Staples? Our big city just got rid of both of them

[demtenjeep]

Romney is a cocky SOB isn't he

[Ecumenist]

1. I don't get it...

[GoCubsGo]

2. Romney supposedly "saved" Staples from going under while at Bain Capital.

He has been running commercials touting that he "started" Staples, Sport Authority, and some other big chain. What he doesn't tell viewers is that those businesses were only a few out of the many he gutted for his own financial gain that survived.

[Ecumenist]

3. Okay, now I get it. Wow!! I don't know how anyone could be taken

in by this creep.

[bluestate10]

7. Romney also does not tell the story that

companies like Staples and Sports Authority destroyed american based companies by buying cheap, slave labor products from offshore then undercutting the prices of merchants that employed 100% americans in their businesses. People, start totaling up the job losses due to Romney's "success" stories and destroy that bastard with the mallet of his greed and arrogance.

[Marie Marie]

9. And, do any of these companies pay their employees a living wage?

Probably a lot of part timers too to avoid paying benefits.

[thelordofhell]

4. He didn't save shit

They have just been able to survive longer under a crushing stock burden debt that was used to purchase them and give Bain execs huge fucking bonuses..........Fuck you Mitt!!

[Harmony Blue]

5. If you walk into a Staples here is quickly what you notice

1. Where is everybody?
2. Why such a large store to sell office supplies?
3. Where is everybody?

Not like Office Depot is any better.

If I was Mittens, I wouldn't bring up Staples all that much.

[demtenjeep]

6. my point exactly

staples sucks



So by the way does Sports Authority

[Harmony Blue]

8. It is the same layout

1. Over sized space where there is not enough staff that can cover the entire premise to help customers
2. Big, obnoxious red letters
3. Hard to find what you want due to sheer size

It is designed this way to be so large to entice a customer to stay as long as possible so an impulse buy occurs (in theory). In addition, all the most frequently purchased items are often found at the back of the stores or hidden away. The skeleton staff employed at both Sports Authority and Staples can do only so much with such a huge floor space.

[matt819]

10. I'm going to be contrary

There are two office supply stores in my town. Staples and a local outfit. The local outfit has nothing in stock worth buying. Nothing. They have the standard office supplies catalog, but that's meaningless to me.

Then there's Staples. I have no idea how this particular store ranks in sales compared to other stores, but it's generally pretty busy. The employees are helpful. Everything is easy to find, especially once you've shopped there a few times. And I've almost always walked out with precisely what I needed. As for the "manipulative" way it is laid out to keep me shopping longer, sorry, but that's just ridiculous. Office stuff takes up space. In my view, the Staples in my area is just the right size with the right mix of supplies. I'm sure much thought goes into how much space is required; after all, it's just bad business to build/lease more than you need. But the fact is that paper, binders, file cabinets, etc. take up a certain amount of space. To suggest that the motive is to keep you shopping longer is ridiculous.

As for the "cheap foreign stuff" argument, well, in the case of office supplies, it's pretty stupid to single Staples out from the crowd. The fact is - and yes, it sucks - that technology is manufactured overseas. It shouldn't be that way, but it is, and I can almost always get what I need. And if I can't find it there, I can usually find it online. Sure, I can buy from the local outfit's catalog, but they can provide no support and are not actually "touching" the product anyway.

And, you might call me a craven consumer, but Staples has a customer rewards program that is pretty good. Not great, and it used to be better, but it's still pretty good.

As for the "local business" issue, I can't comment on the wages paid or whether they are full-time or part-time, or the nature of their benefits. However, it employs quite a few people, and they are all local. So, while the revenues go to Framingham, MA, the local salaries are spent in the local community.

As for Romney, unless he was part of the Staples management team, and not just the source of the venture capital, then he deserves little credit for Staples' success. And that's just dishonest. But that's standard with anything that comes out of a Republican's mouth.