UPDATE: Contract Terminatd on 12/06/24 — You should approach each day with realistic expectations and seize every opportunity that comes your way. Otherwise, it's foolish to trade your time for mere money. Even if you're planning a long-term career, keep your feet on the ground and stay aware of the current job market. I might speculate that Staples prefers employees who are either young and inexperienced, desperate for income, or living paycheck to paycheck, but I can't confirm this with absolute certainty.
I recently started something new in my life, and was fortunate to land a position as a Print Specialist at Staples. I was excited over the next couple days, so naturally I browsed /r/Staples and was blown away by the mismatched negativity. This trend holds true for most things, although not universally. There are some communities out there, like the comments section on Classic Rock YouTube videos.
It just proves that the number of people who comment just to criticize and complain is generally ten times more than those who share positive remarks.
Would I recommend Staples as job to anyone? Yes.
- I met someone named King James. ~11/22/24
- I was in the same room as three girls, all with the same name Paige, for the first time in my life. ~10/23/24
- Met another Mom who has 4 boys, similar to my mom, and she was blown away when I said to her, the odds, are 6%. I think she never thought about that before. ~10/17/24
- Met a newly wed bride, first place she used her “New Name” was at Staples. ~10/11/24
- Jump started a customer's car, dead battery, on lunch break. ~10/04/24
- Amazon Dropoff Return Chess.com buddy. ~10/04/24
- Received a $5 tip, from a customer for providing excellent customer support (elder woman needed help with taking screenshots on Android phone and making copies and other works “pretended” not to be able to help..). ~10/04/24
- Received a $50 tip, from a customer for providing excellent customer support (blueprint architect needed help setting up his laptop and showing him how to use his PC to print out 16 pages)! ~10/03/24
- Received a gift, bag of pretzels to share with others, from a customer! ~9/16/24
- Met someone who play chess.com! ~9/03/24
- Using Staples computer, I designed, learned, printed and cut my first set of 250 business cards, a $23 value! ~8/27/24
- Received / loaded up on 7 cucumbers, gifts, from Manager, that he grew from his garden. ~8/27/24
- I met a customer, she came in on her birthday, while her daughter sat in the car, to return her daughters clothes… these kids man… ~8/27/24
- Learned about free Iced Coffee (and tea) Refills at Starbucks, all of a sudden, a $6 order, including tip, turns into a little over $2.50. ~8/26/24
- Processed customer with 20+ Amazon Returns
- It's been a wild since I've been out in the public, but, I've seen half-naked girls, baked-up Jamaican mon and elders using technology like they are 15 year old kids.
- I've met/seen a co-worker walk around and work with a George Costanza wallet ~8/26/24
- Meeting someone who's dream it was to clean the Delaware River Coastal/Port
Honestly I can hardly remember much with November, and December 7th the contract was terminated. Pow pow.
- I cracked my $5,000 mark on paystub
- I would see Halloween outfits like nobodies business being returned, I neve realized how many cheap people were out there, they would wear it and return it.
- The first christmas return were lights, and it was in the first week of November
- I finished strong with a 100% attendance rate and 100% always on-time. Never left early, and I didn't take as many 15 minute breaks as I should have.
- I think while I was there, which was only 3 or 4 months, the Store Manager went on 3, maybe 4 vacations.. they were 1 or 2 weeks long, I thought that was pretty crazy.
- Always had to fight to free waterbottles in the fridge.
Working at Staples was good for me; it opened doors for learning and gave me a fresh perspective on the world. I was somewhat out of the loop on certain topics, but the most significant takeaway was realizing how much outdated technology older generations have to navigate just to handle everyday tasks. Dealing with veterans' benefits, preparing wills, handling random fax requests, and the like, I encountered more “Death Certificates” and grieving spouses than I would have preferred. It was eye-opening to see how hard life can be for some people, really showing the struggles they face.
Reflecting on my past employment, especially now that I'm older, I've noticed a significant lack of respect shown towards younger workers. Beyond the wage disparity, there's a clear lack of appreciation as well. You'll find both dedicated workers and slackers, but it seems that reliability, showing up on time, is what gets you favored for positions rather than skill. At Staples, there's little focus on nurturing talent or acknowledging skill; expectations are low, and the likelihood of turning your job into a career is minimal. From my perspective, if you're familiar with warehouse work, there's not much future at Staples. If I had to suggest, I'd say Walmart might offer better prospects across the board.
- I made only two printing mistakes (valued at $2 or $3)
- I'm proud of this because I would see people BURN UP $40 here, and $10 there, and pounds and pounds of waste like nobodies business. The amount of errors I made, sometimes made me question if the business was profitable during that day. Trashcans fully packed with perfectly good printing material mistakes that could have been prevented.
- 60% of job was doing Staples Returns for Zombies (33% repeat returners… it's wild)
- I helped many people have “brighter days”
- I was the best at customer service. Nobody was better.
- Everyone (except 1 person) always wanted to talk about themselves. It's crazy I know.
- The absence of “mandatory items” that should be on the shelves clearly shows how much potential revenue is being lost.
Are you kidding me? This month flew by so fast I forgot to take notes…
Overall, things have been decent. I don't feel exhausted or dread going to Staples. However, customer education could greatly improve to save employee time. I could elaborate, but since I'm not being paid, I'll leave it at that. The best aspects of Staples, in order, are:
- Bike Rides into Work
- Customer / People Interactions
- Good smelling office environment
- Weekly Pay
- Horrible music radio
Coming soon… it's only October 7th…
Staples money reinvested, wasted or simply burned up to continue my journey of learning:
| New World: Aeternum (gift) | $60 |
| 9×12 Rigid Mailers | $25 |
| 3lb Jump Rope | $15 |
| Phomemo M110Thermal Printer + 1″ QR Labels | $27 + $13 |
| A3 Laminator + Pouches / Foil | $50 + $23 |
| (120) 8 oz Paper Cups | $10 |
| Wesdut 49-in-1 Screwdriver Set | $8.50 |
| 2018 Mac Mini i3 8GB | $155 (sold 8GB +$10) |
| TEAMGROUP 32GB + DIY Install | $52 |
| Electric Adjustable Standing Desk Frame | $101 |
| Patriot P400 Lite 500GB + External Enclosure | $37 + $17 |
| Lavazza Super Crema Whole Bean Coffee | $14 |
| Acer Nitro 27 inch UM.HX1AA.301 | $213 |
| GeForce RTX 3060 V2 | $303 |
Products I Think Staples Should Sell/Have:
- Postal Stamps by the Book
- Custom QR stamps
- Complimentary Mini-fridge near print desk
- Computer Screws Motherboard Standoffs
- Utility Knife / Razors
- USA Flag (just mind boggling)
- Upgrade Business Card Options (just compare VP stuff)
- Rubber Key Caps
- Water Cool and Subscription
- Hands Free Door Opener for Bathroom
- Precision Screwdriver Set
- Tape Measure
- Teacher Planner
- Bond Paper Legal
- Fountain Pen Nibs/Refill Ink
Links
- https://www.printme.com/ — quickly upload files to use at self-serve printer
Equipment / Gear
- (2) Xerox Prime Link C9070
- HP Wide Format Printer
- DocuCutter CC-229 Card Cutter/Creaser
- Laminator + Wide Format Laminator
- GBC ProCut 17P Card Cutter
- Horizon Paper Folder PF-P3100
- Binding Puncher Machine
Questions from Customers & Me ?
- Can you print QR code on Stamps?
- Where is the closest UPS drop-off store?
- What direction do I put scan/fax my paper?
- You don't take FedEx?
- How much does it cost to make copies, a fax or some prints?
- How do I use the self-serve kiosk?
- Where is the bathroom?
What are the Employee WiFi Login Credentials?
Things I Plan To Do
- Bike 100 miles worth of round trips
- Get 4 New Domain, Hosting and Websites Customers
Get better uniform, current T Shirt is trash.- Special Funnel Offer
- Use the internal intranet tools to make a couple more friends
Learn about Cardstock WeightsPrint QR Business Cards for ReturnsIntegrate Calendar AND ScheduleGet a second tape measure- Add coffee maker to the break room and have beans on-demand for grinding
- Swap shipping station monitor out with Touch Screen
- Load up break room with fresh fruit (and maybe even vending machine)
- Create more QR codes to “answer common questions”
Get $25 back in rewards points and buy useful somethingLearn about Raised Ink / Thermography printing(Embossing thermographic powder)- Create a proper checkbox “routine flow” for when I first step on the floor and punch-in
- Ride public transportation and see how it compares to biking / driving
- Submit feedback on a few things:
Dark Mode on Mobile App / Website- Modernize business card templates during checkout
- Business Card checkout options like Foiled Edges, Kraft Paper and other Etsy.com options
Things are going well so far, but I have some thoughts I want to jot down:
Things I enjoy:
- Close to my house, great for biking and staying in shape
- Every coworker I've met seems chill. I've worked at a few places, but I've never experienced anything quite like this. I think the hiring manager did an excellent job of filtering out any bad apples… or so it seems.
- The starting salary, $16.25 is reasonable. At a previous job at Lowe's in either 2011 or 2013, the minimum wage was $7 and I was onboarded at $10(ish), yet the cost of milk, gasoline, and many other items has not changed much since then. Inflation isn't as impactful as some people might think.
- Indoor AC job with good foot traffic to meet new people and make friends and find leads.
- Some of the training was funny, yet silly.
- Reading about Staples History… I can't believe both founders already passed away.
- The hub offers a huge potential to meet with everyone staples, the community forums and ease to communicate is cool
- I had fun shopping on eBay for 3 Polo Uniform Shirts
Things I dislike:
- Prompt door open ON THE DOT instead of 5 minutes early. Numerous times, I'll be “early” to work and I wait outside with customers who are waiting to give Staples their money… INSANE.
- Too much gear, a heavy iPhone, a headset with wire, a walkie-talkie, a lanyard, my own phone and wallet, gum, pen with notepaper… I mean WTF?
- No water fountain (or cooler) in an office store sort of seems like a sick joke…
- No Cushioned Anti Fatigue Mat for people who stand at the Customer Service Counter and Return Center — https://amzn.to/3XvvNgt
- I see Staples as a tech company, yet none of their workstations have touch screen monitors, which would enhance efficiency.
- Unable to access Staples resources, or email address when I'm not connected to the Work Wifi / Internet location
- I've seen some lavish spending from Staples as a company, when there are many other things that need improvement. For example, the Shaq partnership to sell ink, or branding launch party, etc
- Unable to adjust brightness on Cashier Checkout POS
- There aren't many benefits, particularly when compared to the Starbucks across the street, or the USPS nearby. https://careers.staples.com/en/benefits
- 401k is worthless, no public stock, don't need/want dental/health so what's left? Learning new skills, meeting new people and closing leads.
- The break room has potential to be cool, maybe even great, but right now it's pretty pathetic. If someone takes a dump, everything is cooked. It be, what it be…
- Bad uniform onboarding, I was hoping for something more professional instead of jenky designed purple shirt.
- Some training, like Active Shooter drills, Woke Diversity segments, and awkward videos, seemed odd, possibly due to Canadian influences. Though Staples started in the U.S., it's now Canadian-based. While they likely have legal reasons, they could take a firmer stance.
- The HUB is a mess, more or less, but the potential is great, everything is hosted on different platforms, with different designs that compounds into a trickle of other problems.
- Consolidate, organize and merge everything into a single design/location instead of across multiple hosted domains
Areas for potential improvement
- Efficiency across the board is hindered by obsolete hardware, technology and perhaps even thinking patterns that are aimed to solve customers
- Amazon Returns Area
- PC does not have a touch monitor making it more time consuming to use a mouse and click buttons
- Stickers, Printer and Boxes used all require addition steps to solve tasks because whoever designed “the flow” does not know how to play chess and only plays checkers.
- The iPhone handling returns is locked down with bad settings (small font, extra swipes and duplicate taps to get shit done)
- Cash Register POS requiring too much time just to log in and get things done
- Amazon Returns Area
It's worth noting, if working the Amazon/UPS return hub on a very busy day, you're not truly employed by Staples.
In reality, you're an outsourced Amazon employee in this role. You are performing similar duties as a Postal Service employee without the same level of benefits.
There is a huge ratio of women returning clothes, and the stereotype on /r/Staples about “amazombies” is 100% accurate. During a 4 hour session you’ll get a nonstop stream of customers returning junk.
How I Improved Things… ?
Submit feedback for Dark Theme on Staples.com website and Mobile App- By using the scan gun, I've been able to streamline the process for performing returns. Previously, in order to access the computer system, you would have to manually type in a generic password. Now you anyone can scan a barcode I printed out and taped to the printer auto login, making the process much more efficient.
- Font size on mobile phone was small, now it's larger and easier to read.
- The shared computer in the back now has updated bookmark links for quick access to common sites like Kronos login, The Hub, Email, and Training. Previously, you had to navigate through the start menu and remember where each link was located.
- Redesigned the Business Card to simplify the email and printing process. Previously, customers had to save files as attachments, open their email app, compose a message, and attach the files. Now, they can simply scan the card, which auto-composes the email for them; they only need to attach the file and send.
- QR launches “mailto:Staples Print StationStaples@PrintMe.com?subject=Print%20Attached%20Files”
- Business card also shows common print prices
I’ve been taking notes and found some more ways to make somethings more efficient using QR codes. I’ll share here some more updates!
Just made a quick update to wrap things up, while everything is still fresh in memory, I’m glad I got these thoughts down on paper because in a few years I’ll mostly forget all about this.