A new school year...more crap to sell...

[imahappymama]

So I get home yesterday and start to talk with my 10 yo ds about school; how was your day, etc...He brings me his folder of take-home stuff and it is full of junk. Not school work or anything remotely related to learning; just pages of crap for sale. He pulls out these sheets of prepackaged frozen meals for sale; 'spirit wear' i.e. sweatshirts, t-shirts and miscellaneous stuff for sale, the coupon book that he is asked to sell to family and friends and, last but not least, pictures of him in various packages ranging in price from $30 to $50! What really frosts me is that the not at all subtle implication, especially with the pictures, is that if you don't buy this ***t that you are a bad parent who doesn't "cherish your child!" Man! It really makes me angry. And then he feels bad if I don't buy his pictures. He told me that he is embarassed if he doesn't sell the stuff and that they are "required to sell it or they'll get in trouble". : I just don't want it and certainly am not going to buy the frozen fat-nuggets/meals to make him feel better! What kind of mixed message is that? "Okay honey, we'll buy the frozen nasties for you to support the school. It's totally void of any nutritional value and will kill you in a heartbeat but we'll support your school with the proceeds." Not happy.

[EFmom]

I don't do the selling crap fundraisers. Corporate America can sell its own crap, and they aren't using my children as an upaid sales force to do it.

I am more than happy to support the district financially, because they really don't get nearly the funding they need. So, I write a generous check to our PTA. They get the money, I get the tax deduction and Sally Foster is cut out of the loop.

What really frosts me, though, is that they use school time for giving the kids marketing assemblies to get fired up to sell all this crap in exchange for some plastic trinket. Every year I have to sit my kids down and explain that the company wants to use them to sell stuff without paying them, which isn't fair. They get it pretty quickly.

[momtothree]

I agree with the pp...take all the stuff back to the school and make a donation instead. When all is said and done, the school is only getting a small portion of the price of the product you are asked to sell.

[Zach'smom]

Ds just came home with his Sally Foster catalog. I am not going to buy any overpriced wrapping paper or ask anyone I know to. Fortunately they don't use any of Ds's school time to hype selling the stuff. They told him what it was and Ds put it in his backpack. They don't get prizes or anything for selling. We are just going to write a check to the PTA, so they can have all of the $$. Lots of people around here do that instead.

[Shantimama]

When those things come home from my kids' school, they go staright into the recycling bin. Every few months I go through our books, games, etc and donate them to the school. We homeschooled for a long time before sending them to school so we have some great stuff. The teachers and the principal at the school love it. They try to keep the fundraisers to a minimum and they like receiving books and educational toys that have already been kid approved.

The time I went in with all of my primary homeschooling "teaching" materials I was told it was a feeding frenzy in the staff room afterwards

[Meli65]

I went to my first PTC meeting this week (Parent Teacher Committee) and they have decided to no longer do catalog sales and instead are going to have a winter carnival where people can come sell crafts and all that usual direct-sale stuff like Avon and Pampered Chef. It will be a lot of work for the volunteers, but they feel that that way the onus is on the parents and not on the children, as it should be. I applaud that!

They also do the Market Day thing and 99% is stuff I would never have in the house. However, I did see that they had things like frozen peas and broccoli florets and since I am not particularly religious about buying that stuff organic I thought I may as well get it from them and do my bit to support the school.

This is my first year in public school with a kindergartener -- I was planning to homeschool and am very gung-ho about doing what I can to help out!

[mattemma04]

Ours will start soon with the principal magazine sale.Then there is a fall harvest sale at the school where foods and crafts are sold.I also see a santa shop.The shop/harvest sale is ok,but not the magazine sale. If the kids are not made to feel bad about not selling(or buying) items then I will donate money,but any guilt trips will result is $0 going to the school from me.

[LookMommy!]

Wow, I guess I can be thankful that with all the problems that we have in Israeli schools, at least we don't have to sell/buy things. I can't think of a single fund raiser other than the once a year "fun day for families" which includes a bake sale (cakes are donated and sold, but there is no pressure). I've been to about 4 Tupperware parties in 16 years here, and the other stuff hasn't caught on yet at all. Of course my kids in public school have to buy their own books, so I guess that's the tradeoff.

[MOM2ANSLEY]

One of my coworkers was buying enough to make her sons quota(12 items)....b/c the "reward" for selling is participation in "funday"(during school hours---taking away from class time)....they have inflatable bouncy rooms, slides, obstacle courses etc...and if you dont sell enough you have to sit in class....How crappy

[KalamazooMom]

I feel the same as many of you. My DD is in 2nd grade so this is the third year we've been through this. I immediately put the catalog and order forms in the recycle. I do send in a check to contribute to the PTA. I do agree it's a worthwhile organization and they are able to fund many opportunities and programs for the kids.

I have complained about this in the past, and suggested they do car washes, bake sales, etc. rather than this corporate scheme in which they only get to keep a portion of the profits. They claim there's no way they'd be able to make the kind of money they make from the corporate plans. As I recall last year they made well over $10k from it so perhaps it's true?

[MamaDaednu]

Originally Posted by MOM2ANSLEY

One of my coworkers was buying enough to make her sons quota(12 items)....b/c the "reward" for selling is participation in "funday"(during school hours---taking away from class time)....they have inflatable bouncy rooms, slides, obstacle courses etc...and if you dont sell enough you have to sit in class....How crappy

Oh no!
That would make me feel so sad for all the kids who couldn't sell enough. I know as a single mum I couldn't afford to buy my son out of that. What a horrible thing to do to the kids.

[bigeyes]

sigh


this stuff pisses me off so much.

I don't want their overpriced crap. I don't want my kids to be peddlers.
And I damn sure don't want them to be punished for not being good little sheep.



I believe this is my angriest post ever. I can't understand how so many people fall for the marketing ploys of this outfit, with their dollar store plastic prizes and forced child labor, and the guilt trip they try to lay on you if you don't want to participate. argh!

[mattemma04]

My kids brought home their principal magazine sale packets.The school really hyped them up with the prizes-3 mags for playtime in the bouncey house,6 mags for a ride in a limo,and 12 mags for time in a money tunnel(win what you catch). It is a shame that they get kids all excited,and expect the parents to spend atleast $30 per child.I am sure there were mags for $10 each.Ofcourse those that I would even consider getting were $18-24.Besides I don't need 6-24 magazine subscriptions,and I am sure everyone we know is also getting or selling these as well.

[EFmom]

It is true that they raise a great deal of money with the selling crap fundraisers because parents feel guilty and buy the junk.

The only way to get the PTA to stop is to stop buying the crap. Dh wrote them their check this year at back to school night. The PTA lady announced loudly, "Wow, you know it's only $7 to join the PTA." Dh said, "Oh, we don't do any fundraisers that require the kids to sell stuff. We'd rather just write you a check so that you get all the money, we get the tax deduction and we don't buy stuff we don't want."

You could see a light going on in the heads of the other parents, some of whom then did the same thing.

So, it doesn't hurt to be a bit vocal about not doing these fundraisers.

[menudo]

My kids brought home their principal magazine sale packets.The school really hyped them up with the prizes-3 mags for playtime in the bouncey house,6 mags for a ride in a limo,and 12 mags for time in a money tunnel(win what you catch). It is a shame that they get kids all excited,and expect the parents to spend atleast $30 per child.I am sure there were mags for $10 each.Ofcourse those that I would even consider getting were $18-24.Besides I don't need 6-24 magazine subscriptions,and I am sure everyone we know is also getting or selling these as well.

DD came home last Thursday with this and was convinced she could win an IPOD.I was so annoyed. I figured I'd look at the catalog and by Monday was saying "Where is it?" She said "don't bother, it is due back tomorrow?" WTF? I checked and it was noted on a calendar! 4-5 days? : DD said noone she knew of sold anything! Then today she tells me its school pictures-as she wakes up 10 minutes before the bus (partiallly my fault ) and is running to school with messy hair and an old tee. She insists she left the paper at school btu got it YESTERDAY! I called the school and they confirmed it! no school pcis for her. I was livid, I didn't have the $$ that last minute anyway! I am not happy with this school so far (she is only in 5th grade btw!)

There are so many better fund raisers (that make sense, don't exploit with promises of prizes, etc.) And I do have abig extended family-whose own kids have fundraisrs-noone has this $$ for crap. I can get more, better stuff at the dollar store!

[lovemyfamily6]

I was dreading this. Co-workers are always bringing stuff in that their kids are selling. Today my kindergartener brought home a paper and an envelope. It's for an Unraiser. Basically, they said they polled the schools families and people prefer not to sell, so they're asking for families to write checks to the school. They have their goal listed and say if each family can contribute $35, they'll meet their goal but will appreciate any amount. I think it's an excellent idea because all the money will go to the school, there's no selling of crappy overpriced stuff and dh and I wouldn't feel like we needed to take the things to work like lots of other people do.

[diamond lil]

I don't have kids yet, but both neighbors on either side of me do. Each year for about 3 or 4 years, they used to sell wrapping paper. I loved it! It was the nicest wrapping paper. I used it to cover several storage boxes in my closets, plus gifts, of course. Now they don't sell it anymore. Just wanted to let everyone know that I actually liked some of the fundraiser stuff!

[mirlee]

Well, we moved to a private school and we have already done our Sally Foster sale. We will also have chocolate for Christmas/Hannukah and Easter, magazines, Scrip (gift cards), shirts/jackets/sweats, Scholastic booksale, Market Day and about three other things or so. Then we have to sell popcorn for scouts.

For school we need to raise $250 as a family, raise most of that and then pay the balance or just craft a check for the amount. We are doing some sales because I just can't write a check in that amount at this time. I would rather pay a tuition increase so that the cash is spread out over the year than do this. Even at his former public school it was the same way only there was no set amount to be raised.

Believe me, I feel your pain.

[philomom]

Nope. Just ignore what you don't like. The Sally Foster gift wrap always went back unopened. No way I'm I letting my kids do that crap. We have sold magazines to our little circle of neighbors. Most folks I know do get a magazine or two anyway, they may as well help my kid's school. This is also when I renew my magazine stuff as well.

Good luck.

[mommy68]

There are more parents than you know who do not want to participate. I assure you that you aren't the only one. I knew someone once who refused to let her children participate and went to the school during a PTA meeting and announced how adamant she was about them making children sell stuff. They never got anything sent home in their backpacks after that and she even changed some things at their school at that time.

Luckily, my kids school doesn't do the sales that often. They have an in-school book sale twice per year, a Scholastic sale with flyers from the company with books for sale and they do school sponsored events to raise money where the kids participate and the parents can donate to support it. When they sell from the gift type catalogs I might buy a few things but I never share it with anyone else. I don't do the family and neighbors thing. They also sell school shirts each year but that's it. Nothing is forced and I like that. When my kids were in public school it always seemed like something was being pushed on us.