filed a lawsuit to stop the nightmare dream formation of the $6.3 billion StaplesMaxDepot Voltron , the CEOs of the mega-office supply chains are fed up, and they’re taking that frustration to the customers by airing their true thoughts on the Federal Trade Commission’s attempt to stop the deal. [More]
Regulators Reportedly Poised To Block Staples, Office Depot Mega-Merger
By 12.1.15
Providing office supplies for commercial businesses could be the final nail in the coffin of the would-be formation of the $6.3 billion StaplesMaxDepot Voltron, with regulators reportedly poised to block the mega-merger next week. [More]
Sale Of Commercial Supply Business Could Let Staples-Office Depot Merger Go Through
By 10.26.15
One of the barriers to the formation of the StaplesMaxDepot office-supply Voltron has been the commercial supply businesses that both companies run: in addition to running retail stores, they both also do business delivering office supplies to corporate clients. One possibility could let the mega-merger go forward: Staples could sell its commercial supply business to competitor Essendant. [More]
Office Depot, Staples Merger Under Scrutiny In Europe
By 9.25.15
The $6.3 billion merger between the top two office supply chains has hit yet another bump: the European Union opened an “extensive” investigation into the would-be union of Staples and rival Office Depot. [More]
Antitrust Concerns For Staples, Office Depot Merger Now Center On Corporate Supply Contracts
By 9.10.15
In an effort to gain approval for their $6.3 billion proposed marriage to Staples, Office Depot announced last month it would close about 400 stores. While that move could certainly help the merger process, it appears that federal regulators are less worried about retail sales at physical stores, and more concerned about their contracts to provide supplies to large corporations and businesses. [More]
Office Depot, Staples One Step Closer To Walking Down The Office Supply-Wedding Aisle
By 6.19.15
Back in February Staples presented Office Depot with a freshly sharpened bouquet of pencils (really, $6.3 billion) as a token of its desire to live as one for the rest of their office supply days. Now, three months later, Office Depot has accepted the proposal. [More]
Amazon Launches New Marketplace To Sell Specialized Supplies To Businesses
By 4.28.15
Amazon is gunning for businesses – connecting them with sellers of everything from lab equipment to food service supplies. The online retail giant launched its latest marketplace Tuesday, aiming to provide businesses with the same shopping service the company offers everyday customers. [More]
3M Vows To Avoid Using Paper Sources That Come From Threatened Forests
By 3.6.15
Manufacturing company 3M announced a policy change today that aims to ensure its pulp and paper suppliers are doing their best to preserve the environment by only providing materials from protected forests. [More]
Staples, Office Depot Take Another Step Toward Merger, Enter “Advanced Talks”
By 2.3.15
Just weeks after activist investor Starboard Value publicly demanded Staples and Office Depot get hitched, the two office supply stores are apparently taking talks of a walk down the aisle seriously. [More]
Staples Will Keep Closing Stores, Nobody Is Surprised
By 8.22.14
Earlier this year, Staples announced plans to close 225 underperforming store due to poor performance. Almost six months later, the office supply retailer hasn’t managed to turn things around, mostly because consumers are looking elsewhere for most of the things they would buy at Staples. Especially electronics. Turning things around will be a difficult task, since the chain plans aggressive discounts to lure customers back in. [More]
Amazon’s Stupid Shipping Gang Makes Sure Coffee Filters Arrive Safely
By 5.28.14
Reader Laura (no relation) received a big, sturdy Amazon box at work. “The kind large enough to hold six to eight regular reams of 8×11 paper,” she wrote to Consumerist. “20 inches in length and a good foot wide and deep.” This box must hold a large amount of office supplies, right? Not so much. [More]
Swingline Replaces Broken Stapler, No One Had To Set The Building On Fire
By 4.19.13
If you’ve seen the movie “Office Space,” you may have wondered: what’s so great about a Swingline stapler that the character Milton clung to his so desperately? Reader Bradley can’t vouch for the red, small-capacity type of stapler, but his office regularly uses a high-capacity stapler with a broken strike plate. Would they have to replace the whole expensive stapler? Noooo! [More]
How The Stupid Shipping Gang Sends A Bottle Of White-Out
By 8.21.12
We’re sure that Staples has a very, very good reason for packing a single box of white-out in a massive box full of air pillows. Perhaps that product was in a different warehouse than the rest of the order going to Ian’s company. Perhaps they were out of small boxes or padded envelopes, and speed in shipping is more important than sanity in packaging. Or perhaps Staples employees fear the stink of correction fluid, and wanted to make sure everyone stayed very safe from it. Whatever the real reason: it’s ridiculous. [More]
