Office Depot to Offer FedEx Services at More of its U.S. Stores

By Tess Stynes 

Office Depot Inc. said FedEx Corp. shipping services will be available at all of the office-supplies retailer's more than 1,500 U.S. retail locations starting next month.

The Boca Raton, Fla., company said it is expanding its relationship with FedEx to all of its Office Depot retail locations. The retailer, formed through the merger of Office Depot and OfficeMax in 2013, already offers FedEx services at its OfficeMax chain and has had a relationship with the shipping giant since 2009.

"We have seen an increase in the use of FedEx shipping services and solutions in our OfficeMax retail stores, and look forward to rolling them out to our entire chain early next month," Office Depot merchandising executive Ron Lalla said.

According to Office Depot's website, all of its Office Depot retail stores have United Parcel Service shipping services, while some of them have certain U.S. Postal Services offerings, but the retailer didn't mention either shipper in its news release Tuesday.

An Office Depot spokeswoman wasn't immediately available to comment.

Office Depot has been facing an uphill battle to compete with its chief rival, Staples Inc., since their roughly $6 billion merger plan was blocked by antitrust regulators in May. Both companies face increased competition from low-cost purveyors such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Amazon.com Inc.

Office Depot earlier this month provided some details of its strategy for proceeding as a stand-alone company, including plans to close an additional 300 stores and to trim $250 million in costs by 2018.

Write to Tess Stynes at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 30, 2016 11:25 ET (15:25 GMT)

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