The year that was November 2010 US industry icon Howard Brown and his son Michael, who had returned to the office products scene in May with the creation of HiTouch Business Services, propelled themselves to the top of the independent dealer charts after swooping for $130 million Tennessee reseller MyOfficeProducts (MYOP). One big change to the MYOP business is a transition from its stockless model to a stocking model that the Browns favoured during their time at Allied, a move requiring major infrastructure investments.
December 2010 The government contracts issue was still grabbing the headlines as the holiday season approached. San Diego County sensationally cancelled its bid for the new National IPA cooperative contract, only for National IPA to reveal days later that it had agreed to piggyback onto Office Depot’s Florida state contract. That agreement was not without controversy, however. A new off-contract product pricing amendment to the Florida contract appeared to give Office Depot a free hand to set pricing on non-core items. Staples – which had jointly been awarded the Florida contract – revealed that it had refused to sign a
January 2011 As Independent Stationers began the year as the holder of the US Communities contract, the dealer group received another boost for its national accounts programme after agreeing a three-year deal in the healthcare vertical with the CHAMPS purchasing organisation. Rumours resurfaced about a possible merger between Office Depot and OfficeMax after the South Florida Business Journal speculated that Depot could be hearing “wedding bells”. A Los Angeles jury unanimously sided with Accentra, maker of the PaperPro stapler, in its patent infringement case against Staples.
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US Office Products Industry Annual Review 2011
Mergers, acquisitions, appointments and new structures; the past year in office products has thrown up some interesting developments Staples’ third quarter results showed that it was gaining share from its big-box rivals, its delivery business posting swings of 6% and 5% on those of Depot and ‘Max respectively. CEO Ron Sargent said that things were “heating up” in the government contract business ahead of the US Communities contract switch to Independent Stationers in January. On the M&A front, MWV announced that it had agreed to sell its EPG envelope manufacturing business – producing around 25 billion envelopes a year – to Quality Park owner Cenveo. Katun acquired the toner cartridge business of struggling aftermarket manufacturer Media Sciences International (MSI) and agreed to be the exclusive distributor of its solid ink sticks – a move which eventually led to MSI being wound down. similar pricing amendment and told OPI that it found the situation “distressing”. NOPA President Chris Bates called the amendment “a major step backward”. In California, the City of San Francisco and Office Depot reached an agreement in their long-running dispute over alleged overcharging by the supplier. Depot agreed to a $4.25 million cash and credit settlement in what it described as “a reasonable compromise”. On the vendor front, Fellowes announced it had filed a patent infringement lawsuit against ACCO over shredder technology. ACCO said it would “vigorously defend” the allegations. Meanwhile, ACCO promoted Boris Elisman to COO with full responsibility for the sales, marketing and operations of all the company’s businesses and products worldwide.
Accentra’s suit alleged that Staples’ OneTouch line of staplers infringed on three patents Accentra held for its PaperPro staplers. The jury agreed that Staples had “wilfully” infringed on Accentra’s patents, but the office supplier said it would appeal. United Stationers said it was cutting 150 jobs in a move to save the company between $4-5 million a year. In what was described as a “focused workforce realignment”, United said the reduction would come from a voluntary early retirement programme. There was sad news for the industry after well-known independent dealer figure Bob Rosa was tragically killed in a car accident. Rosa had run the family dealership in Indiana for many years before retiring in 2006, but was still active in a number of civic and charitable organisations.