But this is America. Where everything is outsourced because private companies are more efficient than the government! And then they make up for those efficiencies by skimming fees off the top and then some.

We use myschoolbucks in FCPS. If there's a fee, I can't find it. (And I am now looking for it.)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:totally shady operator.

A $10 transaction should cost around $.20-.30 depending on their processor. You won't hear most merchants gripe about $10 purchases (Starbucks or McDonalds anyone?). Credit cards are a normal means of transacting cash. Christ, even drug dealers will take Bitcoin. Cash seems like more of a hassle to process and account for than electronic transactions.

+1. I"m a charter parent but someone should share this with Grosso. Would be a relatively simple thing for the Council to pressure/force DCPS into changing. I get that they need a percentage but these are ridiculously high.

Grosso? Good one.

Anonymous wrote:
As usual, the poor are at a disadvantage. The ones just above the free meals range who can't pay large sums into the system.

This. They are also probably the big cash cow for the company. This absolutely shouldn't be allowed. A few years ago, when I found out about this, I did a little research. If I remember correctly, the company is headquartered in Indiana. I wrote a letter to their CEO. Never heard back.

Conclusion? They are pond scum. A nice expose on them by an enterprising reporter would be nice.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait until your kid leaves the system and you have money in their account. TRY getting that back. HAHAHA.

Schoolbucks says the $$ is at the school, they are just the processor. Schools says that Schoolbucks holds the money. My child is a sophomore and I still haven't been able to get the $15 back from anyone. Not a large amount but it is my money!

I'm the OP of this post ... I actually DID manage to get a refund, but it took three months. There's an actually competent person in our school admin office who knew the exact person to contact at DCPS. It's the Compliance Associate in the office of Food and Nutrition Services, (202) 299-2159.

Oh and also: Schoolbucks may only be the "processor" ... but they ought to be able to process refunds just as easily as the process deposits. Total b-shit.

Anonymous wrote:Wait until your kid leaves the system and you have money in their account. TRY getting that back. HAHAHA.

Schoolbucks says the $$ is at the school, they are just the processor. Schools says that Schoolbucks holds the money. My child is a sophomore and I still haven't been able to get the $15 back from anyone. Not a large amount but it is my money!

I'm the OP of this post ... I actually DID manage to get a refund, but it took three months. There's an actually competent person in our school admin office who knew the exact person to contact at DCPS. It's the Compliance Associate in the office of Food and Nutrition Services, (202) 299-2159.

Wait until your kid leaves the system and you have money in their account. TRY getting that back. HAHAHA.

Schoolbucks says the $$ is at the school, they are just the processor. Schools says that Schoolbucks holds the money. My child is a sophomore and I still haven't been able to get the $15 back from anyone. Not a large amount but it is my money!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I refuse to have them do the recurring payments because I have been charged for meals my child never ordered for he last two years and it took most of the summer both times to resolve the issues. We were charged over $30 one year and $20 the next. The system isn't good enough for me to trust them to have access to my credit cards (or heaven help you, a debit card). You have to watch them closely.

That has nothing to do with the online system, that is the fault of whoever at the school is dealing with the lunch room. Someone at the school is putting those meals on the card.

We had at his happen and it took days of traveling through the circles of hell to find anyone at DCPS to deal with it. As soon as they did, the money went back. But it shouldn't have gotten to that point -- I only realized it because I started getting the ominous warnings from myschoolbucks. Everyone should check their account at least monthly to make sure you aren't being incorrectly charged. And I only put exactly how much I anticipate my child will use per semester. I would never give them a penny more than necessary of my money to use as they see fit.

Anonymous wrote:I put $100 cash in the school kiosk the first day of school. I could have easily used the website, but I refuse to pay the $1.95 fee. That's almost another meal.

This

Anonymous wrote:

Lmao

Anonymous wrote:totally shady operator.

A $10 transaction should cost around $.20-.30 depending on their processor. You won't hear most merchants gripe about $10 purchases (Starbucks or McDonalds anyone?). Credit cards are a normal means of transacting cash. Christ, even drug dealers will take Bitcoin. Cash seems like more of a hassle to process and account for than electronic transactions.

+1. I"m a charter parent but someone should share this with Grosso. Would be a relatively simple thing for the Council to pressure/force DCPS into changing. I get that they need a percentage but these are ridiculously high.

Just wait until your child leaves the DCPS system and you try to get unused funds back.....

Anonymous wrote:I refuse to have them do the recurring payments because I have been charged for meals my child never ordered for he last two years and it took most of the summer both times to resolve the issues. We were charged over $30 one year and $20 the next. The system isn't good enough for me to trust them to have access to my credit cards (or heaven help you, a debit card). You have to watch them closely.

That has nothing to do with the online system, that is the fault of whoever at the school is dealing with the lunch room. Someone at the school is putting those meals on the card.

totally shady operator.

A $10 transaction should cost around $.20-.30 depending on their processor. You won't hear most merchants gripe about $10 purchases (Starbucks or McDonalds anyone?). Credit cards are a normal means of transacting cash. Christ, even drug dealers will take Bitcoin. Cash seems like more of a hassle to process and account for than electronic transactions.

Anonymous wrote:Payment systems aren't free, if you don't like it use cash

that's absurd. Their payment fees are not 10-20% . If they want to cover cost merchants typically get around .018/transaction plus $.10.

It is usurious. I won't use them either, and that doesn't even get into the substandard quality of the food provided