For colleges and universities, account structure can affect purchasing controls, spend visibility, approval workflows, and how easily procurement teams manage authorized buyers across departments. That’s why the Staples Business platform supports unlimited account users and budget controls, making it possible for institutions to give appropriate purchasing access to multiple employees without relying on a single shared account.
Staples Business provides an online purchasing environment designed for organizations rather than individual consumer purchases. Within an institutional account, multiple authorized users can access the platform according to the purchasing structure established by the organization. Instead of funneling every transaction through one individual, institutions can establish access for approved users while maintaining centralized oversight.
Through the Staples cooperative contract available from E&I Cooperative Services, members have access to Staples’ full product offering, including office supplies, technology, furniture, jan/san products, breakroom supplies, promotional products, and custom print services.
Account access should reflect your institution’s purchasing policies and delegation of authority. Procurement teams should determine who needs purchasing access to the Staples Business Advantage login and ensure that permissions correspond with each user’s role. Authorized users might include procurement administrators, departmental buyers, administrative staff, facilities personnel, or other employees responsible for approved purchasing activity.
Institutions should avoid relying on shared credentials whenever possible. Individual user accounts provide a clearer connection between purchasing activity and the person responsible for the transaction, supporting accountability and better internal controls.
Simply having access to a purchasing platform should not automatically give every employee the same level of purchasing authority. Institutions can structure access around existing procurement policies, departmental responsibilities, and approval requirements. For example, a departmental buyer may need the ability to shop for commonly used supplies, while higher-value or specialized purchases may require additional review.
Aligning account access with purchasing authority can also help reduce unauthorized or off-contract spending. Employees have a clearer path to approved products and suppliers while procurement maintains greater oversight of purchasing activity.
Procurement teams should review who has access to the Staples for Business login regularly, especially when there’s turnover. Employees leave, change departments, assume new responsibilities, or no longer require purchasing privileges. Procurement and administrative teams should periodically review account access and remove or update users when responsibilities change.
Staples Business Advantage login access includes budget controls that can help institutions manage purchasing activity while still allowing authorized employees to obtain the products they need. These controls can support department-level accountability and help procurement teams maintain greater visibility into institutional spend.
Budget controls can also complement internal approval processes. When account structures reflect departments, purchasing responsibilities, and institutional policies, procurement teams are better positioned to identify spending patterns and address purchases that fall outside established procedures.
For institutions with decentralized purchasing, this balance can be particularly valuable. Employees retain access to necessary supplies, while procurement gains a more structured purchasing environment.
The pricing built into the E&I Staples cooperative contract is punchout capable, and Staples Business supports more than 150 eProcurement systems. This allows institutions using compatible procurement platforms to connect the Staples catalog with their existing purchasing workflows.
With punchout, an authorized user can enter the supplier catalog through the institution’s procurement system, select products, and return the cart to the institutional system for approvals and processing. Instead of creating a separate purchasing process, the supplier catalog becomes part of the organization’s established procure-to-pay environment.
E&I members can access Staples through competitively solicited contract CR001309, which is available to higher education and K-12 institutions. The contract includes the full Staples product offering along with financial incentives and rebates, punchout capability, budget controls, and support for multiple account users. Staples also offers more than one million products and operates 32 national fulfillment centers, with next-day delivery available across 98% of the United States.
This recently updated agreement runs through February 2, 2030, with one additional five-year renewal option remaining.
E&I Cooperative Services is the only member-owned, nonprofit cooperative exclusively serving the education sector. Explore the E&I Staples cooperative contract or connect with your E&I representative to learn how your institution can get started.