They have penny deals in today's ad for my Staples, but I noticed that you have to make a $5 purchase which is also new, too. It's for Rose Art Crayons and Staples Glue, which I don't need, and Bic Classic Pens, which I might get. Lots of quarter and 50 cent deals that look good.
I know they had the $5 limit last year. However, do you have to spend $5 to get the quarter and 50 cent deals too?
The Staples by me started the $5 thing two years ago. I know then it was just for the penny deals, not the twenty-five or fifty cent stuff.
I actually like Rose Art crayons, what's your gripe? The $5 limit is a little annoying but since it doesn't seem to apply to the 25 and 50 cent deals, doesn't seem like it will be an issue. I'm more put off by the "limit 2 per customer" clause on all penny deals
I totally agree. I'm a crayola fan. They did the $5 by me last year. It was not too hard to reach If you pick up 20 .25 items I think that will get you up to the $5. I just don't like that the special savings on some (all?) items goes on the rewards card. I don't buy much at staples most of the time.
If you don't feel like dealing with the staples reward refund I think Walmart had the rose art crayons for .25 per pack, colored pencils .50, and crayola markers and maybe other items too for .97
Here is what I bought: Bic Round Stic pens - 8 pack - a penny each (limit 2) Papermate Sharpwriter Mechanical Pencils - 5 pack - a quarter each (limit 4) Fashion Clipboards - I got 2 super cute ones with owls on it but they had other patterns - $2.00 each (Limit 4) Bic Dry Erase Fine Tip Markers - 4 pack mixed colors - 50 cents I also stopped at Target and got a stretchy book cover and Target brand highlighters really cheap.
AHHHH those clipboards are back!? So worth the 2 bucks....I bought a class set and my kids looooved them. And they only ruined 2 or 3.
Man I love those clipboards. - As for staples, is it true that you now pay full price for the marked down items and get a refund through your rewards card like a rebate program?...or do you still get the deal in-store?
I get these sometimes because my kides break (or eat) most crayons so i have to replace them frequently. If they are really cheap I will get them since the supply order for Crayola at school takes forever to get to me.
So, if you spend $5.00 on other stuff you can get any/all of the penny items? Or do you have to spend $5.00 each time you want one penny item?
If you spend $5 on anything else, you are then eligible to buy any of the penny items. But this week, there are only 3 penny items and they're each limit 2. BAH. I understand needing to limit, and I understand why they stopped making exceptions for teachers, but even the average regular family would want more than 2. Wasn't it usually limit 5 in the past? Or am I just fantasizing? I'm not going all the way to Staples and buying $5 of randomness so I can get two measly penny packs of pens...
This wouldn't be an issue if parents actually stepped up and bought supplies for their own kids. You, know, make school a priority and all.... Yeah, yeah, a pipe dream. I live in a city surrounded by rural areas. I know a lot of people that grew up dirt poor. There are several families that gifted their kids school supplies and school clothes at Christmastime. Those kids made the supplies last (no breaking pencils because they were the wrong color, or "forgetting" them in the previous classroom). Just a generation later we have parents that would rather their children have an iPhone than pencils and paper. @@ I mentioned this before when the new policy came out - I'm not stressing over the limits. It was nice when it lasted but I'm at the point now that I am only going to buy for my own children anyhow, so the extras wouldn't be needed. Sometimes it is really nice to get stuff to make my life as a teacher easier, but I'm not going to sweat buying for my students anymore. Today I bought: dry erase markers (4 packs @ $1 ea.) two reams of paper (this is where I make myself into a liar. If I want my students to have copy paper for projects, foldables, etc, I have to provide it. I can't use school paper (.25 after rebate)) superglue (free after rebate) mechanical pencils ($1/pack, 4 packs) mechanical pencils, take two (.25/pack, 4 packs) That's 58 mechanical pencils that my own kids will share next year.
Where I teach most of the kids show up with a reasonable amount of supplies on the first day of school, but since I teach resource, it's not only in a separate room but I also get the kids who are even more prone to forgetting or losing their things. So I keep my own stash simply because I can't be bothered to keep after them or be interrupted by kids borrowing from each other. I try to make sure that my things stay in the room or I'll never see them again, and I don't usually have more than 3 in a group, so I don't need to really break the bank on supplies, they're just good to have. (except paper/notebooks. I do seem to run through a lot of those. I could use a great deal without limits on notebooks and ruled paper, maybe also binders because I still go back and forth between preferring notebooks or binders.)
The bic dry-erase markers for $.50/4-pack at Staples - any reviews? They're fine tip, which is fine with me (pun accidental, sorry) but does that mean they get used up really fast? Or for $.50 do I just not care? Last year I think I got Staples brand fat markers cheap and I wasn't thrilled with them, they did OK I guess but many seemed to fade in and out, and the deal was only on chisel tip which turned out to be annoying.
Expo are the best, IMO. But Staples often has another brand on sale, I forgot the name, sorry. That brand lasts about half the time, but is 20% of the cost. I've never tried the Bic ones, but I figured at 50cents it was worth it. I bought them for my dd to take to school since a lot of teachers are asking students to have their own set for individual white board assessments.
Staples question: Do the free-after-rebate items count towards your $5 minimum purchase to qualify for the penny sales? Overall I'm underwhelmed by their offerings but if I happen to be near a Staples I'd go in for that, if it works.
They have had the $5 minimum purchase where I live for a few years. FYI--if you have a teacher rewards card, you can probably buy more than the maximum number stated in the ad. The Staples near me always lets teachers buy up to 25 of the penny sale items (and up to 100 folders when they have those).
They do! I bought a ream of paper that after the rebate was $.25 and it counted for the $5 purchase. I've actually done that for several years.
