Thread regarding Office Depot Inc. layoffs

From a customer's perspective, the Office Depot-Office Max merger is a disaster. Shelves are empty throughout the store in my area. The manager said it's because the company wants to sell out Office Max branded items. However, the inventory has not been replenished with new merchandise for weeks. I left without buying anything. It appears that Office Depot is merely going through the motions of being in business. They just want to put a ribbon around the stock and sell it. The website is a disaster - most of the functions don't work. Took 4 months to access the merged accounts. Phone calls routed to call centers not staffed by Office Depot employees. The call center is in the Philippines. Live chat staff might be in China. Many U.S. phone reps work out of their homes. The Spanish-speaking Filippino crew try, but fail. No one there or in the U.S. has the authority to make decisions or to solve problems. They bullshit at every turn, make up stories. 'The system is updating' (for 3 moinths?). 'No manager or supervisor on duty' (nightly?) Managers are merely supervisors. They can't escalate or even report problems to the US headquarters. There is no escalation protocol. They can't transfer callers to higher-ups or to US headquarters. No names or departments are given. They tell you to call corporate headquarters and speak to the receptionist. It's a way to keep the customer running and off-balance. Office Depot doesn't care. This is fraud and a breach of fiduciary responsibility. They shouldn't be allowed to merge. Either tend to the business or close the doors. You can't claim a poor business environment and then deliberately sabotage the business to obtain FTC permission to merge.