Office Max and Staples are both offering good deals this week on office suppies -- some as cheap as a penny after rewards.

At Office Max, 12-packs of legal pads, 12-packs of Post-It Notes, binders and 10-packs of storage boxes are all a penny each after MaxPerk Bonus Rewards, which means you do have to lay out the cash in advance. Office Max issues the rewards in the form of store credit.

Get more details and join the MaxPerks Rewards program HERE.

Over at Staples, take note of the coupon for $10 off a $75 in-store purchase in Sunday's circular. It's valid through Saturday, May 26. The coupon excludes HP and Epson ink and toner, copy services, gift cards and postage stamps.

Staples is giving away reusable shopping bags through Saturday, Dec. 31.

Print this coupon and pick up your bag at the customer service desk. Or save a sheet of paper and your ink and show the coupon on your smartphone.

The coupon also gives you a 15 percent discount on everything you can fit in the bag, including clearance items.

Documents:

All three office-supply stores are offering penny deals this week in an effort to get you in their doors to spend what's left of your back-to-school budgets. Here's a store-by-store breakdown of the very best deals on supplies typically on students' lists.

Let's do some freebies. It's Friday after all. Free movies, free dog food, free CFLs and a freebie for teachers. Read on.

Who can resist a 1-cent sale? That's what the back-to-school retailers are hoping.

It makes for smart marketing, but not necessarily smart shopping. So be careful out there and read the fine print.

Here are my favorite school-supplies deals for the week with the fine print in bold to help you out:

Coupons on school supplies are pretty much a rarity so I was excited to spot one on B2P pens from Pilot.

I was also pretty psyched because the gel pen is made out of recycled water bottles. (B2P = bottle to pen.) It's part of Pilot's line of BeGreen products, which are manufactured from recycled products.

Do your homework before heading out to buy school supplies.

The big sales have begun, but similar to last week, there's lots of fine print to read.

Some of the deals, such as those at Office Max this week, require a minimum $5 purchase. Some involve rebates. Most of the good deals also have limits and are only good while supplies last. So beware.

Here are the best deals I saw:

Last week, it was 10-cent glue sticks and 20-cent crayons.

Starting today, it's computer paper for a penny! And Sharpie markers for FREE.

It may still be early July on the calendar, but for retailers, the back-to-school sales blitz has begun in earnest.

The back-to-school deals have begun.

I haven't yet seen any of the insanely cheap deals we've had in the past, such as penny packs of notebook paper or crayons for a nickel.

But how about 10-cent glue sticks? Or a 24-pack of crayons for 20 cents?

Chapel Hill Carrboro Chamber of Commerce president Aaron Nelson responded to my blog post about county staff reconsidering their contract with Office Depot because it has no location in Orange County. He alerted me that the chamber itself is poised to sign a contract on behalf of its members for discounted supplies from Office Depot.

"We're using that power of the collective to help our members save money," Nelson said.

Though county staff mistakenly mentioned keeping sales tax in Orange County by buying from Staples (local governments don't really pay sales tax as they get reimbursed), Nelson points out that the county share of sales tax goes to the county in which goods are delivered, regardless of their shipping origin. That means ordering online from Office Depot for delivery in Orange County keeps sales tax in Orange County.