There can only be one: Office Depot buys OfficeMax, Staples buys Office Depot.

[McLovin]

Interesting. I wondered why the OfficeMax in the city I used to live in closed.

Preslove mentioned the FTC, how does this not fall under a monopoly type situation?

 

[Insomniator]

Always saw Office Max and Depot as the Kmart and Walmart vs Staples (Target).

Stores were pathetic, depressing and I never knew how they survived.

Staples is pretty useless now too with Amazon around.

 

[Carson Dyle]

Interesting. I wondered why the OfficeMax in the city I used to live in closed.

Preslove mentioned the FTC, how does this not fall under a monopoly type situation?

It might. But that will largely depend on whether the FTC thinks a merger really would create a monopoly. Given the competition from Amazon and the availability of many items at Walmart, Target and other retailers, it may not be considered a monopoly. The reason these consolidations are happening in the first place is that B&M sales of office supplies is a slowly dying business.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

Always saw Office Max and Depot as the Kmart and Walmart vs Staples (Target).

Stores were pathetic, depressing and I never knew how they survived.

Staples is pretty useless now too with Amazon around.

Staples is only good for one time of the year.. back to school. Other than that, its usually dead.

 

[maddogchen]

i hope it gets shot down as its a monopoly

 

[OverVolt]

Its not just the stores themselves right? Businesses order supplies from staples and the like all the time eh?

I don't see how their business could be all that bad. Offices will need office supplies until the end of time.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

i hope it gets shot down as its a monopoly

I hope it doesn't. This means that prices will most likely go up and give my small business more opportunities

 

[maddogchen]

I hope it doesn't. This means that prices will most likely go up and give my small business more opportunities

sell the small business to Staples when the deal falls through?

 

[phucheneh]

sell the small business to Staples when the deal falls through?

Ah, the 'Michael Scott Paper Company' strategy.

 

[WilliamM2]

i hope it gets shot down as its a monopoly

And when Office Depot/Max go bankrupt, there will still only be one office store.

I bought a new chair from them online on Dec. 29 with next day delivery. (Our location here went out of business 3 years ago). Customer service was horrible. On Jan 2nd three days after it was to be delivered, they had not updated the status on the web yet, so I called.

Me: Did my chair ship yet?
Office: Yes, it will be delivered today.
Me: Do you have tracking?
Office: No.
Me: How did it ship?
Office: I don't have that information.
Me: When did it ship?
Office: I don't have that information.
Me:Where did it ship from?
Office: I don't have that information.
Me: But it will definitely arrive today?
Office: Yes
Me: How do you know?
Office: Is there anything else I can help you with?

Funny thing was, it was delivered while I was on the phone with them, on their own Office Max truck from a location 50 miles away. He didn't knock or anything, just dropped it off and left. But they still to this day do not show delivered on the website, just status "unknown".

I'm shocked they are going under.

 

[Thump553]

If this actually goes through it will be the official death knell of US antitrust law-which is already pretty much toothless.

 

[SagaLore]

Oh great. Next thing you know Best Buy somehow is going to put Circuit City out of business, or Barnes & Noble will put Borders out of business, and both of them will point at Amazon as a "competitor". Sheesh.



...wait :hmm:



...OMG

 

[who?]

As has been previously mentioned there are enough other retailers that stock office supplies that there is no monopoly. Walking around in a Wal Mart supercenter will give you some exercise.

 

[Ichinisan]

Colbert on AT&T / Cingular / Bellsouth:
http://www.wticommunications.com/blog/steven-colbert-att-merger-explanation/

:awe:

 

[gorcorps]

I don't think this will fly, but I also don't think this will create a monopoly situation so I may be wrong. The only thing I know people usually go to office stores for anymore is for office chairs, because they usually have them all out to demo. Other than that everything else can be had elsewhere.

 

[bruceb]

I try to avoid buying anything at Staples, unless it is an "I need it asap item" ... I find their prices are always higher than anyplace else for everything. And in some cases, the quantity is more than the amount of the item quantity I need. I do not mind a few extra of things, but not an excessive amount, which I will likely never use up.

 

[preslove]

Interesting. I wondered why the OfficeMax in the city I used to live in closed.

Preslove mentioned the FTC, how does this not fall under a monopoly type situation?

I wasn't srs. Plenty of stores sell paper, office furniture, and other office supplies.

 

[drquest]

I try to avoid buying anything at Staples, unless it is an "I need it asap item" ... I find their prices are always higher than anyplace else for everything. And in some cases, the quantity is more than the amount of the item quantity I need. I do not mind a few extra of things, but not an excessive amount, which I will likely never use up.

Staples matches Amazon prices, just ask. I picked up an Apple charger last week, was $24 in store, $14.99 Amazon Prime and I used some Staples reward money on it and it was basically free.