Today I had a rather unpleasant encounter at Staples when I rushed over to buy, among other things, their $0.01 folders on sale until Wednesday. When I got there, however, I was met with unpleasant management, ridiculous sale limits and employees who said their hands were tied by Staples Corporate. One cashier even told me that a lot of people have been disappointed with the sales this summer and that the Corporation is getting "really cheap." When I asked if they'd been effected by the recession, the cashier laughed and shook his head. "They're fine, they're just cheap," he replied.
Well.
The letter below details--as briefly as possible--my current complaints against Staples. I plan to shop at Office Max and Office Depot, who are much more generous to teachers than Staples is, until I hear from Staples. If their reply is not satisfactory, I might stop shopping there all together. At very least, I don't plan to buy anything there at full price anymore, which is something I often do when I'm hitting up the sales (for proof, check out my Office Depot Swag post, much of which was purchased at full price while I was taking advantage of Teacher Appreciation Day).
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To Whom It May Concern:
I am writing in regard to a situation that I have noticed at my local Staples, store number 0147. While my dissatisfaction is in many ways site-specific, the problems I have witnessed at this store lately indicate a larger problem with Staples Corporate.
I am a teacher and have also been a long-time Staples customer. I spend hundreds of dollars on school supplies at your store per year and am a Teacher Rewards cardholder. I buy most of my supplies at Staples at full price, and stock my classroom from your shelves. The one chance I have to save a bit of money is during the Staples Penny Sale, which I excitedly anticipate each week. This is both a useful and fun shopping experience for me; I enjoy stocking up on back-to-school materials at a good price, and almost always buy several full-priced items during your sale.
In previous years, showing my teacher identification card and my Staples Teacher Rewards card allowed me to bypass limits on these sale items, within reason. I thought this was a wonderful thing that Staples does for teachers, and always made sure to buy only what I needed on sale. This year, however, I was surprised to learn that teachers are held to limits of 25 per item. While surprising and disappointing, I have mostly been able to make these limits work for what I need.
This morning, however, I rushed to my local Staples because the sale I most anxiously anticipate was going on—one cent for folders. As a teacher of 5 subjects, I color-code my students’ folders, and your penny sale on folders is invaluable for me. I needed to buy 90 folders—15 each of 5 colors—and asked a salesperson what the limits were for teachers and was told we are limited to 25. As the sale holds limits for all other patrons to 20 (as opposed to the usual 5 or less), I found this unfair. If it is understood that the average patron will need exponentially more than the usual limits on penny sale, shouldn’t the same hold true for teachers?
Fortunately, I was able to make three transactions in a row to get the folders I needed because there was no one behind me on line. However, a short while later, I returned with my mother, also a teacher, when she needed folders. While she waited outside with the dog, I went to purchase more folders for her classroom. She needed 50 folders, which I collected. When I got on line, the store manager on duty (it was about 12:00 noon) told me that I would not be allowed to make 2 transactions and that I was not allowed to get back on a line with more folders. I was limited to 25 folders and asked to leave the store without the rest of my purchase.
At this time I also witnessed a disturbing event; a young girl and her mother were on line in front of me. When the mother went to look at something in the store, she left her young daughter, who was about 8 years old, to pay for the items she had collected, which included on-sale construction paper and folders. When the child got to the front of the line, she was informed by the cashier that she was not allowed to purchase sale items because she was under 18. I asked the cashier why this was store policy, and he explained that Corporate was trying to prevent families from bypassing sale limits by asking their children to make transactions.
Staples’ slogan is “that was easy,” but of late it has become anything but easy for teachers and families—who may need multiple quantities of items and may not be able to afford them without your sales—to make purchases at your store. I found the staff at my local Staples quite pleasant during these two transactions, but the manager was extremely unpleasant. When I expressed dissatisfaction with the limit of 25 folders and explained that last year I had been given an override to buy the 90 I needed, she snapped, “This is not last year. Policies change.” When she refused to let me back on line and told me I could not make any more sale purchases, she was equally rude.
I am not the only teacher dissatisfied with the position Staples has taken regarding limits on sale items; I spoke to several other teachers who were equally annoyed. Furthermore, I called your competitors, Office Max and Office Depot, and was told that documented teachers would be able to completely override sale limits at their stores. When I was at Office Depot last week, they even encouraged me to take beyond the limits on free-with-purchase items! Office Max is currently running the exact same sale on folders as you are (though limits for non-teachers are 6).
I manage a blog called Cheaper Teacher, which helps teachers to find deals on school supplies. I will be posting this letter on my blog at www.cheaperteacher.blogspot.com along with a more detailed complaint against Staples’ new policy regarding sales. I have already expressed dissatisfaction with the scaling back of your penny sale this year, but I believe my experience today will cost you a great deal of patronage.
I hope that Staples Corporate will attempt to rectify this situation, which has already inconvenienced several teachers that I know of. I always enjoyed being a Staples customer and am very surprised with the treatment I have received and witnessed at Staples lately. I do not plan to shop at Staples until I have heard from you and will be making the rest of my back-to-school purchases at your competitors’ stores.
I hopefully anticipate your reply.
Best regards,
Mallory McMahon
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I plan to eventually detail my experience even further on this blog, and I promise to post any replies I get from Staples (with their permission) or at very least let you know what, if any, response I get.
