Office Supply Retailers Offer Guidance Ahead of Conference

Office supplies retailer OfficeMax (NYSE:OMX) reported an updated forecast for the third quarter and second half of the 2011 fiscal year today, prior to its presentation at a Goldman Sachs (GS) retail conference.

OfficeMax said it now expects third quarter sales to be slightly lower than the third quarter of 2010, and that sales in the second half of the year will be slightly higher than last year's second half.

CEO Ravi Saligram said the company is experiencing a soft back-to-school season driven by a price conscious consumer and weaker technology sales.

Rival Office Depot (ODP) reported a rosier picture ahead of its presentation at the same conference, and said its back-to-school sales and gross margin are up 1.5% compared to the prior year.

It did say that same-store sales are down quarter-to-date through August.

For MarketNewsVideo.com, I'm Kristin Bianco.

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Out of the Office

I’m going on vacation for the next 3 weeks. I’ve got some great guest posts lined up, most of them are very long and in-depth. I think you’ll like them. The response was great, and I have even more great guest content for when I get back. There will also be some posts of my own that I’ve written ahead of time. Comment moderation and e-mail replies will be even slower than usual, so thanks in advance for your patience.

Even though purely financially this year has been one of the best, other than that it has been the worst. I’d happy trade the two. I’m looking forward to the break, and hope to come back with renewed energy and focus.

Find more in General | 10/9/10, 1:01am | Trackback

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Hide Lunch From Office Thieves In Healthy Meal Boxes

Here's a potentially even better idea for protecting your lunch from thieves in the office than the fake moldy ziploc bags. Commenter Snaptastic suggests that you stash it inside a box of "healthy," i.e. "gross," food like a Weight Watchers, or, as commenter Murph1908 recommended, a Hot Pockets.

(We don't really need to go into why Hot Pockets are Satan bullets, do we?)

See, the problem with the first idea is that coworkers, whether thieves or not thieves, might toss out your lunch thinking it's actually moldy, leaving you just as sans lunch as if it were stolen. With this method, they'll avoid your lunch entirely. But what if they're really super hungry and try to jack your lunch anyway? Then you put your sandwich inside a fake moldy bag, inside a Weight Watchers box.

PREVIOUSLY
Anti-Theft Lunch Bags Make Thieves Think Your Sandwich Is Moldy

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Post Office Says It's Too Cool To Abide By Credit Card Merchant Agreement

Steve got into what J.K. Rowling would describe as a "row" with a Postal Service worker who demanded he show his ID to make a MasterCard purchase. This is a violation of MasterCard policy, but that doesn't matter, according to the employee, because the Post Office is like the Fonz in that it plays by its own rules.

He writes:

Keith, the postal clerk, asked for a picture ID. I said I don't have to provide it. Keith said he won't accept the credit card. When I told him about the Mastercard rule prohibiting asking for picture ID, Keith said, "The Post Office dose not have to abide by MasterCard's rules, we're the Post Office."

I told Keith I would be filing a complaint with MasterCard.

Keith asked what would I do if someone else was using my card.

I said I wouldn't be responsible for the fraudulent charges.

One error the postal worker made is forgetting to add the word "bitch" at the end of his comments to Steve. "We're the Post Office, bitch" would have been far more resonant.

Previously: Why Won't Walmart Tell Its Employees They Can't Demand ID For MasterCard Purchases?

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