Staples closing 225 stores, what's their long-term future?
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2014
Posts: 91
Staples closing 225 stores, what's their long-term future?
With Staples reporting such a bad quarter and announcing closing of 225 stores by 2015 to save $500 million, it makes me wonder what the long-term implications are for not only Staples but the whole office supply category we all know and love.
Anybody care to speculate what the landscape will look like in 5-10 years? And what it will mean to the 5X office supply bonus.
Anybody care to speculate what the landscape will look like in 5-10 years? And what it will mean to the 5X office supply bonus.
#2
Join Date: Dec 2013
Posts: 3,493
With Staples reporting such a bad quarter and announcing closing of 225 stores by 2015 to save $500 million, it makes me wonder what the long-term implications are for not only Staples but the whole office supply category we all know and love.
Anybody care to speculate what the landscape will look like in 5-10 years? And what it will mean to the 5X office supply bonus.
Anybody care to speculate what the landscape will look like in 5-10 years? And what it will mean to the 5X office supply bonus.
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2014
Posts: 91
My question is relating to Staples and their long term viability as a company. My opinion is they are starting the downward slide and will end up going the way of Borders and eventually Best Buy.
If you think it's silly, go and ask questions about booking one way award travel on delta. LOL
#4
Join Date: Dec 2013
Posts: 3,493
Silly question? I don't know if the 5X bonus will last 5-10 years. You don't either. What makes ink attractive is the 5X bonus, so if they cut the 5X, there will be much less incentive to keep ink.
My question is relating to Staples and their long term viability as a company. My opinion is they are starting the downward slide and will end up going the way of Borders and eventually Best Buy.
If you think it's silly, go and ask questions about booking one way award travel on delta. LOL
My question is relating to Staples and their long term viability as a company. My opinion is they are starting the downward slide and will end up going the way of Borders and eventually Best Buy.
If you think it's silly, go and ask questions about booking one way award travel on delta. LOL
You're right I don't know if the 5x bonus will last another 5-10 years either but take a look at the history of how long a lot of these 5x bonus categories have lasted for a particular card.
If you think about some of the CCs like the Amex BC card, technically it has been shut down and replaced with another Amex BCE and BCP and it wasn't until recent that folks can still sign up for the old Amex BC. Citi Forward with the 5x restaurants & amazon....shut down. Hilton Honors Amex...not totall nerfed but 6% drugstores removed as of May 2013 but still good for 5% restaurants/gas. There are probably plenty of other examples.
My point is instead of worrying about Staples shutting down which it won't for awhile (they are not like Lehman Brothers or GM level trouble yet), you should be more worried of when Chase could be nerfing the 5x bonus or nerfing the limit eligible for the 5x bonus on office supply stores. Right now that limit is 50,000.
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2014
Posts: 91
Ugh..don't get me started with Delta. I have like 12K points in Delta Skymiles that are useless since I thought that they would be good for a one way saver award travel ticket...LOL. But nooooooo I have to redeem it for 25K.
You're right I don't know if the 5x bonus will last another 5-10 years either but take a look at the history of how long a lot of these 5x bonus categories have lasted for a particular card.
If you think about some of the CCs like the Amex BC card, technically it has been shut down and replaced with another Amex BCE and BCP and it wasn't until recent that folks can still sign up for the old Amex BC. Citi Forward with the 5x restaurants & amazon....shut down. Hilton Honors Amex...not totall nerfed but 6% drugstores removed as of May 2013 but still good for 5% restaurants/gas. There are probably plenty of other examples.
My point is instead of worrying about Staples shutting down which it won't for awhile (they are not like Lehman Brothers or GM level trouble yet), you should be more worried of when Chase could be nerfing the 5x bonus or nerfing the limit eligible for the 5x bonus on office supply stores. Right now that limit is 50,000.
You're right I don't know if the 5x bonus will last another 5-10 years either but take a look at the history of how long a lot of these 5x bonus categories have lasted for a particular card.
If you think about some of the CCs like the Amex BC card, technically it has been shut down and replaced with another Amex BCE and BCP and it wasn't until recent that folks can still sign up for the old Amex BC. Citi Forward with the 5x restaurants & amazon....shut down. Hilton Honors Amex...not totall nerfed but 6% drugstores removed as of May 2013 but still good for 5% restaurants/gas. There are probably plenty of other examples.
My point is instead of worrying about Staples shutting down which it won't for awhile (they are not like Lehman Brothers or GM level trouble yet), you should be more worried of when Chase could be nerfing the 5x bonus or nerfing the limit eligible for the 5x bonus on office supply stores. Right now that limit is 50,000.
#8
Join Date: Jun 2013
Posts: 530
It shouldn't be hard to keep those points from expiring and earn another 500 then burn it all.
#9
Join Date: Dec 2013
Posts: 3,493
For 12,500 points? Yeah right....I doubt it. By then my Skymiles will expire by then. Delta needs to stop lying that their calendar allows Saver awards for 12,500 miles on weekdays and show me some darn choices already. I chose a Tuesday afternoon as a test trial and it still showed 25K points to redeem....freaking ridiculous. Why does it have to be until 1/1/15. Its not like Delta can't fix their system to allow points now. My points should still be valid then but still...unbelievable.
Last edited by ericdabbs; Mar 6, 2014 at 5:14 pm
#11
Moderator: Manufactured Spending
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 6,576
Most brick and mortar retail segments are shrinking, other than food. This is a natural consequence of the presence of internet and big-box general retailers. Office Depot and OfficeMax are merging. Perhaps Staples will merge with the combined company one day, after losing more market share to Amazon, Walmart, etc.
My guess is that Staples will probably be around in 2024, although perhaps a bit smaller than it is now. Kmart started shrinking decades ago, and it's still here.
My guess is that Staples will probably be around in 2024, although perhaps a bit smaller than it is now. Kmart started shrinking decades ago, and it's still here.
#13
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: MSP
Programs: DL, UA, HHonors, SPG
Posts: 41
For 12,500 points? Yeah right....I doubt it. By then my Skymiles will expire by then. Delta needs to stop lying that their calendar allows Saver awards for 12,500 miles on weekdays and show me some darn choices already. I chose a Tuesday afternoon as a test trial and it still showed 25K points to redeem....freaking ridiculous. Why does it have to be until 1/1/15. Its not like Delta can't fix their system to allow points now. My points should still be valid then but still...unbelievable.
and hopefully Staples will start having some sales to boost short term revenue. I could use some more spending on my Ink.
#14
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: WAS
Programs: SPG Plat. Marriott Plat. Hilton Diamond. Hyatt Diamond. IHG Plat.
Posts: 2,580
Seeing as Staples makes most of their money out of their Copy & Print Center, their horrible EASYTech sales/services and insurance scams, they should have seen this coming.
Last edited by f0xx; Mar 6, 2014 at 8:28 pm