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srflorie

Staples vs Office Depot

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Just went through the process of setting up an account with Staples so I could take advantage of the FMCA discount. What a joke compared to Office Depot. I have been buying my LaserJet cartridges for my printer at Office Depot and getting around 30% savings over retail. When I was finally able to check with Staples after getting notification that I was eligible, their discount was only 5%. Both companies are priced the exact same for my cartridges on their regular website, but Office Depot's savings using the FMCA discount amounts to $83.04 compared to $14.10 with Staples.  I think I will stick with Office Depot. 

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I think you got your numbers and math messed up!  Percentage I have no issue with and that's why we also use Office Depot.

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20 hours ago, manholt said:

I think you got your numbers and math messed up!  Percentage I have no issue with and that's why we also use Office Depot.

Sorry, but the numbers are not messed up. I guess I need to clarify a little more. I have 4 cartridges in my laser printer, 3 color and 1 black. All the color cartridges seem to get low about the same time. Therefore the numbers quoted are for 3 cartridges. Regular cost at Staples is $93.99. Subtract the discounted price of $89.29 and it equals $4.70 savings or 5%. Multiply that times 3 and it equals $14.10 total savings.

At Office Depot the regular cost is $93.99 also. Subtract the discounted price of $66.31 and it equals $27.68 savings or 29.45% (I rounded to 30% for demonstrative purposes). Multiply that times 3 and it equals $83.04 total savings, enough to buy 1 more cartridge and have money left over. I have done this twice before with Office Depot.

Both companies offer free delivery to your home. Office Depot's website does not offer the option for in store pickup, but I have gone to the store and made the purchase there using the card and it worked the same as online. 

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srflorie, You didn't say what printer you had so I can't do a comparison, but I have been buying printer ink for my HP printer from LD Products on Amazon. They have toner as well. You might want to do a price comparison with them.

Bill 

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Now it makes sense!  We're just poor " Country Trash", got a couple of HP printers...mine cost $89 at Wall Mart.

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My company buys printers and toner for those same printers, and has done so for the past 38 years. We buy toner cartridges in cases not individual from the manufacturer, many of customers are on a special plan offered by Office Depot and they are able to buy their toner cartridges there cheaper than we can buy from the manufacturer. They are buying by the carload and pass their savings on to those special customers, just good business practice as far as we're concerned.

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2 hours ago, manholt said:

Now it makes sense!  We're just poor " Country Trash", got a couple of HP printers...mine cost $89 at Wall Mart.

Carl, just remember it isn't the cost of the printer but how much expensive ink they can sell you. 

Bill

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On 1/10/2019 at 11:55 AM, WILDEBILL308 said:

srflorie, You didn't say what printer you had so I can't do a comparison, but I have been buying printer ink for my HP printer from LD Products on Amazon. They have toner as well. You might want to do a price comparison with them.

Bill 

It is an HP Laserjet Pro 200 color printer and I just checked Amazon and they are about the same as the regular price at Office Depot or Staples. I have this printer because I needed it when I ran my consulting business before I retired and needed to print out decent reports and presentations for customers. I will not use remanufactured or off brand cartridges because I have experienced leaks and failures in the past when using that type of cartridge. When I was working for a large company we also bought in large quantities from Office Depot but paid more than what the FMCA discount is, so I am very happy with using the discount whenever I can. I can usually go about 1 year before I need to replace these and at $93 regular price for the color ones, it can get cashy. The black cartridge is about $20 less. So the almost 30% savings at Office Depot with the FMCA discount also saves enough to pay another years membership fees at FMCA!

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I will not use remanufactured or off brand cartridges because I have experienced leaks and failures in the past when using that type of cartridge.

The above is VERY GOOD PRACTICE. If anyone is an infrequent user of your inkjet printer, another good practice is to remove the ink cartridges from your printer, place them in a zip lock bag, and store them in a refrigerator, this keeps them from drying out and clogging the print heads in the printer. Of course using on even a semi weekly plan this is not necessary, but some people use as little as once a month and that needs to be addressed as I mentioned, or if going on a long vacation do as I mentioned, you will be surprised how much longer those cartridges will last.

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16 minutes ago, hermanmullins said:

You can get your own Office Depot card off FMCA website under Benefits. It may be in the magazine. Just print or clip it and present is when checking out. 

Herman 

Good to know!

Thanks Herman.

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16 minutes ago, hermanmullins said:

You can get your own Office Depot card off FMCA website under Benefits. It may be in the magazine. Just print or clip it and present is when checking out. 

Herman 

The issue, My wife loves to explore those stores, something about stationary. She is also big into Scrap booking so this could get expensive, at least ill save a few $$ now :)

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On 1/14/2019 at 2:17 PM, hermanmullins said:

You can get your own Office Depot card off FMCA website under Benefits. It may be in the magazine. Just print or clip it and present is when checking out. 

Herman 

And if I remember right, there is also a coupon on that page to get the card laminated for free!

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