Privacy Policy
Effective Date: June 13, 2022
Staples Canada ULC and Staples Professional Inc. (doing business in Canada as "Staples," "Staples Professional" and "Bureau en Gros." collectively, “Staples”, “we“, “our”) pride ourselves on our privacy practices. We are committed to being transparent about the personal information we collect, the manner in which such personal information is used by us and the limited circumstances in which some of your personal information may be disclosed. To help us meet this commitment to you, we have created this Privacy Policy (this “Privacy Policy”) and have appointed a Privacy Officer to ensure that any personal information you provide to us, including when visiting our brick and mortar stores and through our websites and mobile applications (collectively, the “Platforms“), will only be collected, used and disclosed in accordance with this Privacy Policy. References to “user”, “you” and “your” throughout this Privacy Policy are to you as the individual to whom the personal information relates.
Your Consent
This Privacy Policy governs how Staples and its affiliates collect, use and disclose personal information. By accessing or using any Platform from Canada, or otherwise providing us personal information while you are located in Canada, you agree with the terms of this Privacy Policy as it may be modified from time to time and consent to the collection, use and disclosure of personal information in accordance with the terms of this Privacy Policy. As our business evolves, this Privacy Policy may change, so check back to this page periodically to make sure you understand how your personal information will be treated.
Meaning of Personal Information
For the purposes of this Privacy Policy, “personal information” means information about an identifiable individual, but does not include the name, title or business address or telephone number of an employee of an organization when collected, used or disclosed solely for the purpose of communicating or facilitating communication with the individual in relation to their employment, business or profession.
The Personal Information We Collect and How We Use It
Except as otherwise provided in this Privacy Policy, the personal information we collect from you is comprised entirely of the information you provide to us. We may collect and use personal information from you as follows:
| How & What We Collect | How We Use It |
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Registering an Account:When you register an account on any Platform, we will collect your name and email address and the password you create. In addition, you have the option to provide us additional information about yourself such as your address and phone number to further complete your customer profile. |
We use this information to allow you to log-in to the applicable Platform, which provides you access to certain features and functionalities, such as viewing your order history and associating your account with memberships you may have with us. We also use this information to enhance and personalize your experience on the Platform, for example, by storing your email so you can log in easily, keeping you logged onto the Platform after you have provided your password and storing the contents of your shopping cart as you browse. |
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Online Purchases: When you make a purchase on or through a Platform we will collect your name, shipping address, telephone number, email address and payment information. We may also collect your loyalty number as discussed in more detail below. |
We use this information to process your order, ship the product you purchased to you and communicate with you about your purchase. We may also use this information to update your customer profile in our database. |
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In-Store: When making a purchase in-store we may collect certain personal information from you if you wish to sign-up for one of our memberships or associations, to identify memberships or associations you have with us or exemptions you may be entitled to. For example, if you claim to be entitled a tax exemption, we may collect certain personal information from you to verify your eligibility. |
We use this information to keep your customer profile up-to date and ensure you receive the benefit of any memberships or associations you are entitled to. |
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Participating in Seminars, Programs and Memberships: We will collect certain information from you when you participate or enroll in certain seminars, programs or memberships made available by us. For example, if you enroll in our Studio Program, we will collect your name, email address and payment information. If you enroll in our Teachers Membership Program, we will collect your name, email, educator type, school, organization, postal code and province. |
We use this information for the purposes for which the information was provided and as otherwise disclosed to you at the time of collection. We may also use this information to update your customer profile in our database. |
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Subscriptions & Warranties: If you purchase a subscription or warranty from us, we will collect certain information from you including your name, address, telephone number, email address and payment information. |
We use this information to administer your subscription or warranty including communicating with you about your subscription or warranty and, to the extent your subscription or warranty is paid for on a periodic basis, facilitating such payments. We also use this information to update your customer profile in our database. |
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Returns:When you return an item you have purchased from us, we may collect certain information from you as part of the return process. For example, if you are returning a product purchased from us online, we will collect your name and address to verify your order and process your return. |
We use the information collected in connection with a return to verify your identify or order and process your return. In addition, we retain a record of your returns as part of your customer profile. |
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Third Party Credit Applications:If you elect to apply for financing through one of our third party financing partners, we will collect certain personal information from you (such as your name, address, telephone number and identification (such as a Driver’s License)). |
In the context of third party financing applications, the only personal information Staples will collect from you is information used for the purpose of creating your user profile with the applicable financing partner and to verify your identity. Staples does not retain this information or use this information for any other purpose. |
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Staples Professional Credit Applications:Staples offers direct financing to businesses.If you elect to apply for financing for your business directly from Staples, we will collect certain information from you about your business which may include personal information, particularly if your business is a sole proprietorship. Such information may include your name, address, telephone address, email and banking details. |
We use this information to assess your credit application and, if your application is approved, administer your credit arrangement, which may include communicating with you about your credit arrangement and withdrawing payments from the designated account. |
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Loyalty Program:You may collect and redeem loyalty points at participating Staples retail locations and at Staples.ca if such programs are available. To the extent such programs are available, Staples does not share any personal information with the applicable Loyalty Program, or receive any personal information from them, with the exception of collecting your loyalty rewards number and informing the loyalty partner of the amount of your purchase made and applicable rewards allocation when such purchase is associated with your loyalty rewards number. |
We only collect and use your loyalty rewards number for the purpose of facilitating your collection and redemption of points at participating Staples retail locations and at Staples.ca. |
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Support and Customer Service:If you contact us, either through our contact us page, site chat functionality, our call centre or by email (for example, about a product you have purchased from us or with a question), we will collect certain personal information about you, including your name, address and telephone number, as well as, to the extent relevant to the inquiry, information about the product purchased. |
We use this information to validate your identity and respond to your inquiry. We may also use this information to update your customer profile in our database. |
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IT Support: If you enroll in our IT support program, we will collect certain personal information from you in order to set up your account including your name, phone number, email address and payment information. |
We use this information to administer your account and provide IT support services including communicating with you about your account. We may also use this information to update your customer profile in our database. We use the audio and video recordings of our services for quality control, warranty and training purposes. |
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Print Services: If you purchase print services from us, we will collect certain personal information from you – including your name, phone number, email address, address and payment information – in order to set up your account as well as any information contained in the file you have asked us to print. |
We use the information collected as part of your account set-up to process your order, communicate with you about your order and, if applicable, ship your order to the designated address. We may also use this information to update your customer profile in our database. |
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Newsletters and marketing: If you subscribe to our newsletters or marketing communications we will collectyour email address or other contact information. |
We will use this information for the purpose of sending you our newsletter or marketing in accordance with the consent you provided and updating your customer profile. Please note you may unsubscribe from receiving these communications at any time. |
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Payment Information |
Please note that when you provide payment information through a Platform, we may or may not collect that information directly. When we collect your payment information directly, we only use such information to process your payment and otherwise in compliance with all PCI-DSS requirements. Where we have engaged a third-party payment processor to process payments on our behalf, which includes all purchases in-store at the point of sale, your payment information is sent directly to our third party payment processor who will only use such information for the purpose of processing your payment. |
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Applicants for Employment: If you are applying for employment with us we will collect certain personal information from you as part of the application process including your name, address, email address, and any information provided on your cover letter, resume or through the assessment and interview process. In addition, if you are considered for employment with Staples, we may ask for your consent to run a background and references check which may be performed by us or through our 3rd party background check vendor. |
We use this information only for the purpose of assessing suitability for employment. |
In addition to the foregoing, we may use personal information we have collected from you to generate aggregated and anonymized data (“Aggregated Data”). Aggregated Data cannot and does not identify you and does not constitute personal information. We may use and disclose Aggregated Data for a number of purposes including improving our Platforms and market research. Our use and disclosure of Aggregated Data is not subject to the terms of this Privacy Policy.
Automated Collection of Information and Interest-Based Advertising
We use cookies, clear GIFs, third-party analytics and other tracking mechanisms to track your use of our Platforms. As you use a Platform, these tracking mechanisms may automatically collect information such as: your IP address, browser type and operating system; web pages you view; links you click; how you move through the Platform including the length of time you use the Platform or particular features or pages of the Platform; and the referring URL, or the webpage that led you to the Platform. We may combine this information with other personal information we collect about you for statistical purposes, for measuring effectiveness of advertising and for fraud detection.
We also use these tools to provide you with a more personalized user experience, to better understand your needs and preferences, to provide you with content (including advertising) that is most relevant to you and to monitor trends respecting the usage of our Platforms.
Do-Not-Track.
Currently, our systems do not recognize browser “do-not-track” requests. You may, however, disable certain tracking as discussed in this section (e.g., by disabling cookies or opting out of ad networks as described further in this section).
Cookies.
Cookies are pieces of information that are transferred from websites to your computer’s hard drive and they may serve a variety of purposes. Web beacons, flash cookies and other similar technologies may also be used for these purposes. For example, cookies “remember” you when you return to a website and make your experience more user-friendly. Cookies identify which web pages are visited and how often. Cookies are also used to allow companies to better understand how their websites are used to improve their services.
How to disable or delete cookies
If you want to prevent your browser from accepting cookies, if you want to be informed whenever a cookie is stored on your computer or if you want to delete cookies from your computer, please make the necessary changes in your Internet browser settings, typically under the sections “Help” or “Internet Options”. See links below:
- Internet Explorer: https://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/internet-explorer/delete-manage-cookies#ie=ie-9
If you disable or delete cookies in your Internet browser settings, you might not be able to access important functions or features, you will be required to re-enter your log-in details and your use of the Platform may be limited.
Please note that if you clear all cookies on your browser, or use a different browser or computer, you will need to complete the opt-out procedure again.
To opt out from flash cookies, please click here: //www.adobe.com/privacy/opt-out.html.
Below is a brief description of the different types of cookies we use, how we use those cookies and the potential impact to your experience if they are disabled.
Types of Cookies, How They Are Used and
The Potential Impact If Disabled
| Cookie Type | Purpose | Potential impact if disabled |
|
Session Cookies |
Used to support website functionality |
Access to website content and features may be limited |
|
Preference Cookies |
Used to remember user preferences from one visit to the next |
Preference will need to be reset on each visit to the website. This may also disable the ability have websites "remember" you at time of login |
|
Advertising Cookies |
Used to serve you advertisements that may be relevant to you and your interests |
Advertisements will still be displayed but will be more random and may be less relevant to you and your interests |
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Security Cookies |
Used as a component of a website’s general security and user authentication processes |
Access to website and features may be limited |
Clear GIFs.
Clear GIFs (a.k.a. web beacons, web bugs or pixel tags) are tiny graphics with a unique identifier, similar in function to cookies. In contrast to cookies, though, clear GIFs are embedded invisibly on web pages, not stored on your hard drive. These “images” are automatically loaded to your browser/device when you visit our website or open an html format email message from us, thereby letting us know if a certain page was visited or an email message was opened. Clear GIFs allow us to record simple user actions related to our websites and to email communications received from us, to help us determine the usage and effectiveness of our site and communications. We might use clear GIFs to track the activities of our visitors and app users, help us manage content, and compile statistics about usage. We and our third party service providers also might use clear GIFs in HTML e-mails to our customers, to help us track e-mail response rates, identify when our e-mails are viewed, and track whether our e-mails are forwarded. These can be blocked either by using a third party application such as Ghostery (https://www.ghostery.com), or, in the case of emails, by changing your settings to prevent images from being downloaded (where your email client supports this functionality).
Third-Party Analytics.
We also use automated devices and applications, such as Google Analytics (https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245) (to opt out, go here (https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout) to evaluate usage of our Platforms. We use these tools to obtain aggregated statistical information about the use of our Platforms to help us improve our services, performance and user experiences. These analytics providers may use cookies and other technologies to perform their services, and may combine the information that they collect about you on our Platforms with other information that they have collected about you from your use of other sites.
Third-Party Ad Networks.
We may use third parties such as network advertisers to serve advertisements on our Platforms and on third-party websites or other media, and to evaluate the success of our advertising campaigns. This enables us and these third parties to target your browser with advertisements for products and services in which you might be interested, based on inferences made from browser activity. Third-party ad network providers, advertisers, sponsors and/or traffic measurement services may use cookies, JavaScript, web beacons (including clear GIFs), and other tracking technologies to measure the effectiveness of their ads and to personalize advertising content to you. These third-party cookies and other technologies are governed by each third party’s specific privacy policy, not this one. In some situations, we may provide these third-party advertisers with limited information about users (e.g., IP address and basic demographic information solely for the purpose of reconciling payments for third party advertising), but we do not disclose details such as your name or contact information. You may be able to avoid targeted ads by certain ad networks by blocking cookies (see your browser’s “Help” menu for information on how to do this); however, our Platform may not work if you block or disable cookies. For participating ad networks and providers of interest-based advertising, you may opt-out of receiving online behavioural advertising by clicking on the AdChoices icon located in the top righthand corner of any of our websites or in the ads placed on our sites.
How We Disclose Your Personal Information
We will not disclose any personal information we collect from you to any third parties except as follows:
- Our Affiliates. We may disclose your personal information to any of our affiliates within the Staples corporate group to the extent that these affiliates require such personal information and only employees or service providers of these affiliates which require such personal information to perform their duties will have access to it.
- Service Providers. We may disclose your personal information to our service providers who perform certain services necessary to run our business (for example, data hosting and payment processors) to the extent that they require such personal information to perform their duties.
- When Reasonably Required. We may disclose your personal information when we believe in good faith that disclosure is necessary to protect our rights or property, protect your safety or the safety of others, investigate fraud or respond to a government, judicial or other legal request, or to comply with the law.
- Corporate Circumstances. We may disclose your personal information in connection with a corporate change or dissolution, including for example a merger, acquisition, reorganization, consolidation, bankruptcy, liquidation, sale of assets or wind down of busines.
Protecting Your Personal Information
At Staples we take the protection of your personal information seriously. We make every reasonable effort to prevent unauthorized use, disclosure, loss or theft of your personal information. Employees who have access to your personal information are made aware of the importance of keeping it confidential.
Where we use service providers who might have access to your personal information, we select them carefully and require them to have privacy and security standards that are comparable to ours. We use contracts and other measures with our service providers to ensure that they maintain the confidentiality and security of your personal information and to prevent such information from being used for any other purpose.
Please be aware that no data security measures can guarantee complete security. You should also take steps to protect against unauthorized access to your password, phone, and computer by, among other things, signing off after using a shared computer, choosing a robust password that nobody else knows or can easily guess and keeping your log-in and password private. If you do not want Staples to know any particular information about you, you should not include that information in anything you submit or post to the Platforms.
Transfers outside Canada
Some of Staples’ service providers are located outside of Canada, including in the United States. As a result, your personal information will be used, stored and/or accessed in countries outside of Canada, including the United States. However, all such information will be protected in accordance with this Privacy Policy. Please note that when your personal information is located outside of Canada it will be subject to the laws of the country in which it is situated.
Retaining Your Personal Information
We will only retain your personal information as long as is necessary for the fulfillment of the purposes for which it was collected or as required by law. Your personal information is securely stored until such time as it is no longer required, after which it is destroyed or rendered such that it is unable to identify you.
Your Choices
You may be able to access or update certain information in your user account on a Platform by logging in to the "My Account" or similar area of the applicable Platform. Where a Platform does not have the "My Account" feature, you may access or update the personal information we hold about you by contacting us using the contact information in the “How to Contact Us” section below.
You also may also withdraw your consent to certain of our uses and disclosures of your personal information.
To opt out of interest-based advertising, visit the NAI's consumer website at http://www.networkadvertising.org/choices/ or Aboutads info at http://www.aboutads.info/choices/.
Children's Personal Information
Our Platforms are designed for a general audience and are not directed to children. We do not knowingly collect or solicit personal information from children under the age of thirteen (13). If we become aware that we have collected personal information from a child under thirteen (13), we will promptly delete the information from our records. If you believe a child under thirteen (13) may have provided us with personal information, please contact us using the contact information in the “How to Contact Us” section below.
Links To Third-Party Websites and Services
For your convenience and information, our Platforms may contain links, banners, widgets or advertisements that lead to other websites not owned or operated by us. For example, a Platform may include tools that allow you to share and/or publicly post content or information from the Platform to your profile on a third-party social network. We are not responsible for these other sites or applications, and their posted privacy policies (not this Notice) will govern the collection and use of your information on them. We encourage you to read the privacy statements of each website or application visited after leaving our Platform to learn about how your information is treated by others.
In addition, we use several social networking platforms to communicate with our customers, some of which are operated by third parties, such as Facebook. This Privacy Policy applies to our use of information you submit to us on such platforms, but it does not apply to what those third party platforms do with your information.
Updates to this Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy or our other privacy related documents will be updated from time to time. You are responsible for reviewing this Privacy Policy periodically and informing yourself of any changes to this Privacy Policy. This Privacy Policy may be found on Staples’s website at staples.ca or obtained by contacting our Privacy Officer (please see the “How to Contact Us” section below)
How to Contact Us
If you have any questions related to our practices with respect to the collection, use or disclosure of personal information, including our policies and practices with respect to our use of service providers outside Canada, or if you wish to complain to us in writing about how we have handled your personal information, please feel free to contact our Privacy Officer us at:
Mail
Staples Canada ULC.
6 Staples Avenue
Richmond Hill, Ontario, L4B 4W3
Attn: Customer Privacy Department
Email
privacy@staples.ca