Teacher Perks

Well, as a teacher of 21 years, I know that Teacher Perks sounds like an oxymoron, but it's not, and I'm not talking about the philanthropic rewards.

Most of the office supply stores offer some sort of teacher reward in the form of money to spend in their store when the teacher spends a certain amount of money.

Well, there must be more competition than usual, because Office Max just improved theirs. In the past, a teacher had 3 months in which to spend $75 to begin getting a kick back. If you spent $45 in the first quarter, at the beginning of the second quarter, you started over at $0.

Well, starting July 1, the amounts will carry over, so you will not lose what you accumulated at the end of each quarter! That's good news. It is good enough to keep me spending at Office Max.

Staples has a similar system, but you must reach $100 to get any reward. Perhaps someone should tell Staples that Office Max has a better system to get them on the same page.

If you do not yet have a rewards card for Staples, Office Max, and Office Depot, make sure you sign up for one the next time you are there. It is worth it even if it only gets you $10 worth of rebates. That could buy 2 reams of paper or copies that your school might not allot you because of the budget crunch.