Blown Away

We're starting to price out packs for schools and, once again, it's stunning how the lists have changed.

Back in the day, 1991, when Terri thought of starting School-Pak, the first lists we received from schools had the usual items on it. A box of Crayons, some markers, a couple of folders and notebooks, maybe some colored pencils, a glue stick or two and some looseleaf paper.

We were so apprehensive that the packs cost more than $20.00. Who in their right mind would pay that much just for school supplies? I remember that first year when we went through all the work and sold just 1 pack at one of our 7 schools. We were doomed.

Eventually parents caught onto the idea of convenience and we began to grow. And so did the packs. Soon we were up to 6 glue sticks, 2 packages of paper 6 folders, 6 notebook, compasses, protractors, etc. You get the picture. The price went up yet parents bought because they wanted to be sure to have their kids ready for school.

Our first culture shock came in the late 90's when teachers began asking for tissue! Tissue!!!

What did that have to do with being ready for school?

OK. we added tissue. Of course the next year, teachers wanted 2 boxes of tissue since not everyone brought tissue. Fine, each pack got 2 boxes of tissue.

Oh boy! Sometime in the early 2000's, a new substance was found in schools that changed science and the way we live. They found ... lice!

Now all the headphones had to be wiped down with baby wipes so lice wouldn't spread. Makes sense. But shortly afterward it was noticed that kids had "dirt" on their hands. Here came the hand sanitizers. (Didn't schools have soap and water?)

Oh wait. Next came soft soap for the kids. And it kept growing.

This past year I worked on a quote for a school that was incredible. The teachers were asking for 6 containers (80ct) of baby wipes. A package of paper cups, 24 plastic forks, a roll of paper towels, 24 plastic spoons, 4 (yes 4) boxes of tissue, 3 containers of Clorox wipes and two boxes of ziploc bags (gallon and sandwich).

All told, the pack cost $94.48. When we took out the "grocery" items, the price dropped to $62.62. So the grocery items represented over 50% the cost of the school supplies.

Now with 20 kids in a class (although there are stories of 40 in a class)your looking at 800 sneezes per child or 16,000 to 32,000 sneezes per classroom. No wonder they need all those Clorox Wipes.

Someday maybe we'll go back to the old days. And then we'll lead all the competition by putting sleeves into the packs. They worked well in the past. (Of course, moms probably didn't like it.)

The Hunger Games

We went to see "The Hunger Games" Friday night. Overall, I found most of the film enjoyable. Early in the film there I had a difficult time following the cinematography and editing. The pictures moved a little too fast and switched too frequently. When did it become the "best" way of filming by moving the camera a little. It used to be a steady picture until someone got this great idea to make it look "real". Not a fan.

I did find two things about the experience that I wasn't in favor of. We watched a family go into the theater with their small, age 2-3, son. The movie is pretty violent and loud, probably not appropriate for a little kid. (Boy, am I showing my age!). I'm guessing that mom and dad, not wanting to pay for a baby sitter, nor wanting to give up the movie, just decided that they'd bring the little tyke along. Of course, they'll be hard put to understand why he has nightmares. The move is PG-13 not PG-3!

The whole idea behind the story is that there's a shortage of food in the future. So two children (I guess age 17-18 counts as children) from each of the 8 districts will be selected to fight to the death and become the winner of an annual competition. The kids names are put into a bowl, based on how much food they've eaten. One of the characters, who escapes being picked, has 42 slips of paper with his name on it.

Sitting next to me in the theater was a little girl, about 10 years old, who would have had over 1,000 slips of paper in the bowl. She not only ate constantly during the movie, alternating between popcorn and candy (wrapped in cellophane so it made noise with every plunge of her hand). Not only was in throughout the whole movie, but when she ran out of popcorn, mom emptied her bucket into the girl's bucket.

I could have survived most of it except she had learned how to eat with her mouth open so each popcorn kernel was heard (but not enjoyed) by me.

Mom did show some great concern over her daughter's attempt to get picked in a future hunger game. She made sure she only drank water, not some unhealthy soft drink.

What's a Brand name product?

Recently I had a conversation with one of our schools that had been approached by a competitor who had offered prices much lower than ours. I asked for a copy of their list (without their pricing) to see what was being offered. Here's what I found:

The other company used some familiar brands, like Dixon and Fiskars. However, they didn't identify which Dixon or Fiskars product they would be using. While both of these companies offer lower priced items in their lines, we've always used the Ticonderoga pencils (asked for by many teachers) and have always offered the Fiskars For Kids brand of scissors.

We've also found that a number of companies are calling their company brands as Name Brand products. Sorry. Elmers is the name brand for glue and glues sticks, not "S*****S, or *O***** ****t. (I really don't want to promote them. :) )

So what does it mean in the end? If the teachers and parents are looking for the highest quality products from companies they've become familiar with, that's what we do.

"Just keepin' it real" (Randy Jackson)

Random thoughts

I had a few random topics go through my head lately. None of them seem worth a whole blog, but I thought I'd share them in one.

SISTER WIFE REVENGE

Apparently what couldn't be done by the Army, Marines, CIA, Secret Service, Special Ops and other military organizations was accomplished by a wife. The word is out that his first wife was a little miffed when she moved into the compound where bin Laden was eventually found and killed. It seems that his newest wife was sharing a room with him on the 1st floor and the first wife got a room on the second floor. Now some are suggesting that she's the one who turned him in. The man should have watched "Big Love" on HBO to see how to keep three wives smiling.

ELECT ME

Just received mail from New York LIfe Insurance Company and Mass Mutual asking for my vote for the new Directors to the Board. They have a check box to select "all" the candidates or another box where you can exclude someone from the vote. It looks like I don't have to do anything since they're running unopposed.

I call on CNN to schedule the first of 20 debates for these candidates and add me to the mix. I'm guessing that I might need the Director compensation package (maybe $50,000 a year for 2-4 meetings?) more than these people. Let me know if anyone else is interested in being on the Board.

SCHOOL BUDGET CUTS

Found a really good video about school budget cuts. The parents and students at a school in the Los Angeles area have put together a parody of the Rebecca Black video "Friday" that went viral. It's a pretty good production and fun to watch. It doesn't really matter what side of the political spectrum you're on. School budgets are facing cuts and the video promotes contributing to schools. You can catch it here: My School Your School.

Changes Are Always Happening

We're only a few weeks from Daylight Savings Time (Sunday, March 11) followed shortly thereafter with the start of Spring. Which means winter is finally winding down. Although we did get about 5 inches of snow today, the biggest snowfall of the season.

One of the big changes occurring today is how we remember things (not just because we're getting older!). There's a lot of discussion about the "Google Effect" which says that people really don't have to remember things so much as to remember where to find them.

Google (Bing, Yahoo, whatever) has changed education immensely.

When I was in school (yes, they did have electricity back then), we had a set of Funk & Wagnall's Encyclopedia at home for reference. (Actually, back then, the local A&P sold the next book in the set (99¢) every week with the purchase of something). The set did get outdated fast so I ended up at the library, looking through their books, to do my research.

Today I can go online and search for anything I want. I'm led to different sites (after the ads show up) including Wikipedia for my answers. The problem is that the "best" result may not be the first one that shows up. The "poster" has added so many mega-tags and keywords to be sure they're first. They're information may not be accurate. So I have to dig deeper, all the way to page 135 (of 72 million) to find the information I need.

So students who rely on just the Internet for their research may stop at the first page that shows up and uses that for their research.

The question then becomes "Are we getting smarter using search engines? Are we retaining all the information we can?"

Recently there was a big story about some US soldiers who used "SS" as their insignia on a flag. When they were asked about the significance, they didn't know. History wasn't a part of their education.

Here's a post that goes into more depth. Could Search Engines be Damaaging Learning

Student Workers

Well, it's about that time of year again when we start looking for summer workers.

Since beginning in 1991, we've hired 244 students, some staying with us for a number of years. And it's hard to determine if Terri & I have learned more from them than they learned from us. I'm hoping it was good for all of us.

I remember Rebecca (I'm not going to use last names simply because they may feel a little embarrassed by the attention). She came to us as a 14 year old high school student and stayed with us for 7 years. She started as one of our line workers, became the "line lead" and eventually became our warehouse manager. She was instrumental in laying out our "new warehouse" location when we moved about 10 years ago. Now she's employed at Uline, hopefully using some of the skills she learned at School-Pak.

Kyle came to us as an intern from Marquette University. Working towards a business degree in finance, he helped shape our outlook on how to become more efficient. After graduating, he joined a firm that got involved with working with companies that crashed a few years ago.

We've had workers that became professors, doctors, engineers, teachers, accountants and more. We're really proud of them and would like to feel that their time at School-Pak was a learning experience.

There are more stories to share about our workers but three workers come to mind. Marty, Bob, Jonathan and Lidnsay. Marty brought us a new employee, Natalie, whom he was dating. Today they are happily married and living in Illinois.

Bob was one of our first employees back in the late 90's. He's getting married this coming April in Arizona. And we will be attending.

Finally, one of our best employee stories has to do with Jonathan and Lindsay. Lindsay began working for us 2001. Jonathan began working in 2002. They found each other at School-Pak and they'll be getting married in October. We're also invited to their wedding.

So, over the years, we're thankful for the opportunity to have hired, worked with and respected so many employees and look forward to the new ones coming this year.

School Supply Addiction

Finally (my second surgery for a detached retina was in August of 2011) I was going to get the cataract surgery that would start the return of eyesight to the left eye.

I spent the morning answering emails and in meetings so I was pretty pumped for the 2:30 event.

My doctor had told me that it normally takes about 15-20 minutes for the surgery. Mine lasted about and hour due to all the trauma the eye had gone through with 2 surgeries in August.

What was most interesting was the return visit on Friday. The outpatient clinic is right next door to a Starbucks. Not only was the drive through backed up on the lot but the line of cars actually extended out to the street for another 4-5 cars. Unbelievable.

We went into the clinic and rode the elevator with a woman who was holding a Starbucks cup in her hand. Naturally, the first question I had was, "How long did you wait in line?" She looked at me and said "I won't go to this one. The lines are always too long. I stop every morning at a different one on my way to work."

That got me thinking. People stop, some every morning, for their $4 + cup of coffee and think nothing of it. There's approximately 225+ work days in a year so they end up spending around $900 a year on coffee.

Many times I'll speak to a coordinator about our programs and they'll tell me that they need to go with a different company because "these are hard times. Families are suffering and our parent organization wants to help them with this type of program. So we're going with the lowest price." The difference is price might be $2.00 more for a School-Pak. Realize, of course, that not every coordinator says this and not everyone in the school community would necessarily agree. Some would be willing to pay a little more for the quality.

I believe that providing exceptional service plus quality brand name products like Crayola, Elmers, Fiskars, etc., would make that $2.00 (once a year) a great value.

So here's my question: What can we do to make buying a School-Pak addictive? Send me some ideas and maybe we can get on TLC with "Strange Addictions". Could be a riveting program. :)

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