Office Max 10 Tips and Tricks, how to get Hot Deals

waraey

Junior Member
Mar 2, 2004
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OfficeMax Tips and Tricks

1. Sales Tax Exemption.

(This section removed due to legallity issues)

2. Multiple Item numbers in advertisements.

Often times when an item goes on ad It will be for 1 item, for example a HP refurbished 1210 for 149.99, but upon further investigation of the ad, two eight digit item numbers will appear. Ex: 2016-5789/2066-4785. The first item is the one on ad and pictured usually, and the second is one that is probably better or more expensive at the same price, just not advertised. A few weeks ago this was a 2410 at 149.99, usually at 299.99, but only the seekers got the deal. This second item isn?t a substitute item or a replacement and will ring up at the register for the advertised price. Don?t let an associate or manager tell you they have to sell the other item first, just grab the item and take it to the register and you will get the sale price.

3. Replacement items.

When an item runs out that was on ad, if it does have ?While supplies? last placed in the ad, there is often a similar ?more expensive? item available at that price. Most associates however covet theses sheets that come out daily. However they are usually kept at the customer service area, and should have one at each register. Just walk up while other associates are busy and take a peek. When you take the ?replacement? item to the register and ell them an associate said this was the replacement for such and such, and that it should be price overridden to the ad price. Most will call a manager to make the switch, but unknown to the cashier they are able to do price overrides now as long as it isn?t a very large difference.

4. Ink In stock guarantee

Unknown to 95% of the customers that come to the store, OfficeMax has a guarantee that they will have your ink/toner in stock or we will take 10 bucks off the price and have it delivered to your house. Most of the time for the most common inks they will never run out unless the whole district runs low. However on the twin packs such as HP 56/57 and Lexmark 82/83 these run out at the begging of the week and no more will come in. The best time to check for this is a Thursday for Friday, as they put more inks out on Friday night usually. If they are out, alert an associate that u need this ink and they are out, he will probably run around the store and check 4 different places for it and say ?sorry we are sold out, go home?. Remind him of the Guaranteed in stock, he will probably have no idea what you are talking about, and will need to get a manager. When the dust settles, he will take you over to do an OrderMax to get it delivered. You can have it delivered to the store or to your house. The key things to watch for here are: Make sure they take the 10 bucks off the price, also make sure that if under 50 dollars they override for free shipping.

5. 115% Price match Guarantee

This Offer will probably be removed soon as the new owner Boise will probably be removing it.
You all know how PM works, and how sometimes your store may vary. Detailed rules here: http://www.officemax.com/max/soluti...mplate.jsp?BV_UseBVCookie=yes&edOID=536952103

Basics:
Advertised in-stock items
Office Supply Stores Only
Only 100% if from our website or catalog
Identical items only
No free accessories
No Custom stuff or services

6. Coupons

Sign up for the MaxPerks card and officemax will typically send you some coupons in the mail every once in a while. Not a bad deal for free. You can earn cash back, but its really only on officemax brand stuff and supplies, most tech stuff doesn?t apply (tho i now hear different). Coupons are also sometimes sent for those who do a survey. Save your receipt and take it to win something or get a coupon, http://www.officemax.com/store/survey
Got a coupon they wont take? Just tell the cashier that the manager said he would take it and to enter it as a ?NOF coupon?. All the cashier can tell you is, No.

7. Manager Fixer

Not getting what you want? The cashier tell you ?No?.
Ask to speak to the manager, or associate manager. At stores like my local one if you throw a big enough fit and insist you are right the manager will give you what you want just to hush you up. This works best with a big line.

8. I can?t find this item

Ask an associate to look for it. They should check the shelf first, then top stock or lockup for some items. If they cant find it, they should be able to offer to order it for you and have it delivered in a few days unless backordered or an un-orderable item. If you don?t want to wait, have them do a stock search on that item. It will search the stores in your area for that item. If any others have some they should let you know, but make them call the store to verify they have it and/or to put it on hold for you. They can have the other store transfer it to your local store but this can take a week if you are unwilling to drive to another store.

9. Damaged / Opened Items

If you find an item that has been opened or has a nick or two in the box, take it up to a manager or find one, and ask him if he will take any off because the item has been used heavily or is damaged. It is not uncommon for 10% or 15% to be nocked off the price for a useable item. You won?t however get anything if an associate see you opening the item or dropping it to try and skim a few bucks off the top.

10. Items slated for in-store destruction.

When an item is recalled, or needs to be sent back to the vendor. The item price is dropped to 1 cent and all the items are pulled from the shelves and are marked to be sent back to the vendor, or destroyed in the store. The items however are not always pulled for some reason, and when the item is taken to the register it will ring up for a penny. If you see this, buy them all because if the cashier is paying attention they will remove the rest of them. Recently rang up several pens for a penny, and Norton antivirus 2003 was just destroyed in store along with other Norton 2003 items (dumpster full of sliced CD's).

 

mdbound

Senior member
Jan 27, 2003
276
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Originally posted by: yellowfiero
wow, hell of a 1st post.

Ya....thanks for the info for OM n00bs like myself, but I could just imagine people coming in and accusing you of various infractions: repost, illegality, not a hot deal, etc. Brace yourself.

MD.
 

FFactory0x

Diamond Member
Aug 8, 2001
6,991
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Nice post. This should help out lots of people. I also didnt know about that ink deal. Good post
 

iamme

Lifer
Jul 21, 2001
21,058
3
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question about the ink guarantee: does that apply to dot matrix printer ink as well?

my parent's business uses dot matrix printers and sometimes they aren't in stock.
 

lsman

Diamond Member
Jul 10, 2001
3,869
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76
www.flickr.com
Originally posted by: waraey
OfficeMax Tips and Tricks


6. Coupons

Sign up for the MaxPerks card and officemax will typically send you some coupons in the mail every once in a while. Not a bad deal for free. You can earn cash back, but its really only on officemax brand stuff and supplies, most tech stuff doesn?t apply.
Coupons are also sometimes sent for those who do a survey. Save your receipt and take it to win something or get a coupon, http://www.officemax.com/store/survey
Got a coupon they wont take? Just tell the cashier that the manager said he would take it and to enter it as a ?NOF coupon?. All the cashier can tell you is, No.

...

Thanks.
But just got my MaxPerks statments, stating now all tech stuff will count into it.

and BTW, within the statement there is a coupon 25 off 100 . good for store, online, phone order.
I am happy but then i looked at the date. Exp 2/21/2004. What? for a mail that come March 1?
 

zaph

Golden Member
Nov 13, 2001
1,433
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You seem to have forgotten the most important one:

BE FRIENDLY.

With the employees, the managers, etc. You can politely ask them to do things for you, like check the substitute list,
take another look in the dusty corner of the stockroom for something, etc...
They may not really want to, but if you give them a big smile and a thank you when they are done, you might be amazed at how far it goes.
Find an employeee's manager and tell them how great the service from the employee was (works even better if the employee is in earshot when you do this :) ) or find the general manager and let them know how a certain asst manager went above and beyond to make sure you got the deal you were after.

Try it, get known as a "nice" person at your local OM, or any store.

Once in awhile one of that item they were sold out of might be found, lurking in a dark nook or cranny, and will come home with you!

:)
 

rasputinj

Diamond Member
May 15, 2001
3,570
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you are right zaph, it is better to be friendly, I normally get farther with being friendly especially if you are ever going to come back there.
 

waraey

Junior Member
Mar 2, 2004
6
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Originally posted by: zaph
You seem to have forgotten the most important one:

BE FRIENDLY.

Great one

Find an employeee's manager and tell them how great the service from the employee was (works even better if the employee is in earshot when you do this :) ) or find the general manager and let them know how a certain asst manager went above and beyond to make sure you got the deal you were after.

This is actually a great idea, and gets that associate on your side for the next visit

Once in awhile one of that item they were sold out of might be found, lurking in a dark nook or cranny, and will come home with you!
:)

Or in the corner, because the employee themselvs wanted to buy it later and is givin it to you.
 

Mankee

Junior Member
Mar 2, 2004
3
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Wow, very nice post!

Originally posted by: waraeyI recently rang up several pens for a penny, and Norton antivirus 2003 was just destroyed in store along with other Norton 2003 items.

I take it you work for OM... if so, thanks for the "inside scoop". I'm rather intrigued about the items slated for destruction tip. Just wish they had those price check scanners.
 

Maximus96

Diamond Member
Nov 9, 2000
5,388
1
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question: is it true that i can only purchase items that are in stock? for ex. the 2410 last week. eventually i was able to track one down, but at my local store i was told i can not put an order in at the $149 price because they don't have it in stock. whats the real policy?
 

waraey

Junior Member
Mar 2, 2004
6
0
0
Originally posted by: zaku
question: is it true that i can only purchase items that are in stock? for ex. the 2410 last week. eventually i was able to track one down, but at my local store i was told i can not put an order in at the $149 price because they don't have it in stock. whats the real policy?

The reason for this is because if you look at the ad, it said while supplies last. On ad items that say this, they dont have to order it for you as it is a promotion used to limit quantity on hand, not really to make OfficeMax the green. They dont have to, and it wont let them order the item at that price ususally.
 

Maximus96

Diamond Member
Nov 9, 2000
5,388
1
0
Originally posted by: waraey
Originally posted by: zaku
question: is it true that i can only purchase items that are in stock? for ex. the 2410 last week. eventually i was able to track one down, but at my local store i was told i can not put an order in at the $149 price because they don't have it in stock. whats the real policy?

The reason for this is because if you look at the ad, it said while supplies last. On ad items that say this, they dont have to order it for you as it is a promotion used to limit quantity on hand, not really to make OfficeMax the green. They dont have to, and it wont let them order the item at that price ususally.

whats the policies on rain checks? i was given a rain check couple months ago on a Pacific Digital DVD writer substitute because they were out. how come some time they offer rain checks and other times they don't?

thanks
 

waraey

Junior Member
Mar 2, 2004
6
0
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The adplanner, which also contains the substitute item lists, will have stated on it whether or not a rain check can be offered for an ad item. If there are enough substitues, or they dont plan on geting any in, just trying to reduce on hand quantity, u arent gonna get a raincheck. Always just ask an associate to check the ad planner to see if a raincheck is available for the item. (while supplies last = no raincheck)

A lot of times u can get a better deal out of rainchecks, if the instant price is marked down, then weeks later when they finally get some it will be on ad again with possibly better rebates, and they should match that instant price on the raincheck.
 

forkd

Golden Member
Jan 17, 2001
1,122
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I agree....where are all of the flamers. I'd say this is hot and will save me a lot of money. Thanks
 

waraey

Junior Member
Mar 2, 2004
6
0
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Originally posted by: Cybordolphin
I sure hope I have you as an employee one day..... NOT! lol ;)

would you believe i may be employee of the month where i work.

All that i am stating could be found out by someone who read all of the store policies, payed close attention to the operations of the store where i live, noted several things that happened in the store, and info probed from associates.