We already covered Staples rebate & reward programs, so now we’ll talk about how to get great freebies at OfficeMax.  If there is one reason to shop there vs. other office supply chains: you can roll your MaxPerks Rewards!!  The first thing to know when signing up for MaxPerks Rewards is that they have two types of accounts to choose from:

Max Perks Business Account

• Rewards are issued monthly
• Earn a $25 bonus for every $500 in purchases
• Qualifying purchases are carried over each month until you reach $500

Max Perks Teacher Account

• Rewards are issued quarterly
• Earn a $10 bonus for every $75 in purchases (max $100 per year)

How to Enroll

You can get a MaxPerks card in store, sign up online or call 1-866-MAXPERKS. It will take a little while for your card to come, but you can access your member number at officemax.com/maxperks. This is also how you will access your reward certificates.

Personally, I prefer getting the rewards quarterly so their isn’t as much pressure to roll them quickly and while I do some deals, I don’t think I’ve ever spent $500 at one office supply store. We home-school our three girls, so getting the teacher account made sense for us.

The main thing to keep in mind is that we aren’t ever focusing on purchasing normal priced deals.  Each week, I scour the ad and pull out the best office supply deals or items that have special rewards or rebates that make them a good price.  Many times, the best rewards deals are only available online and are never published in the ad, so watch for those posts too!

How to Earn MaxPerks Rewards

Check the weekly office supply deals here on Southern Savers and keep an eye out for items like this:

In this example, you are purchasing a tablet case for $24.99 and will get a $24.99 reward back! Notice that the limit is also 2. Most of the time they have several Bonus MaxPerks deals running at the same time so you can grab a bunch of deals and then wait until your rewards come back the next month (or quarter depending on which program you chose). The best part is that you can use the rewards you earn toward more reward items next time!

Redeeming MaxPerks Rewards

Rewards can be redeemed, in-store, online or over the phone. One of the biggest complaints folks have is that they don’t have an OfficeMax in their area – not to worry, they offer most of the reward deals online and shipping is always free with a $50 purchase! Plus you can shop in your pajamas, which is always a plus.

Our nearest OfficeMax is about 110 miles away, but I maintain ~$50 in rewards that I roll each quarter into free after reward products and never have to pay shipping!  (You will still owe tax of course.)

Rewards for Ink Recycling

Honestly, this is the most disappointing and confusing aspect of their rewards system, so you may want to think about doing your ink recycling elsewhere.

You will earn $3 in MaxPerks rewards when you recycle your undamaged HP, Dell or Lexmark ink/toner cartridges up to 20 per calendar month, which means up to $60 in rewards. If only it were that easy.

Here’s the catch: You can’t earn more ink rewards than your qualified purchases at Office Max for the month, so if you don’t make large non-rewards purchases often, this isn’t worth doing.

Also remember that there are other ways to save at OfficeMax. They accept manufacturer coupons, and they occasionally have rebates that you can take advantage of too.

Do you have any other tips for how to make the most of the OfficeMax rewards system?