Ink recycling programs change, but you can still benefit

re: Ink recycling programs change, but you can still benefit

Inkman — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 18:26:07 GMT

Don't knock the new system. I didn't care for it at first but have acquired over 4,000 empty cartridges since November, although I will be hanging up my recycling gloves very soon. It isn't difficult to run multiple accounts for every office product retailer willing to give $3 credit for a item which costs 30 to 45 cents. Office Max has been cracking down on "recylcers" purchasing prepaid credit cards with ink rewards. I picked up MANY $100 Visa cards, which is a much better deal than getting $9 off some purchase with the original plan. Staples began the ink recycling fad, in the fall of 2003 or 2004, with what was intended as a THREE MONTH special promotion.

re: Ink recycling programs change, but you can still benefit

Johnny — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 06:30:21 GMT

This is more of a mess then I want to know about!!! I was under the impression that these companies were wanting to do the right thing by offering recycling programs that make people want to participate. All this back and forth junk about credit,gift cards, end of the quarter, minimums, ETC.... Makes me want to just chuck all my empty's into the garbage! I would rather just get free paper or a discount on my next ink purchase.HMMMM... that would be too easy.

re: Ink recycling programs change, but you can still benefit

John — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 23:47:16 GMT

From Office Depot's program detail at www.myworkliferewards.com/.../wlrFAQ.do

Is there a limit to the amount of Rewards I can get?

Yes, starting 12/07/2008 your Recycling Rewards will not exceed the amount of your total annual Office Depot purchases (excluding taxes and shipping). Unearned Recycling Rewards will carry over from quarter to quarter and will expire at the end of the year.

How many cartridges can I recycle per day and get rewarded for?

From 11/09/2008 to 11/15/2008: up to 25 qualifying cartridges per day.

From 11/16/2008 to 12/06/2008: up to 5 qualifying cartridges per day.

Starting 12/07/2008: up to 5 qualifying cartridges per day. Your Recycling Rewards will not exceed the amount of your total annual Office Depot purchases (excluding taxes and shipping). Unearned Recycling Rewards will carry over from quarter to quarter and will expire at the end of the year.

re: Ink recycling programs change, but you can still benefit

warren — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 14:36:08 GMT

Please note that Office Depot has changed the terms if the recycling program once again in early December 2008 - they will now limit the amount you can receive as a recycling payment to be no more than the value of the total purchases made and registered to your member number. Therefore, if you have accumulated credits greater than your purchases that you made, you forfeit all of the cartridge credits and their value that exceeds your purchases. Any purchases you made with them before you signed up for the rewards card don't count. Since the quarter ends on December 31st, if you don't have enough purchases to match your recycling totals, you lose the difference forever. Effectively, Office Depot is requiring that you make additional purchases in order to get credits that you have already earned which is not only a bad policy for PR purposes, but may also violate state laws that prohibit a purchase requirement to obtain a benefit or credit already earned.

re: Ink recycling programs change, but you can still benefit

Mona — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 21:35:57 GMT

Hi Ginc,

Sorry, I only just saw your post today, I hope you are able to get this. I am part of a Parent Teacher group at my daughter's school, and the way we use the funds for the recycling of ink (etc.), boxtops, campbell's labels and all that good stuff is:

We have a fund for each teachers' out-of-pocket supply expense (our school has $100 per teacher; I'm sure this varies from school to school), we help pay for buses for each classroom's field trips, we pay for school assemblies, we pay for teacher & staff appreciation week, secretary appreciation, etc., we helped pay for a new school playground, basketball hoops and equipment, and many other things.

We do not usually pay for the curriculum or school books or things like that because we are not ALLOWED to! We actually wanted to fund a supplementary reading program in our school, but our district said studies show they were not really helping the students to read better, so they were frowning heavily upon doing that. We did help the school buy a Vocabulary program for the school's computers, but that is as close to supplementing the curriculum as we have gotten. We try to help out the teachers and the students in constructive ways other than with direct curriculum assistance.

Please check with your school's Parent Teacher group before you write them off. We are only doing what we think is best for our kids within the parameters of the school system. They truly do limit our ability to directly assist the students. But parent's input is what directs where our Parent-Teacher group funding goes. Please go to a meeting and let them know what you want to see the funds used for.

Hope that helps!

Thanks!

re: Ink recycling programs change, but you can still benefit

Ginc — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 16:45:07 GMT

This is a response to Mona and everyone else that pays taxes to support the local school systems across the country.

I recall an extremely short list of school supplies needed to attend the public and private schools that I attended 1st-12th grade. My niece now comes home with a list just slightly shorter than her and when I worked part time at Staples the teacher had a list of out of pocket supplies as long as their arms. I just made a donation to a friend for her special needs kids because she was unable to buy supplies for them. The school did not given her any money to do this this year. Where is the money going to? I regularly clip box tops, campbell soup labels, and whatever else they ask for to help towards getting needed supplies but to be honest most of the time I can't see where it was used or is benefiting the kids. My niece's entire 5th grade class is failing reading. So again where is my tax dollars going too? I do not have children myself so I feel I can really demand an answer as to where the money is being spent. I have co-workers fresh out of high school who can not spell or structure a sentence or a thought in any intelligible fashion. And don't seem to be able to read very well either.

I know this is a little off subject but the saving/recycling for schools comment just hit a nerve. WHAT ARE WE DOING? We have people that can't read, do simple math, and certainly do not understand the basic structure or purpose of our government or economics graduating from our schools. No wonder we are in such bad shape as a nation.

re: Ink recycling programs change, but you can still benefit

leti — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 21:58:22 GMT

Where on their website is all of this info? Can someone please post the URL for Office Depot? thanks

re: Ink recycling programs change, but you can still benefit

Mona — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 05:27:22 GMT

Hi All, Please consider donating your ink/toner cartridges, I-pods, MP3's, cell phones and laptops to your local school. They may recycle any or all of these to help them get money for their student's field trips, playground equipment, assemblies and so much more.

Thanks!

re: Ink recycling programs change, but you can still benefit

Rob — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 03:14:10 GMT

I just heard about being able to recycle 25 / day from a freind of mine on Thursday and then Friday he called and said they changed it!! I have over a 1,000 pieces in my garage. I'll probably have to use both Office Max and Depot to get rid of them. For those of you that like to get money for recycling, I found this cool set that pays for used electronics and pays the shipping www.recycleitamerica.com

re: Ink recycling programs change, but you can still benefit

Shawn — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 20:54:40 GMT

Effective November 16th, Office Depot changed their ink recycling program once again. They must have had a ton of ink cartridges come in since last Sunday so they now restrict it to 5 cartridges per day or $15.00 in rewards points per day rather than $75.00 per day. I knew it was too good to be true!