Author: chase

Blurb: 3M Recoups Shrinking Sales with Flu-Fear Products

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Now maybe “fear” is the wrong term, but it’s as valid as any. MinnPost.com is reporting that 3M, long-plagued by shrinking sales in the new economy, is making back some lost profits with record sales of flu masks and other health and safety gear.

3M’s third-quarter profits of $971 million beat analysts’ predictions and prompted the company to raise its outlook for the fiscal year.

Health-care sales increased 4.7 percent to $1.1 billion, while its consumer and office division saw sales fall 4.8 percent to $923 million. Office products saw double-digit sales declines, the company said.

‘Tis the season to get sick, folks. There’s nothing wrong with a little caution, and 3M and the rest of the gang over at On Time Supplies are happy to help out with masks, hand sanitizer, and everything else you need to stay healthy and happy this fall.

The Snackbot: King of All Office Supplies

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Man, I need to get me one of these. GadgetReview is showcasing the newest in must-have office supplies: The Snackbot.

This may well be the king of all office supplies.  No, it’s not one of those sweet executive ball-clacker deals (even though they are sweet).  Nor is it a dartboard or a Blackberry or anything like that.  No, the unquestioned king of all office supplies has to be Snackbot.

Snackbot is a big talking yellow and white robot that delivers snacks directly to your desk on command.  There’s a downside, though…there’s only ONE SNACKBOT, and he’s currently being held at Carnegie Mellon University, where it’s basically under construction as a way to find how an autonomous robot can operate within the busy, highly complex operations of a modern office.  Apparently there’s a lot of programming involved for a robot that can successfully make snack runs throughout a typical office building.

Hopefully, one day, Snackbots will be as ubiquitous as the coffee maker in most offices, but until then, you know Carnegie Mellon will be getting loads of snacks out of this.

EXPO Spotlights “America’s Most Inspiring Teacher”

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How about some good news for once? Just posted on Reuters, EXPO® (perhaps best known for their dry erase products, and falling under the same Rubbermaid corporate umbrella as Sharpie®, Rolodex® and more) announced that Peter Torres of Davie, Fla., was the grand prize winner of the EXPO Extraordinary Educator Award.

What makes me so happy about this story is they picked a teacher who works to instill grammar basics (which I find awesome!) and break “text speak” such as using “u” for “you” and so on (which I find infuriating!) in a class full of seventh-graders.

According to Torres, there is a time and a place for “text speak” – using a
shorthand “u” for “you,” for instance – in today’s cell phone-wielding world.
But in the classroom, he says students’ increasing use of text messaging to
communicate has taken on even greater concern as it may also stunt their
academic growth. He adds that many students are putting “text language” in
their written materials and presentations.

“Kids these days do not know how to speak in front of people,” said Torres.
“They can express themselves in a social setting outside of school, but they
have trouble communicating in writing or when asked a question by an adult.”

Torres, who DJs professionally on the side, uses his entertainment skills to
keep language arts units dynamic, engaging and focused on the fundamentals.
His lesson plans include everything from challenging students to correct the
grammar used in rap lyrics to using well-known wizardly novels to get them to
unlock the hidden meanings of select prose.

The article goes on to say that Torres was chosen from hundreds of teachers nominated by students and parents nationwide. He will receive $5,000 in cash, a year’s supply of EXPO products for his school, a $900 mimio® Interactive Plus Capture kit and a “field trip” for two to Los Angeles or New York to attend the taping of an NBC Late Night Talk Show.

Teachers spend hundreds of dollars of their own money each year on school supplies – an average of $523 and $465, respectively, in large and medium school systems, according to a 2001 study by the National Education Association. The EXPO Extraordinary Educator Award is EXPO’s way of helping teachers defray some of those costs, and we salute them.

More Office Depot Chair Recalls

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According to attorneyatlaw.com, Raynor Marketing is voluntarily recalling the Quantum Realspace PRO™ 9000 Series Mid-Back Multifunction Mesh Chair and Multifunction Mesh Chair with Headrest, both manufactured in China and sold exclusively at Office Depot.

Importer Raynor Marketing has received 33 reports of the seatbacks on the chairs coming loose and detaching, including 14 involving bumps, bruises, and other injuries, the CPSC said.

The falls occurred when bolts holding the seatback to the chair frame came loose and came off, officials said.

Quantum Realspace PRO™ 9000 Series Mid-Back Multifunction Mesh Chairs with SKU # 510830 and the Quantum Realspace PRO™ 9000 Series Mesh Chair with Headrest carrying SKU # 690690 are included in today’s recall. The Realspace PRO™ Mesh Guest Chair is not involved in this recall, the CPSC said.

The chairs sold for about $300 without headrest and $350 with headrest. If you own one of the two chairs seen below, check the SKU and contact Raynor to receive a repair kit. The contact information, as well as the full details of the recall, can be found in the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s official release. As with the last recall, I am not trying to use this as a jab at the big office companies; just getting the word out. They’ll give me plenty to jab at them with later.

Oops: Missouri Lt. Governor Awards Contract to Company Under State Investigation

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One of those head-scratchers. According to ksdk.com:

Missouri’s Lieutenant Governor is calling for the immediate cancellation of a state contract after the I-Team exposed an embarrassing issue for Governor Jay Nixon’s administration.

The state awarded the estimated million-dollar contract to Office Depot, a company under investigation for allegations of bait and switch, deceptive pricing, and over-charging. Federal agencies, including the Department of Defense, the Department of Education, the General Accounting Administration, the Department of Justice and the SEC, have investigations into the office giant.

According to its 2009 second-quarter report, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Office Depot is under investigation in Florida, Texas, Missouri, Colorado, California and Ohio.

So basically, the Lt. Governor went ahead and offered a million dollars to a company that was being investigated for fraud…in that state. While the state has halted the contract pending further investigation, it’s still a bit of a black eye for whoever authorized that purchase order.

Oddly enough, Office Depot crusader David Sherwin appears in the article as well, saying basically the same thing. Maybe he should come work for us.

Office Depot Whistleblower Seeks Fla. Supreme Court Investigation

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Our old friend David Sherwin, the Office Depot whistle-blower, is back in the news again, according to an article posted on news-press.com. Sherwin, who has been granted whistleblower protection by the state, is preparing a petition to have a case heard by the statewide grand jury that Gov. Charlie Crist hopes to impanel:

Crist has requested the Florida Supreme Court seat a statewide grand jury to investigate and review a number of alleged acts of public corruption in South Florida.

David Sherwin of Fort Myers was granted whistleblower protection in 2007, after coming forward with allegations that the office supply company overcharged taxpayers in six states of hundreds of millions of dollars. He is also alleging bid rigging, kickbacks, official misconduct, fraud and corrupt acts by Office Depot involving at least 12 South Florida government entities, including the City of Cape Coral, the City of Fort Myers, Lee County Port Authority, Lee County Board of County Commissioners and the Lee school board.

Sherwin says he hopes to present “detailed allegations of criminal wrongdoing” to the governor’s office as well as the state attorney’s office. As in every crusade where the little guy stands up against corruption, we wish him all the best.

NJ Stands By Staples Contract Decision

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As reported earlier, New Jersey recently entered into an exclusive contract with Staples to provide office supplies, which many local businesses were upset by. In a posting on NJBiz.com, the state has been seen to uphold its decision to proceed with the risky single-source contract:

While the companies say they can compete with Staples’ prices, state officials dispute whether the local vendors offer lower prices. A Treasury spokesman provided a list of roughly 450 items for which Staples generally offered lower prices than New Jersey vendors. The suppliers contend their list of 10,000 products shows Staples has higher prices for similar products.

Chatham Superintendent of Schools Jim O’Neill expressed concern that the contract would mean Staples would have no competition, and said Staples’ prices were unclear.

The locals bring up a valid point: while Staples may be able to provide lower prices on paper for a handful of items, there’s simply no substitute for the free competition of multiple vendors. Also, if Staples is hiding anything in its pricing policies, odds are good that the state will lose millions before they ever find out. New Jersey is playing with fire here, and it makes me sad that the little guys are the ones who get burned.

Flu Season Hits Schools Hard

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The DailyPress is reporting that with H1N1 still fresh in the public’s mind, it’s falling on school districts to provide cleaning and sanitizing supplies to keep kids healthy. The question is, will they have the funds?

…spending to avoid massive outbreaks of H1N1 influenza comes at a time when state budget cuts are forcing school districts to scrutinize every cent in their budgets. Since districts are just now using supplies they ordered for the first part of the school year, it’s unclear how much they might end up spending by the time it’s over.

As they prepare to schedule H1N1 immunization clinics for students this month, health representatives at local school divisions say they will spend whatever it takes for flu precautions. The shot clinics will be paid for in conjunction with the Virginia Department of Health, but no financial help has become available so far for precautionary supplies.

It’s sad to think that kids might be getting sick because schools can’t afford to provide adequate precautions, but all is not lost. As a parent or even a teacher, you can look into low-cost online outlets that offer personal hand sanitizers and even wall-mounted dispensers, and do your part to help keep everyone healthy.

OfficeMax Won’t Send Customer a Working Gift Card

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One of my favorite consumer advocacy blogs, The Consumerist, has a chilling tale of a retail roundabout in which a customer makes a return to OfficeMax, is given a gift card, and is then unable to use that gift card to buy anything. Rinse, repeat: the cycle continues for SEVERAL gift cards:

I’ve had this gift card for over six months now. Or should I say multiple gift cards from OfficeMax for over six months now. Let me explain.

After I received the card I looked on their website and didn’t see a monitor that could replace my 24″ screen so I found something else to buy with it. I purchased a laptop using the MaxAssurance gift card. About a week later I get an e-mail saying that the laptop isn’t available for purchase anymore. Hmmm, that’s strange. No biggie I thought, stuff happens, so I called up OfficeMax who then issued me a new gift card. I asked if they could refund to the MaxAssurance card to which they told me no, that they’d have to issue a new gift card.

TWO WEEKS LATER, I get a new OfficeMax gift card in the mail. I check the amount on it and see that it’s the right amount. I keep it on my desk a while until I see something that catches my eye on OfficeMax.com – a computer this time. I go through the checkout process and purchase the computer (which was IN STOCK, like the laptop was). I get no e-mail from OfficeMax this time so I figure it went through and I’d be getting in the computer in a few weeks. A week later, I still have not heard anything so I login to my OM account and check my orders.

This time, it says that the computer has been “discontinued” and that it would not be shipped out. Gee, thanks OfficeMax for letting me know. I check the Gift Card balance — which was $0.00 — and immediately called up OM and talked about the situation. Once again they couldn’t refund the money to the card and said that I’d have to wait for a new card to be re-issued to me.

TWO WEEKS LATER, I get yet another OfficeMax gift card in the mail. About a month goes by before I see anything else that interests me. This time it’s a computer again.

Any guesses what happened?

If you guessed anything other than “OfficeMax was once again brutally incompetent”, then you obviously haven’t been reading this blog enough. This level of ridiculous customer service is just one more reason why I advocate using a trusted, reliable retailer. More to the point: this is astoundingly bad customer service. Even if I weren’t in the industry, I would be ashamed of OM’s behavior.

Office Supply Firms Suing N.J. Over Staples Contract

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According to NJ.com, New Jersey members of the National Office Product Alliance (NOPA) are suing the state over their decision to shift office supply contracts from the hands of individual vendors to one company, Staples:

The state’s office supplies contract, worth about $10 million, shifted from 17 individual contracts to Mass.-based Staples Advantage on Sept. 1.

The move will save the state about $2.25 million and could also generate savings for municipalities, counties and school boards that choose to purchase office supplies through the state contract, according to the state Department of Treasury.

But New Jersey members of the National Office Product Alliance are seeking to put the new contract on hold, claiming the decision to go with Staples was based on an unfair analysis of product costs that favored the larger company.

This is another in a line of moves that seem out of character for government purchasers. All the evidence points to the single-source contract as being a recipe for disaster, and this has nothing to do with my distaste for big-box retailers. When one company is in charge of all your office supplies, it leads to a lack of competitive pricing and the potential for abuse, as seen in the numerous Office Depot state-contract lawsuits.

I’m also always in favor of sticking with little guy, but that’s neither here nor there. Single-source contracting is bad news, plain and simple.