Back To School
It's the end of August and we all know what that means: if they're not already back in the classroom, the children running about your community all summer will soon be going back to school, leaving you with less to worry about until 3:30 each day
. HOORAY!!!
Every time I turn on my TV or radio right now, someone from Target, or WalMart, or Fred Myers, or Fruit of the Loom is telling me about all the things I need to buy to prep my kids to go back to school. They've got me believing that I need to be buying everything from new backpacks to super hero themed lunch boxes, and I don't even have children. I can't imagine what it's like for those of you out there who have little voices in your own homes that agree with the friendly people on the TV. ABC News quotes The National Retail Federation,saying, " families with school-age children will spend an average of $450.76 on back-to-school items." With the economy the way it has been this last year, I'm going to bet that sales of plain jane #2 wooden pencils will be up and sales of Eversharps will be down. And you can forget the fancy Trapper Keeper this year (do they even still use Trapper Keepers?) and get used to the plain jane three ring binder.
As with most things, the $400 plus price tag hits our residents in the same place that they're already feeling a huge pinch. How can we make it better for them? It's a magical secret, used mostly just for throwing resident events, but I'll let you in on it.
Costco and Sam's Club.
No child is going to go through the entire box of 250 pencils that you buy at a warehouse store. Not in a year, not in 5 years. That's why parents for the most part, unless they're teachers who are also buying supplies for their classrooms, don't do their back to school shopping at these places. But you've got a unique advantage that makes warehouse shopping make all the sense in the world. You've got a community to share the cost.
It will take a little work, but if you're willing to put it in, it will pay off in the resident retention dollars down the road, and this is a program that will have minimal costs including a little time and some fliers!
Step 1: Go to a Target or WalMart near you and pick up the supply lists for the elementary school (K-6) classrooms that service your community. These will have the most number of items that overlap and will help you get your supply list built.
Step 2: Once you've got your most commonly used supplies list built, it's time to take 30 min at the warehouse store and price the items. Don't forget to get the price PER ITEM, not just the price of the big container. (Price per item can be figured by dividing total cost by pieces in the container, ie $12 for 250 pencils comes up to about 5 cents a pencil.)
Step 3: On paper, put together and figure up the cost for a basic back to school kit. Then send out a flier to your residents letting them know that they can pay a particular amount to the office and have a once stop, much cheaper, shopping trip to get the bulk of their back to school supplies. One note though, make sure that you make the supply kits available to people who don't have kids, too. Fair Housing still counts!
Step 4: Once you've got the payment from your residents, buy the supplies and put the kits together. You can either then deliver the kits to your residents homes or you can host a back to school party where the kids can come pick up their supplies and you can take pictures of the community's "Class of 2009" kids standing in front of your club house.
The cost of sharing a bulk price will save your residents money, give you an inexpensive event, and it will be something people remember year to year since it's an event where you're only thinking about them! It's one more chance to connect, and when we connect, we retain!
. HOORAY!!!Every time I turn on my TV or radio right now, someone from Target, or WalMart, or Fred Myers, or Fruit of the Loom is telling me about all the things I need to buy to prep my kids to go back to school. They've got me believing that I need to be buying everything from new backpacks to super hero themed lunch boxes, and I don't even have children. I can't imagine what it's like for those of you out there who have little voices in your own homes that agree with the friendly people on the TV. ABC News quotes The National Retail Federation,saying, " families with school-age children will spend an average of $450.76 on back-to-school items." With the economy the way it has been this last year, I'm going to bet that sales of plain jane #2 wooden pencils will be up and sales of Eversharps will be down. And you can forget the fancy Trapper Keeper this year (do they even still use Trapper Keepers?) and get used to the plain jane three ring binder.
As with most things, the $400 plus price tag hits our residents in the same place that they're already feeling a huge pinch. How can we make it better for them? It's a magical secret, used mostly just for throwing resident events, but I'll let you in on it.
Costco and Sam's Club.
No child is going to go through the entire box of 250 pencils that you buy at a warehouse store. Not in a year, not in 5 years. That's why parents for the most part, unless they're teachers who are also buying supplies for their classrooms, don't do their back to school shopping at these places. But you've got a unique advantage that makes warehouse shopping make all the sense in the world. You've got a community to share the cost.
It will take a little work, but if you're willing to put it in, it will pay off in the resident retention dollars down the road, and this is a program that will have minimal costs including a little time and some fliers!
Step 1: Go to a Target or WalMart near you and pick up the supply lists for the elementary school (K-6) classrooms that service your community. These will have the most number of items that overlap and will help you get your supply list built.
Step 2: Once you've got your most commonly used supplies list built, it's time to take 30 min at the warehouse store and price the items. Don't forget to get the price PER ITEM, not just the price of the big container. (Price per item can be figured by dividing total cost by pieces in the container, ie $12 for 250 pencils comes up to about 5 cents a pencil.)
Step 3: On paper, put together and figure up the cost for a basic back to school kit. Then send out a flier to your residents letting them know that they can pay a particular amount to the office and have a once stop, much cheaper, shopping trip to get the bulk of their back to school supplies. One note though, make sure that you make the supply kits available to people who don't have kids, too. Fair Housing still counts!
Step 4: Once you've got the payment from your residents, buy the supplies and put the kits together. You can either then deliver the kits to your residents homes or you can host a back to school party where the kids can come pick up their supplies and you can take pictures of the community's "Class of 2009" kids standing in front of your club house.
The cost of sharing a bulk price will save your residents money, give you an inexpensive event, and it will be something people remember year to year since it's an event where you're only thinking about them! It's one more chance to connect, and when we connect, we retain!
Posted by Heather Blume at 9/1/2009 3:07 PM 
Categories: Customer Care, Resident Relations, Office Supplies Addiction, Groovy Gifts
Tags: resident retention Customer Service
Categories: Customer Care, Resident Relations, Office Supplies Addiction, Groovy Gifts
Tags: resident retention Customer Service
Hey Heather:
Interesting post! I like your idea and I'm going to go you one better.
Undoubtedly, there are teachers at the school district wherein your property lies that have students who are having a tough time affording school supplies in general. This often results in teachers buying these supplies out of their own pocket.
Why not donate some of these supplies to the school as well? Believe me, the elementary schools need things like wipes, facial tissues,antibacterial pump soaps and more.
You can 'adopt the school' if you like and give all kinds of things. If you're in an affluent property, why not turn it into a community event? Having two kids in public schools right now, I've seen how expensive it can be just for supplies let alone clothing, backpacks and more.
Schools also appreciate purchases of their apparel to have on hand for children who get bloody noses, fall down in mud puddles, etc. and need a change of clothing. Believe me, all schools can generally use your help these days!
Good post.
LT
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Lisa,
You're absolutely right! In fact, in a quick Google search, I found this article from Edutopia:
I can attest to this on a personal level, as I have for many years watched my mother and father buy classroom supplies out of their own pockets since their districts just didn't have the money to cover the costs for the needs of the classrooms.
Adopting the school is a great idea if you have the community who can do it, but if you can't afford to put that much money to it, there is a website called "I Love Schools" where you can look at wish lists of teachers in your area and help them afford either a piece of equipment or the extras for a special project.
Schools need help, and whether it's running a Kleenex drive or donating a computer, reaching out is something that almost every community can do.
Thanks for the idea, Lisa!
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I wonder about Trapper Keepers too! Very innovative idea - talk about saving residents time AND money. I'd love to hear success stories from communities that implement this!
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I had a very cool Trapper Keeper each year up through 6th grade. It was essential.
I suppose our Trapper Keepers are today's iphones. *sigh* We're getting old, Jen. We're getting old.
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Yes I am the mother! Most schools don't provide Kleenex or any other tissues any more. A tissue drive makes sense and would help curb the outbreaks of the flu this Fall.
Good post, my daughter.
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Thanks, Mom
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I really, really love this idea - I remember from my own school days just how many items we needed to purchase to supplement school supplies, and the situation appears to simply be deteriorating as rapidly as possible as our education budgets are slashed. When my son was born I swore that I would become an educational advocate, one of Those Moms advocating for more field trips, but now I'm sitting here wondering whether our schools will even be able to keep up with the things they need, much less the "extras" like field trips!
Communities doing things like this, recognizing the need we have to educate our young ones and to contribute to each other's welfare - it's an awesome thing to even consider, let alone implement. Way to go above and beyond!
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Thanks Sara! You know, I was talking with my mom on the phone and she also told me that one of the best times to do supply drives or to resupply kids is around November, when all of the first of the year supplies are down to the end. You could talk to some of the communities that you work with to see if they'd be willing to organize these sorts of events for that upcoming time frame!
Let me know how it goes!
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