[LM_NET] Subject: Scholastic Book Fairs fuel surcharge

[Elizabeth Fox <keokuk@CASCO.NET>]

I would contact your Scholastic rep personally and see what alternatives are
available.  I really wonder if your local rep might even be able to 'waive'
the surcharge; there's a lot of flex in their contracts with schools, it
seems.  I have been surprised in the past that there were options available
that were not advertised, like their $1 paperback sale, etc.

I personally don't like the monopoly these folks have on school book fairs.
I don't know if Books are Fun is available in your area, but they can also
do a small fair, and their prices are more reasonable, even if they have
less inventory.  The website for them is
http://www.booksarefun.com/StorePage.cfm?cpid=2&seo=Book-an-Event

One thing I particularly hate about the Scholastic Fair is all the
geegaws...way overpriced pencils and just lots of JUNK.   It's less about
buying a good book than about buying all this 'stuff.'  It seems crazy for
us to push this, when most of our schools have stores that furnish supplies
more reasonably and at a greater benefit to the school programs.

Long ago, our school booster organization did a HUGE book collection and
then had a "free" book fair.  Each kid got a ticket to get a free book.  It
didn't matter if their parents had donated books earlier, everyone got one.
We weren't able to use our school discards, but we might have been, had we
saved them from the year end.

I'd love to hear about other book fairs, and how they worked for your
school.   

Elizabeth Fox, Media Assistant
Newport High School, Newport, OR
keokuk@casco.net (pm)
Liz.fox@lincoln.k12.or.us (schooldays only)


 

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