US Postal Service to no longer offer services at Staples

NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. Postal Service will no longer be offering its services at Staples stores across the country.

Those services, which were handled by Staples employees, will be discontinued at about 500 of the office supply retailer’s locations by the first week of March.

The USPS said in a statement that in November it was ordered by a National Labor Relations Board administrative law judge to discontinue its retail relationship with Staples and that it plans to comply.

Staples confirmed that its partnership with USPS would be ending, saying in a statement that its customers would still have access to shipping services through its relationship with UPS.

The American Postal Workers Union said in a statement on Thursday that it is calling off its three-year campaign against the USPS and Staples partnership. The union had argued that the deal replaced union jobs with low-wage, nonunion workers.

The financially struggling USPS began its partnership with Staples Inc. because it was looking to strike deals with businesses in order to help reduce its costs and increase revenue. The deal started as a pilot program in November 2013 at 84 stores in California, Georgia, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania as a way to make it easier for customers to buy stamps, send packages or use Priority and certified mail.