Unlock Savings: A Student's Guide to Staples Discounts and Smart Spending
College life comes with its own set of challenges, and managing expenses is definitely one of them. Whether you're living in a dorm, off-campus, or at home, costs can quickly add up. Fortunately, you can leverage your student status to unlock various discounts and savings opportunities. This guide will explore how to maximize your savings at Staples and beyond, making your college experience more affordable.
Harnessing the Power of Your Student ID
Your student ID is more than just a proof of enrollment; it's your key to a world of discounts. Many establishments offer reduced prices to students on various services and products.
- Medical Care: Student IDs can cut costs on medical care.
- Internet Service: Many providers offer student discounts on internet services.
- Public Transportation: Take advantage of reduced fares on public transportation with your student ID.
- Lifestyle Purchases: From concert tickets to software, many retailers and service providers offer student discounts. Computer hardware and software makers offer discounts and rebates to students.
Smart Textbook Strategies
Textbooks can be a significant expense, but there are ways to reduce this burden.
- Rent Instead of Buy: Renting textbooks can save you up to 80% compared to buying them.
- Plan Ahead: "This may be difficult for freshmen who don’t have their schedules set ahead of time, but it’s perfect for people who can order in advance,” says University of Denver graduate Shannon Reimers.
- Consider Used Books: Look for used textbooks in good condition to save money.
Avoiding Overspending on Supplies
It's easy to get carried away with buying school supplies, but being mindful of your needs can save you money.
- Buy Only What You Need: "My biggest challenge when it comes to not spending too much money on school supplies is deciphering whether or not I truly need the supplies,” says David Merten, a BFA acting major at Ball State University. “If I had a dollar for every notebook or set of felt-tip markers I bought and never used for a college course, I would have a much happier bank account."
- Assess Your Needs: Before making any purchases, consider what you will realistically need for the course.
- Seek Advice: Try to find students who’ve taken that course in the past and get their advice on must-haves.
Price Comparison and Matching
Take the time to compare prices at different retailers to ensure you're getting the best deal.
Read also: About the Staples Tuition Grant
- Research Specials and Discounts: Major retailers offer back to school deals in the weeks before classes start, so research specials and other discounts.
- Price-Match Guarantee: Don’t be afraid to shop around for the best prices and use a price-match guarantee to save additional money. Staples offers a 110 percent price match during the back to school season. This is especially helpful when purchasing high-priced items like laptops for school.
Leveraging Apps for Savings and Budgeting
Mobile apps can be valuable tools for finding deals and managing your finances.
- Retailer Apps: Download your favorite businesses’ mobile apps to snag great deals on back to school supplies, meals, haircuts or recreational activities.
- Budgeting Apps: Apps can send notifications of upcoming bills and payments and total up monthly costs to help you keep tabs on your bank balance.
- Money Transfer Apps: There are even apps that allow friends to easily transfer money to each other digitally.
Staples Specific Savings Strategies
Staples is a popular destination for school supplies, and there are several ways to save money there.
- Staples Sales: Staples holds sales throughout the year, offering customers the chance to save. Staples also takes part in Black Friday sales, and it's always worth looking for some potentially incredible savings in their Black Friday deals. We've previously seen as much as $250 off selected products like laptops.
- Staples Rewards: Users who frequently shop at Staples should consider joining the program. This allows users to receive 2 - 5% of each purchase back in the form of rewards. Members also receive access to exclusive rewards and deals, as well as credit for in-store services. You can use it to get access to exclusive deals and monitor your Staples Rewards points. Just make sure to take your mobile device with you to the store so that you can redeem your rewards points for purchases made in person.
- Staples Newsletter: One of the best ways to stay up to date on possible savings is to sign up for the Staples newsletter. When you sign up for the newsletter, you'll get $15 off your next online order when you spend over $60.
- AutoRestock Subscription: If you regularly purchase certain items, you can save 5% on the usual price for 1 item or 10% on the usual price for orders of 2 or more items. If you buy certain items like printer ink or toner each month, those savings can really add up in the long run. To top it off, shipping is free!
- Coupon Codes: Tom’s Hardware has a coupons team dedicated to finding the latest and best codes for each of our pages. Through partnerships with retailers, our affiliate networks, and searching the web, we find the most recent ways to save on online orders, including any exclusive codes our commercial team negotiates. We then upload the latest codes & promotions to our pages, refreshing them twice a week. A sidebar will pop up on the right asking you to enter the coupon code. Paste your Staples coupon into this field and click “Apply”.
Staples Services and Policies
Understanding Staples' services and policies can further enhance your savings.
- Price Match Guarantee: Yes! Staples has an in-store price match guarantee. First you need to find a lower price or quote from a qualifying competitor, then show a worker in store and they'll verify and adjust your price.
- Free Shipping: Yes! Staples offers free next-day delivery on most online orders of $35+ (pre-tax). Oversized items and special delivery items can incur handling or special fees. You can also pick free in-store pickup on many items.
- Recycling Program: Yes. Staples accepts many electronics for recycling and often offers ink/toner recycling credits for rewards members.
- Refurbished Deals: Yes! Look for refurbished, clearance or open-box listings online on the Staples site to save on laptops, monitors and accessories.
- Printing Services: Prices start at around $2 per page for standard letter size. Prices go up for larger sizes, such as posters or thicker laminate material.
- Postage Stamps: Yes, Staples sells postage stamps but you cannot buy singles. You typically have to buy a booklet of 20 or a roll of 100 Forever Stamps.
Making Smart Spending Decisions
Ultimately, saving money in college comes down to making informed and deliberate choices.
- Needs vs. Wants: What it comes down to is this, Merten says: “The art of spending and saving money in college is asking yourself three questions: Do you need it? Will it benefit you or teach you something? -and yes, I do believe pizza can teach you something at times. And will you miss out on something truly important to you if you don't spend the money?
Read also: Student Accessibility Services at USF
Read also: Guide to UC Davis Student Housing
tags: #staples #student #discount #details
