Office Max!

I just watched in extreme amusement while our high-speed copier jammed and gave a warning about the jam, but then apparently cleared the jam by itself and coated one of the office workers with toner when she was in the act of opening the access panel and the toner cartridge disengaged at the moment the copier was inhaling toner into its feed mechanism. I didn't even know copiers could clear jams themselves, or even if they did, would continue operating without warning like that. But the woman-shaped outline on the copy-room wall is pretty damned funny....

There are "potential risks and rewards for entrepreneurs who lean heavily on credit cards when starting up a business. Plastic can be useful for people who can't get loans from banks or family, or who are sitting on a can't-miss idea and just need some help getting over one big hump. But owners of less explosive businesses can get bogged down quickly in debt, especially if a missed or late payment prompts the card company to ratchet up interest rates. And even though entrepreneurs can open up card accounts in their business's name, they are usually personally liable for bad debt.

Here's a story about the impressions one young man had walking into an office. If you think office desks and office chairs don't matter, think again.

One summer break, during my undergrad days at UGA, I worked as an intern for IBM. I'd worked for them before and grew to dread the company. But my dad urged me to take the job. He's a lifetime IBMer and corporate exec-- I suppose he was hoping I could still be salvaged... might still turn out to be a responsible businessman.

He assured me I would have a good experience because I would be working in a "creative department": IBM's in-house video production unit. They had a state of the art studio. I thought, "this might be cool". How wrong I was.

I knew right away... the second I walked in the door: tan carpet, off-white walls, acoustic ceiling tile, fluorescent lights. . Desks were arranged in cubicles (chest high)... which were grey. The furniture was standard office supply: fake wood. They gave me a tour. Each cubicle was the same-- a picture of the wife or husband, a calendar, stacks of paper. The only windows in the room ran along one wall-- and were monopolized by the offices of managers and "senior staff". Everyone wore a suit and tie. Everyone wore black shoes.

Next they took me to the studios. I felt a twinge of excitement-- then a quick let down. Walls: Flat grey. Floor: Tan tile. Equipment: black or grey.

To compete with Office Max more effectively, Office Depot introduced a new invoice procssing capability for its customers. This article goes into detail on the decision to implement this new capability and its payback for Office Depot and its customers.

With over $12 billion in annual revenues and more than 50,000 employees, Office Depot is one of the world's largest providers of office products. The company operates nearly a thousand stores in 23 countries, supported by 22 delivery centers, more than 60 local sales offices and 13 regional call centers. With over $2.6 billion in annual sales, Office Depot is also the world's second largest online retailer.

Challenge

With equally large and highly aggressive competitors in Staples and Office Max, Office Depot knew that they could not compete on price or assortment alone and needed its own advantage in the marketplace. And as the number of Office Depot customers has grown dramatically over the past several years, the cost, complexity and manpower to service this customer base, especially the business clients, had increased as well. These business customers (mom n' pop operations to Fortune 500 companies) represent a highly profitable and vital segment for Office Depot.

Office Depot established there BSDnet B-to-B online network to enable business customers to shop, order, and manage shipments online. While these customers were able to buy online, they were unable to view account activity, parse and distribute invoices at the department or cost center level, route invoices for approval or pay for supplies via the Internet. By addressing the "back-office workflow needs" of their online business customers, Office Depot knew they would have a competitive advantage in the market. For this service to be successful, it had to meet three key criteria:

It's important to find good activities outside the office that help with team building and give everyone more incentive to work. Here's one site that offers you the chance to drive a race car on a track. You may find other driving courses closer to your location. A great idea for corporate team building or just a fun day with the staff. If this is too fast for your taste, think about an activity as easy as bowling or just a catered picnic near the office.

Drive the dream! Supercharge your productivity with incentive travel to the Richard Petty Driving Experience in beautiful Las Vegas, Nevada! Seating is limited, click now to Drive the Dream!

CNN's Bob Losure was the headliner at the recent OfficeMax National Convention at Mandalay Bay, in Las Vegas. Grass Shack reports:

The 1100 attendees learned the ‘news’ about OfficeMax from fun and informative interviews of four of their top executives, covering different aspects of their business. The talk show interview setting offered a relaxed, more conversational approach to disseminating needed information.

Why would you outsource Human Resources if people are your most valuable asset? A lot of Human Resources functions involve training, law or other aspects of business that not only change frequently with time but also look pretty much the same regardless of the type of business. For instance, training managers on the latest hiring and firing best practices isn't very different from one company to another. If you have small company, you might look at a PEO firm to manage your entire Human Resources function. That actually gives you more time to focus on your people instead worrying about compliance with the latest workplace regulations.

There has been alot of activity in the outsourcing markets lately, particularly in the HR outsourcing world.

Fidelity and BASF announced a five-year deal where Fidelity's HRO unit will handle BASF's payroll operations, health and welfare benefit programs and retirement plans. This is on top of the recent news that Fidelity's human resources and benefits outsourcing services added 1,175 new clients in 2004. (Disclosure: I work for Fidelity).

Hewitt announced HRO deals with Marriott, Rockwell, and Thompson (more details here, here and here).

ACS signed a deal with Delta Airlines.

Accenture and BT signed a 10 year, $575M, HR outsourcing deal.

Finally, ACS and Convergys were reported to be the leading bidders to acquire the $900M human resources outsourcing business of Mellon Financial.

A comfy office chair can make all the difference to you bum, your back and even your wrists if you type a lot. A good chair adjusts to your position and has the right firmness to support your back throughout the day. Office Max has a great selection of office chairs and furniture.

After suffering too many years on a cheap office chair I finally upgraded to a much nicer sitting environment. I bought a Herman Miller Caper multitask chair on Sunday and it was delivered a few minutes ago. So far the only task I've used it for is sitting. I can lean back! And I no longer have to contort myself into odd positions to get comfortable. This is a definite improvement.

Business Credit Cards can make your business - or break it. In a pinch, it may be the only financing option available. Use it wisely.

Ten years ago, Jason Olim and his twin brother, Matthew, took a gamble and racked up $64,000 in credit-card debt to expand their business: an online music retailer called CDnow. The Olims paid off the debt quickly, took the company public, and later sold it to Bertelsmann AG, the German media giant, for $117 million.

Sam and Ren�e Beckley also ran up thousands of dollars in credit-card debt to start their own business, a recording studio in Aurora, Ill. But they aren't quite millionaires yet. Although their business is growing, they're so mired in bills that they signed on with a debt-consolidation firm earlier this year. Between the debt and a hefty hospital bill, they expect it will take four years to pay off the $40,000 they owe.

These are the potential risks and rewards for entrepreneurs who lean heavily on credit cards when starting up a business. Plastic can be useful for people who can't get loans from banks or family, or who are sitting on a can't-miss idea and just need some help getting over one big hump. But owners of less explosive businesses can get bogged down quickly in debt, especially if a missed or late payment prompts the card company to ratchet up interest rates. And even though entrepreneurs can open up card accounts in their business's name, they are usually personally liable for bad debt.

"The issue is that almost all credit-card agreements have fine print with very sharp teeth," says Fred Wainwright, executive director of the Center for Private Equity and Entrepreneurship at Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business. "If you miss even one payment, the attractive terms can convert to over 20% annual interest rates and outrageously high penalty fees."

As this Irish businessmen notes, there are different options for accounting services. You can hire an accountant or use online services. At Office Max, you can buy accounting software like QuickBooks. Then you have to decide whether to do-it-yourself or bring in an accountant.

I must start taking more notice of the AdSense advertisements over there on the left hand side - I just noticed one for Teamwork Accounting - 'Online Accounting for a fixed fee per month'

Teamwork Accounting introduces service accounting to Ireland. An all-inclusive online service whereby internet technology is used to truly collaborate with clients.

Similar to Internet banking, Teamwork Accounting allows you to process all of your accounting and tax records in a simple, secure and efficient way over the internet. The information entered by you is immediately available to your designated Teamwork accountant, who can validate and if necessary correct the transactions. Based on the information entered, we will automatically process your VAT returns, year end accounts, tax return and any other relevant accounting and tax obligations which you might have.

Too late for this year but definitely a service to investigate for next year.

Office Max should have this pop-up blocker software in stock shortly.

Panicware, Inc., a Seattle developer of PC pop-up control technology, announces the newest update to Pop-Up Stopper Professional. Panicware's ad-blocking software is the first and only product to block pop-up and pop-under ads in all browsers including AOL, MSN, SBCYahoo!, Opera, Mozilla, WMConnect, Juno, NetZero, Netscape, and Internet Explorer. Pop-Up Stopper Professional works on every type of Internet connection.

The latest release of Pop-Up Stopper Professional accesses a new update server, which will enable current and future users to more easily receive future updates. This version also includes a direct desktop link to the Panicware Resource Center -- a constantly updated collection of privacy information and bonus resources such as free spyware removal tools.

Fun videos of the Office Max Rubberband man. Follow the link.

I've talked about the commercial before, but if you haven't seen it, or you want to watch it obsessively, like I've been doing, here it is. (WMP required)

I'm working on finding out who the guy is that plays the Rubberband Man, and I hope to interview him soon. I'll keep you posted.

You will soon be able to use Amazon to buy your Office Depot products. OfficeMax users, take note!

Under the deal announced Friday, Office Depot will offer office supplies, furniture, and technology products through a special store on Amazon.com's office products section.

In order to move office products, the devil is in the details.

The big-box office-supply companies are thinking small, says the New York Times. They are also trying to differentiate themselves: Office Depot, for instance, is doing it by stocking pens next to paper because that appeals to female shoppers.

A sweet article on how to make the workplace more enjoyable. It's easy!

So all this absurdly long preface leads up to no more than a "tip." Or, really, two.

Tip #1: Think "Touch of Grace." What's one simple, "graceful" act you (independent contributor, boss) can contribute to your Working Ambience today/tomorrow/in the next fifteen minutes?

Tip #2: Think "Flower Power." From Vermont @ Minus 15F to Bangkok @ Plus 97F ... FLOWERS RULE! Flowers truly are a gift from the gods. Not flowers "given to someone" (fine), but GORGEOUS-LUSH-OVERWHELMING-ARRAYS-OF-FLOWERS. Nothing else--NOTHING ELSE!--will so lift the spirits & transform the "working" environment. Take it from me, an old Civil Engineer & MBA without a trace of "artistic" temperament!

Here's a part of UPS you don't know about. UPS is aggressively pursuing this new business area, as Joe Hill reports.

This is a little-known subsidiary of the giant delivery company. It goes by the unwieldy name of UPS Supply Chain Solutions, and it performs what are, for UPS, some very peculiar functions--everything from fixing busted electronics to answering customer phone calls to issuing corporate credit cards.

Take a look at this entire blog dedicated to Eddie Steeples, an actor who does commercials for OfficeMax:

I started this blog because I was intrigued by the public's extraordinary affection for OfficeMax's Rubberband Man and the actor who portrays him, Eddie Steeples.

Go to Secret-Coupons.com, where online savings are just a few clicks away! They have ongoing promotions and coupons for many stores.

Christine Halvorson is the company blogger for Stonyfield Farm, which actually maintains four different blogs. She answered some questions about why her company maintains a blog. The most interesting answer to me was the first one below. For the rest, click above.

1) What kind of traffic are you getting to your blogs (individually and/or collectively)?

Since we began the five blogs on April 1, 2004, we've had a total of 160,000 visitors. (That number combines all five blogs. We actually didn't begin measuring until June 6.) We have discontinued one of the blogs, so now there are four. Of those remaining four, the most recent per month visits are:

Strong Women Daily News: 15,603
The Daily Scoop: 4,049
Creating Healthy Kids: 9,659
The Bovine Bugle: 28,237

These have been growing steadily each month.

The Best Buy rebates always work for me. Haven't tried Office Max. Maybe I shouldn't. Here's a story from a Utah TV station about trying to get a rebate.

So, to see just how hard it is to get a rebate from Office Max, I sent my producer Kelly into a store, and watched with a hidden camera. We bought an HP Photo smart printer for $149.99. It came with a mail-in rebate for a $15 Office Max gift card. We also got a $39.99 cent micro-cassette recorder with a $5 mail-in rebate.

The very next day, Kelly filled out both rebate forms, and followed the rather involved directions. She had to cut out each UPC code, and mail the receipts to the same place in two separate envelopes -- one for each product.

Then we waited and waited. And finally, nearly two months later, we did not get our promised rebate. Instead, Kelly got two cards from Office Max thanking her for participating in the rebate promotions, but read "unfortunately we could not honor your request due to the following reasons: invalid postmark date, missing receipt, missing purchase location, missing purchase date, invalid customer state or purchase."

What? But we followed the directions. One look at the copies we made of those forms reveals we did provide all of that supposedly missing information: receipt, purchase location, purchase date -- all of it.

Sometimes it's hard to remember everything thing you need for your home office. This is a pretty good list. Click above for more detail. You can get all this stuff at Office Max.

It’s coming up on a year since I joined the ranks of the self-employed and I realized last month that it was high time for me to get some general office essentials and set up a few things to help me run my business more effeciently.

* Got voice mail (instead of an answering machine)
* Got some decent phones (decided to get a system with a base and additional handsets)
* Got a flatbed copier/fax/printer (HP 6110)
* Got a bunch of misc. office supplies

Still on the list:

* Business cards - I had them designed but Illustrator ate the file. :( It won’t take long to redo the design. I’ll be getting them from GotPrint, their prices are really good and I saw a sample card that looked quite nice.
* Automated backups of my local machine and server. This is coming along too, I’ll have more on it later.
* Network enable printing on the HP 6110

With the contract gig I’m working on now, I need to invoice the company as well as send in an expense report with receipts, etc. My digital office wasn’t really set up for paperwork, and there are times when you need to print, copy and mail things. I’d been going to a local store to make copies of all this stuff when I needed to and it was really inconvenient. I love being able to run a quick copy of something I’m mailing off.

Office Max doesn't have an aisle for blogs in their stores, but you might want a blog for your business or industry. BusinessWeek reports on blogs for the trade.

Weblogs Inc. is the purveyor of a network of more than 70 blogs, which it characterizes as the world's largest. The company is dedicated to creating trade blogs across industries in which user participation is an essential component of the resulting product. Weblogs Inc. network categories include Consumer, Technology, Wireless, Video Games, Media & Entertainment, Business, Life Sciences, Personal, and Events.

I believe blogs will grow increasingly prominent, because they offer interesting and unique content, are easy to search and organize, and have the potential to generate notable revenues and profits through the use of online advertising (primarily keyword search) and affiliate marketing. Gawker Media is another major network of blogs.

I wouldn't be surprised to see companies such as these make news on the financing front in 2005, by possibly raising private capital or taking steps toward an IPO. I believe some of the businesses highlighted above have bright futures. We'll see if investors (private and public) agree.

Here's a great intro on how to start a business blogs. Lots of choices. Office Max should offer business blogs from its website!

I have been writing about what blogs can bring to business this week. Recognizing the business potential in blogs, a number of IT, publishing, and online learning consulting firms are starting to offer help with blogs as part of their service offerings. Here are three that Amanda Watlington and I interviewed for our book, Business Blogs: A Practical Guide.

The Norwich Group, run by Anne Stanton, is located in Norwich, Vermont and provides business consulting focused on the professional firms specializing in IT consulting, technology or accounting services. Depending on the client’s needs, The Norwich Group can offer a variety of capabilities. Some of these capabilities have been developed into packaged solutions. One of these is help staring your business blog.

Windsor Media Enterprises is an author services company in Rochester, New York, with a focus on helping new and existing authors write, produce, and market their books. Its founder, Yvonne DiVita has also published a nice book on online marketing to women, “Dickless Marketing: Smart Marketing to Women Online. She recently started Business Blogging Boot Camp with Tom Collins to help businesses get into blogging.

If you need to go beyond an individual blog, Kathleen Gilroy of The Otter Group in Cambridge, Massachusetts has recently created Pingware, a Blogware-based platform for developing communities. The Otter Group provides custom designed online learning programs and online communities. Pingware integrates a newsreader, as well as blog publishing capabilities and can be custom designed for your organization. It is based on a common vocabulary and a unified view of the capabilities. The Wellesley College Alumni Association is one of the first adopters.

In case you didn't notice, Office Max made a lot of changes to its website late in 2004.

Simplicity and convenience for the customer is what OfficeMax hopes its redesigned Website that was launched this past summer will achieve.

The site now includes customized rules to comply with specific customer needs and flexible cost-center controls to differentiate purchasing activity and assist purchasing professionals with internal procurement processing. Using a single log-in, a purchaser can order products for multiple departments and arrange billing to different cost centers.

The launch of the new site for the office product suppliers reflects a transition for BoiseOffice.com's business-to-business customers to OfficeMax.com, in the aftermatch of Boise Cascade's 2003 purchase of OfficeMax and the corporate name change this year from Boise Cascade to OfficeMax.

Staples is boycotting Sinclari News. Maybe that means more business for Office Max.

Staples agreed to withdrawl advertising buys from Sinclair News. (via National Center's blog)

In a letter from National Center to the spokesman for Staples:

I read in today's Washington Post that Staples, Inc. pulled its advertising from Sinclair Broadcast news programming after it received complaints about perceived "right-wing" bias in Sinclair's programs. You are quoted in the article.

In related news, I have spent the last three years boycotting snotty, barely-sentient Staples clerks. The service was so consistiently bad across two stores that I concluded that blank stares and shoulder-shrugs must be in the training manual.

Helpful tip; if you are near a Staples pick up a stone and throw it. Odds are that you will hit an Office Depot or Office Max. Go there instead.

There's nothing bland about the board room at Office Max. Maybe that'll spill over into the brand.

Is there anything more depressing than bland brands?

A category that comes to mind that is incredibly vanilla is office supplies. Office Max and Office Depot suffer from utter sameness across the board (names, logos, stores, ad circulars, websites). Staples, while it has a more identifiable, memorable and likable name than the other two, also suffers from the "me, too" complex when it comes to their website and flyers. And all three blend into the background using the same color palette (red, white, black).

After four months on the job, CEO Christopher Milliken stepped down amid allegations that the company cooked up $3.3m in rebates revenue that didn't exist.

Chicago Sun-Times: OfficeMax CEO Resigns Amid Turmoil. A widening scandal at Itasca-based OfficeMax spurred its chief executive to resign Monday, and the company revealed it would restate its profits from the first three quarters of 2004.

I’ve added OfficeMax contracts - mostly employment and severance agreements - to the site.