I'm getting ready to host my second Scholastic Book Fair next week and I =
have some comments I would like to make concerning the profit structure =
and Scholastic programs in general. Scholastic has us sell the books at =
book fairs at retail prices, there is no discount and we don't get the =
books at wholesale price. According to my Profit Option sheet from them =
if the book fair sales are between 1200 and 2999 the only way you can get =
50% is to take all your profit in books. If you want both books and cash (=
like I do) the best deal is possibly 20% in books and 15% in cash. This =
means Scholastic is making a tremendous profit. I have always felt that =
if a fund raiser was worth your time that the profit should be 50%. It is =
also a benefit to your school and community to get at least 50% profit =
because they are the ones using their money to pay for the items they =
purchase. =20
When my children were in school I was constantly being asked to buy =
something for numerous fund raisers at their school. Many times as a =
parent I would have preferred to give them money instead of having to =
purchase something and have the school make so little profit. Last year o=
ur sale grossed about $2,300 and I had to remit over $1,800 to Scholastic. =
Now I know we owe them for the merchandise we sold, but that is not a =
very good rate of return. =20
My other concern involves both Scholastic Book Fairs and the programs like =
Accelerated Reader. If Scholastic is now nationally the biggest company =
for book fairs and AR and/or Reading Counts isn't this almost a monopoly? =
They certainly have more than their share of the market. What effect =
will this have on authors? What if their books are not picked up by =
Scholastic? Does that mean few sales of the book and less earning for the =
author? Does this mean our students ideas about reading are determined by =
the selections offered through Scholastic? =20
The other day someone on LM_NET posted a message and said their collection =
was 70% AR books. If it is, does the collection still have balance? =
Honestly, I found that statistic very alarming because I think we are =
losing sight of what a school library should look like and replacing it =
with Scholastic reading programs. If you add into this mix the Scholastic =
book clubs they really have cornered a big share of the market and in my =
opinion because of this they have too much power over the materials that =
are available to schools. =20
--=20
Kathy Geronzin
District Librarian=20
Northeast Community Schools
369 Hwy #136
Goose Lake, IA 52750
319-577-2249
FAX 319-577-2248
FAX 319-577-2248
kathy_geronzin@po-1.northeast.k12.ia.us
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