Staples, it seems, may have bowed to pressure from the American Postal Workers Union (APWU) and the call from the American Federation of Teachers to boycott the company, and given its postal services scheme the elbow.
The company said that it would discontinue the pilot programme – which was announced last November – in the coming weeks and instead would become an ‘approved shipper’ for the US Postal Service (USPS).
The APWU called the Staples’ move a ‘ruse’ in a statement from its President Mark Dimondstein, stating “this attempt at trickery shows that the ‘Don’t Buy Staples’ movement is having an effect”.
In an interview with the Boston Globe, a USPS spokesperson remarked that the postal service looked forward to continuing the partnership and postal services will continue at the 82 Staples locations used in the pilot scheme.
The Union said it would keep up the pressure on the reseller until it gives up the mail business.
“Staples and the USPS are changing the name of the programme, without addressing the fundamental concerns of postal workers and postal customers,” the union stated.
Staples was unavailable for comment at the time of publishing.
Framingham (MA), USA