OD whats really going on

[mikeford]

I've been talking to Office Depoot people each time I snoop a store, and finally got a sensible answer out of a manager. OD picked the worst performing stores and worst 2500 sku's and dropped them. The stores, at least in Cal are completely closed with even the "metal" sold off, and the sku's are all supposed to be GONE by the end of this month, so expect those stores with discontinued items still priced high to start cutting soon. The items must be off the normal shelves at the end of the month because all the stores will be getting a new "sku map" and are supposed to restock the whole store with the new arrangement of items. The last week of the month is bound to produce some good prices, hopefully employees will have run out of money by then.

Sale item I bought today were flip top box hanging file stor things, Arko Mills 3290350123 $1.88

Sorry for a new thread, but that 300+ post monster is just too long.

 

[commemoratives]

I have been wondering. Does OD dowload pricing or is it locally input? Sometimes I see a deal on the shelf and the pricing is not as posted here. I'm not too excited about the item generally, but it would be nice to know what kind of latency to expect in updates.

If I were all pumped I would get the item scanned. It seem as though it is centralized, but it would be nice to know for sure.

 

[fong718]

its not done locally but the main headquarters gives them a list of items to clearance out and prices. however, some OD's are slow and doesn't get to marking down items, but if its on clearance and someone else bought it cheap, its probably in the computer at the reduced price, but not tagged for clearance. worth a shot asking them to scan the price for you.

 

[Lanyap]

Interesting... Thanks for the info. Someone at OD told me that if they don't sell some of the clearance items they will return them to the vendor for credit. I saw them drop the price on a few items then raise them back up after awhile. I guess this is why.

 

[OS]

heh, I bought a 25 pin serial cable today for 12 cents at OD

 

[commemoratives]

Picked up a couple of Pentel Tradio pens for 52¢ each. Refillable fountain-style pens but with a plastic nib. Nice at that price.

Also got a MS Game voice at $4.88. Stocked in a manilla envelope, but all there!

 

[echozero]

maybe this is the reason for that 14.92 computer desk sale these past few days... cool, thanks for the info! =)

 

[mikeford]

"Maybe it will scan lower?"

Not in my experience, 100% the item is priced as marked. In fact most of the places local to me in Orange, Ca leave the price in the computer at the full price, and mark each item down using the clearance tags at the register.

That full list of 2500 sku's would be nice to look at.

Guessing now, but I bet HQ sent some notice out after the end of last year showing the basic closing and dropping of SKU's (most of which will still be in the catalog, just not on store shelves), and gave some "minimum" clearance prices that would not effect the stores bottom line. I think some stores screwed up and immediately tagged items with the minimum prices instead of a slow drop etc. 90% of the stores in my area dropped only a handfull of prices. I was joking with one manager because in his store everything starts with a 11 cent discount, ie 19.99 to 19.88, but with a big red clearance tag.

 

[xraymongral]

Correction on the pricing...I have watched as a clerk searched the OD computer for the Palm VII availability in other OD stores, and the prices differnt OD stores had it for ranged from $29 to $200+. Seems that each store is given a differnt pricing schedual...maybe reflective of local sales trends? Just a thought.

 

[OS]

<< &quot;Maybe it will scan lower?&quot; >>



It does happen. It happened twice to me today, that serial cable I bought was marked 88 cents, but rang up at 12. Same for these binder pounches I bought, marked 50 or so cents, but rang up as 12. But it is fairly rare, so I wouldn't count on it.

 

[killabeas]

I hope there are some good deals at my OD store soon. It's great, I can get there in about 2 minutes. Hell, I can see it from my window.

 

[Cyberian]

I thought that the prices in the ODs that were closing were being set by the &quot;Liquidator&quot;

There sure were no 'deals' that I could find in my local stores.
(LI, NY)

Oh yeah - the shelves, counters, cabinets and everything else seem to be going/gone here also.

 

[SiberianTiger]

i wish it was reflected on the online site. either that, or they should have scanners for consumers to use like target since clearance prices aren't always up at the B&amp;M.

 

[hevnsnt]

^bump this back up, people need to know whats going on..

 

[w3b]

Went to one of the ODs here in SoCal and they were doing inventory. An employee told me that today was the first time she's ever done inventory. So I'll probably be back there later this week to check if there's any great deals.

 

[Carapace]

OD's clearance pricing is handed down corprately. Though most items on clearance can be found nationwide, some of it depends on market. Not all clearance SKUs can be found at every store. As with any other retail chain, the longer an item is on clearance without selling, the lower the price will go. A clearance item is just taking up valuable space that a new item needs. I don't believe it is because a store is slow at getting price changes out. These are done daily by a designated person, and it is not a tedious task. As with any other store, OD is not perfect, and sometimes a price change will get missed thus resulting in a good buy for the customer. The new CEO has dumped 1200 SKUs from ODs inventory, so now is the time to be looking for good deals, i.e. ATA 66 hard drive controller for $4.92. SKU 210051 or 210501, I can't remember which it is.

 

[mweeps]

Only 1 OD within an hour of me here. Only decent deal I have been able to cash in on was a set of Labtec speakers with sub for $29.99. Which I found in topstock in the back of the store BTW look up for good deals in OD employees tend to hide deals up high. I used to employ this tactic when I was an Officemax employee. Not right to some of you but for the money I was making there I may have to hide something for two pay periods to afford it.