Office Depot Announces Free Guaranteed Buyback® Plan with Back-to-School Computer Purchase

BOCA RATON, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Office Depot (NYSE: ODP), celebrating 25 years as a leading global provider of office supplies and services, today announced a partnership with TechForward, Inc., the first provider of Guaranteed Buyback plans, to give away a “Free” Guaranteed Buyback Plan to all customers who purchase a computer or tablet PC along with a Performance Protection Plan or Tech Depot Services offering. The offer will run from June 26 through September 10, 2011 just in time for the busy back-to-school shopping season.

“We are thrilled to work with Office Depot to provide the value of Guaranteed Buyback plans to their customers”

Through this free offer, Office Depot will help customers buying computers and tablet PCs during the back-to-school shopping season be ready to upgrade when new technology comes out in the future. Office Depot’s Guaranteed Buyback plan enables a fast, simple and eco-friendly trade-in that offers up to 50 percent of the customer’s original retail purchase price in the form of an Office Depot gift card that can be used for future purchases.

At any time within two years of the purchase of the computer or tablet PC, Guaranteed Buyback planholders can go to www.techforward.com to initiate the trade-in. TechForward will provide postage and shipping materials as needed to return the product, and the customer will then receive the Guaranteed Buyback payout that can be used towards a future purchase at Office Depot.

“Office Depot’s new Guaranteed Buyback plan allows our customers to buy a brand new computer or tablet PC today with the confidence that they can get value out of the product when they are ready to upgrade in the future,” said Randy Wick, Vice President of Technology Merchandising for Office Depot. “As one of the largest retailers of notebook and tablet PCs, we are dedicated to providing our customers with the best possible shopping experience from start to finish.”

“We are thrilled to work with Office Depot to provide the value of Guaranteed Buyback plans to their customers,” said Jade Van Doren, Chief Executive Officer of TechForward. “Guaranteed Buyback plans will help back-to-school shoppers get value while increasing their loyalty to Office Depot.”

The Office Depot Performance Protection Plan provides convenient and trusted service for product purchases plus 24/7 customer service. Office Depot’s Tech Depot Services provides computer set-up, optimization, protection and much more – all with a next day guarantee for most PC fixes that are brought into the store by noon local time.

To learn more about the products and services available at Office Depot, please visit your local Office Depot retail store location or www.officedepot.com. To become a fan of Office Depot on Facebook and receive exclusive content, offers and more, please visit www.facebook.com/officedepot. To follow Office Depot on Twitter, please visit www.twitter.com/officedepot.

About Office Depot

Celebrating 25 years as a leading global provider of office supplies and services, Office Depot is Taking Care of Business for millions of customers around the globe. For the local corner store as well as Fortune 500 companies, Office Depot provides supplies and services to its customers through 1,641 worldwide retail stores, a dedicated sales force, top-rated catalogs and global e-commerce operations. Office Depot has annual sales of approximately $11.6 billion, and employs about 40,000 associates around the world. The Company provides more office supplies and services to more customers in more countries than any other company, and currently sells to customers directly or through affiliates in 55 countries.

Office Depot’s common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol ODP. Additional press information can be found at: http://mediarelations.officedepot.com and http://socialpress.officedepot.com/.

About TechForward, Inc.

TechForward gives customers the flexibility to upgrade their computers and electronics more affordably, easily, and responsibly. TechForward’s Guaranteed Buyback® plans take the uncertainty out of upgrading by guaranteeing future trade-in values for devices at the point and time of sale, by making the trade-in process easy, and by reusing or recycling returned devices. TechForward was the first to market in 2006 with Guaranteed Buyback plans for consumer electronics. More information can be found at www.TechForward.com.