Here's an update on my last post...After repeated attempts to come to some sort of agreement with Scholastic about them honoring our contract with Troll,(and giving us the buy one,get one free option), we have officially given up on Scholastic. They have been unyeilding, as if we will do whatever they tell us since they are the only bookfair company available locally. Guess what? The bookfair chair and I have made an executive decision to not have a book fair at all. Instead we will focus on the original goal, which was and still is, to get a book in every child's hands. We are going to have a school wide book swap. After finding some really usefull ideas on this site, I think we have all the bases covered and are very excited about it. So much for Scholastic's monopoly on Western NY.
We are, however, going to have a Usborne rep. at our Open House, but she won't come and do a fair because all of her books are catalog orders and we just don't think that will go over quite as well. Hope this gives someone els so good ideas...
guess I could have included the info,huh? Usborne Books-1-800-611-1655. www.ubah.com
Turns out our past pres. agreed we would do Scholastic for both book fairs this year;we didn't know this because she hasn't passed on any info.Scholastic seems unable to tell me if we actually have a contract for both though-should find out Monday.
Usborne may have to wait for next year if so.
I found a new co. to use for our bookfair:Usborne books.The PTA board really liked the books-they're printed in-house,and are educational-and we are planning to use them at least once,if not for both the Fall and Spring bookfairs.
The rep I've been dealing with said Scholastic owns 26% of the co. and the pres./owner says that's all they'll ever own.
Our PTO allots $3000. every year for RIF (Reading is Fundamental). We have totally free book distributions to all children at least twice a year (maybe more, I'm not directly involved in it). Our book fairs are pretty much chosen by the librarian since the proceeds go back to her to purchase books. We (PTO) just help her run it.
My advice - don't trust what your Scholastic rep said! We have had some very bad experiences with their misrepresentations.... Even with Troll out of business (and that's new to me, they were doing fine in the spring) don't let Scholastic take the upper hand with you. I was shocked to find out just how many more "deals" I could've cut with them. They have a line similar to Trolls, that is way way more affordable. Be assertive with 'em...and don't overlook your local bookstores, quite often they will cut you a deal on a bookfair that is far more reasonable.
We decided to abandon the for-profit sale and go to a school-wide book swap. It will probably be more work, but at least it will put a book in every kid's hand, and that is our goal. I can't stand most of the stuff Scholastic sends - overpriced books, lots of pricey erasers and toys, and WWWF posters that we had to refuse to put up. Misses the whole point of the bookfair! We also had a bad experience with their instructional media folks (we chose to get our profits in a voucher for desperately needed teacher's materials - they offered us 3 different rebate plans). Those folks were incredibly hard to deal with, sent stuff 3 months after it was ordered (and some never came!) and the merchandise was way overpriced. Some schools take the cash rebate, but it really doesn't pay...figure the number of volunteer hours it takes to make $500, via Scholastic and you'll see what I mean. If your goal is to get books to the kids, there's lots more creative ways to do it! Our former librarian thought the best way to get the rebate was to go to their warehouse and get books, but she didn't mind the 6 hr. round trip and knew exactly what our library needed. If the warehouse is local, you might want to consider that instead.
BTW, I balked at getting another Scholastic Fair this year, and my rep finally acquiesed into a Buy One, Get one Free agreement... (though we still aren't doing the sale) .I think they have more leverage than they will let on. Stick to your guns! Good luck!
