A new school year...more crap to sell... - Page 2

[kewb]

I don't participate in most of our schools fundraisers (and I am on the PTO
Board). I do buy scrip every week because I am shopping at those stores anyway and it does not require much out of me.

I never buy from the catalogs but I know a lot of parents who like "getting something" for their donation. They see more value in buying some overpriced doodad then just writing a check out to the PTO.

[bigeyes]

Originally Posted by kewb

I never buy from the catalogs but I know a lot of parents who like "getting something" for their donation. They see more value in buying some overpriced doodad then just writing a check out to the PTO.

That just kills me. I have had people tell me how much they love the products and how they feel they are a great value. :
Where do they shop? I've never seen anything that I thought was well made or a good value for the money, and it always feels like extortion. :

[EFmom]

My favorite is when people rave about the quality of the wrapping paper. : This is a product designed to obsure the identity of a package for a short period of time, and then go straight into the landfill. What kind of quality do you need for that?

[Potty Diva]

This is the first time we are dealing with this and it as got me hot!

My 6 year old attended a pep rally where the spokesperson of the catalog company gave a speech about how if you sell x amount of items you can attend a big party!

Ok, so what about kids who don't know 10 people to sell this overpriced junk to?

It's such crap and Kailey came home crying because there were children who received the award prizes for selling twn and she didn't get a price. The prizes were junk.

They sent home a form saying all you had to do was sign saying your child sold ten items. I signed the thing even though she had not sold ten.

I'm also a member of the PTO and can't wait for our next meeting (first time for PTO as well).

What ever happened to carnivals?

[wifeandmom]

Originally Posted by EFmom

My favorite is when people rave about the quality of the wrapping paper. : This is a product designed to obsure the identity of a package for a short period of time, and then go straight into the landfill. What kind of quality do you need for that?

We just turned in catalogs from Innisbrook, which is one of the wrapping paper companies. I, like many others, will *not* sell to others. Not family, not neighbors, and not friends. I will.not.do.it.

Funny story though. At my girls' birthday party, one of my neighbors saw the catalog on the kitchen counter. Her girls go to a different school, and she went on and on about how she wished they sold wrapping paper. 'It is such GREAT wrapping paper, blah blah blah.' I eventually told her she was welcome to take one of the catalogs home and see if she wanted to order anything.

She's the only one we 'sold' to. I bought some things for us, including two rolls of super cute wrapping paper, but I lean more towards the 'It's going to get ripped and thrown in the trash' camp so I only bought the two rolls that were too cute to pass up.

Two things I did like in the catalog were a car bingo game (my older three are maddening in the car these days, and it was cute and reasonably priced) and cards that you attach their school picture to, fill in the blanks with age/grade level, and are blank on the inside. I figured they'd get a kick out of sending those to grandparents, aunts, etc.

As for how much money they make on these sales, the PTA president spoke on the issue at the first PTA meeting. She said they were more than happy to take direct donations, all of which would be tax deductible. But they've done that in the past and don't make anywhere near as much money as they do with the catalog sales.

The lady that was adding everything up last week said they had surpassed their goal of making $20K already and she was about 80% done adding orders at that point. There are 900 students in the school, so every.single.parent would have to send in $25 PER CHILD in direct donations to make that kind of money otherwise.

[Potty Diva]

Our school makes UP TO 50% of sales.

I know it's for a good cause and that we do bring in a lot of money this way, I just don't think my 6 year old should be pressured into making money for the school.