Staples Inc. — Ethics Grade C

Staples Inc. receives an overall ethics grade of C (52/100) on CancelCo's corporate accountability database. Sector: Retail. Market cap: Large Cap.

Category scores

• labor: 45
• privacy: 40
• consumer: 55
• environment: 75
• humanRights: 60

Documented incidents (3)

• Blocked Office Depot Merger (medium, 2016) — The FTC successfully sued to block Staples' $6.3 billion acquisition of Office Depot, arguing it would eliminate vital competition in the office supply market for large B2B customers. The court ruled the merger would likely lead to higher prices for enterprise corporations.
• Data Breach Affecting 1.1M Cards (high, 2014) — Staples confirmed a malware infection on point-of-sale systems at 115 retail locations. The breach resulted in the theft of customer names, card numbers, and expiration dates for over one million payment cards.
• Overtime Pay Lawsuit Settlement (medium, 2015) — The company settled a class-action lawsuit for $2 million involving assistant store managers who claimed they were misclassified as exempt from overtime pay. Plaintiffs alleged they performed primarily manual labor rather than managerial duties.

Documented good deeds

• Electronics Recycling Leadership — Staples has recycled over 165 million pounds of electronics and 182 million ink and toner cartridges through its comprehensive in-store take-back program.

Ethical alternatives

• Patagonia — While different products, Patagonia represents the gold standard in corporate ethics and resource management.