Staples — Attraction in City of Ithaca

I would strongly advise against using this Staples location for USPS drop-offs or any time-sensitive services. I called ahead on a Wednesday to confirm they accept USPS packages, as my work schedule makes it difficult to get to the post office. I dropped off my labeled package around noon that day, but by Thursday evening, it still hadn’t been scanned into USPS’s system.

I called the store and got vague, unhelpful answers. I then called the Parcel department listed on the receipt, and they told me USPS picks up daily. However, the next day I discovered a friend’s package had been sitting at this same location for over a week. Clearly something is off.

I went back to the store 48 hours after dropping off my package, and while USPS was thankfully doing a pickup as I arrived, the cashier was rude and unapologetic, and the manager seemed indifferent. His only response was, “We’ll take this into consideration.” Not the kind of accountability or service you hope for. As a company with an emphasis on their shipping services, they should be contacting USPS if they are not showing up for packages.

This wasn’t my first poor experience with this location. A few months ago, I came in for passport photos. An employee directed me to the photo area and said someone would be right over. I waited over 10 minutes before flagging down another employee, who had no idea I was even there. No communication, no urgency.

Do yourself a favor and go directly to the post office or another reliable location. This Staples clearly lacks the customer service to handle...

I like this place. There's a huge selection of products. OK, most of them aren't products I need or want, but it's still huge. The staff can be friendly and have often been helpful beyond mere necessity.

You might think that the pricing is "discount" or, even, good. If you shop the specials, you might sometimes be correct, too. In general, though, even the specials are higher priced than you can get them online(*). Keep reading, spoiler coming up...

Until the day that Amazon can deliver by drone to my front door (not soon, trust me, you haven't seen where my front door is), it's good to have a REAL store in town with the supplies you need. Sit quietly, oh tricky ones, here it comes.

Staples has lower prices online than in the store.

And, store policy is that, if you point out the online price, they will honor it at the store. In fact, they'll match online pricing from other legit stores. So do your homework before you visit the downtown Staples.

(*) Example: 32GB USB 2.0 flash drive. Was on special (something like half of regular price) and I had a $10 coupon, as well. Final price was only about $1 below online shopping. Without the coupon, I'd have been better off online and...

Horrible customer service. There was no one at the register, so I patiently stood there waiting with my heavy monitor to checkout. An employee saw me waiting, and disregarded it. I understand if the team is short staffed, but communicating with your customers that someone will be on their way to check out your item would be nice. I made eye contact with this employee several times, understood he was helping out a long line at the package area, but yet he acted like I was invisible. Please just communicate with people who are patiently waiting to check out, that someone will be over in x amount of minutes to help. Why isn’t there someone to help out at the check out register anyways? If this is a problem, get a self checkout area. I had been waiting for 10 minutes, and would have waited 10 more if the employee at least told me someone would be checking me out shortly. It’s the fact that you don’t know how long you’re gonna waste your time and be ignored that...