Reply to Sprout School Supplies

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I just bought mine through Sprout. I have no idea if my school uses it for a fund raiser or not, I am thrilled to have it done and sent to the school. It makes my life easier. I have one child and both my husband and I work in good paying jobs. Could I save money by going to Target? Sure, but is saving $10, maybe $20, worth digging through the piles of stuff to find what the teacher wants? Nope.

There are times I will worry about saving cash and then there are times I worry about convenience. This is a convenience issue for me.[/quote]

Finding crayons, paper, and other supplies at a regular store is really not hard and you don’t have to dig through stuff. Lol.[/quote]

You do when the teacher asks for a specific composition book, and folders with specific colors, and specific types of pencils. And it might not take too long but I know my patience level and what I am willing to do. We go to target sporadically, I don't want to make a trip to look for the very specific items the teacher puts on the list. Yes, some of it is easy to find but some of it is very specific.

My teacher friends are clear that they ask for specific types of pencils because they are stronger and less likely to break, so they don't want the kids bringing in whatever pencil pack they can find, but a specific type of pencil. They have success with specific products and know some of the other versions don't work as well. So they are putting specific types of supplies on their list and that is really what they want your child to bring in. They don't want folders with characters of different colors because it causes problems if one kid has the pink folder and the other kids have red. And it might sound stupid and easy to deal with to me but I can only guess that my teacher friends hate when parents send in things that are different from the list because they know it will cause problems.

So my desire to make my life easier and my teacher friends life easier and desire to not dive into my OCD like tendencies to make sure I am getting the exact correct type of dry erase pens means I happily pay the extra $10 at Sprout. And I don't have to carry the stuff in. Or take the 30 minutes to an hour to go to Target to find the stuff.

For the parents who are cool with doing that, you could start your own services. Charge $5 less then Sprout and do the shopping for the people who are using the service. You make some extra cash while doing the shopping that you were going to do any way. It is a win-win. Advertise on the neighborhood apps and boards. [/quote]

News flash - they have all types of colors of folders at most office supply stores. And the comp books -there’s two kinds: wide ruled and college ruled. Elementary schools always want wide ruled. I don’t care how mnah pages are in them (some have 80, some have 100). Most supplies become community  supplies anyway. The teacher is not actually checking if you got the exact specific one. Chill out.[/quote]

I don't get responses like this.    Why do you have to be so nasty.  I am sure the PP is well aware she can buy this stuff at an office supply store.   However, that is how she chooses to spend her money, not yours.   Nor is she asking you to do her shopping for her because her time is more valuable than yours.   Her decision has absolutely no bearing on what you do and in fact, may make things easier for you as that is one more blue composition notebook at the store for you to buy.   So, maybe you need to chill. 
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Really? And you don’t think it’s nasty at all that she suggests I start a service to buy other’s supplies? GTFO.[/quote]

It wasn't meant to be nasty. If you are out buying your kids stuff and find it easy and could make some extra money, why not? I would bet that someone who did this and under cut Sprout by a little bit would be able to make enough to pay for their kids school supplies and a nice dinner or two. It is a bit of a side hustle that probably isn't inconvenient because you are already doing it. The reality is that Sprout and other such services started because someone did just that, they developed a side hustle for the neighborhood that made them some extra cash and realized it could be something bigger. My Mom did that type of thing when we were kids, not school supplies but we had some kids who would come to our house before school and have breakfast with us and ride the bus to school. It was less expensive for the parents and my Mom was already getting breakfast ready for 2-4 kids so adding another child or two wasn't hard. She made a little extra money, the parent saved money, no big deal. (shrugs)

My apologies if it came off as nasty.

My DS sprout box was $40 this year, no headphones included but we have a set that he has been using and will send those back in. 
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