We hold our store one day a week. We let the students use either box tops or cash to purchase items. We pick up items at the local store when something is on sale and we also order from different mag. It workes out really well! We have took in more box tops this way that we ever did in the past. And the kids love it! We have started selling small food items to as well as school supplies.

Our school store is run by our 5th grade students. They sell the basic school supplies (pencils, pens, erasers, etc.) and they also sell approved snack items for morning snack break.

One of the 5th grade teachers oversees the project, so I don't know where they get the supplies from. I think it is more a lesson in economics and business than it is a money maker.

We have a school store and it's no hassle at all! The kids love it! We sell the bascis like glue, crayons, markers, colored pencils, writing paper, notebook paper, to cool erasers, pencil sharpners and even school spirt wear such as water bottles, t-shirts and zipper pulls. We have volunteers that sign up and the stores open times a week. The kids line up and have 30 mintues in which to buy something. Usually the lines died down about 20 mintues later. Volunteers get the cash box from the office, open and close the stores and return the cash box. VP's then deposit the money. We order about 3-4 times a year in bulk and it's great! We even keep our extra supplies in the school and restock when needed. Everyone loves it! The kids enjoy it so much and it teaches them to count money.

Hi,

Our library has the pencil machine. It's small and sits on one of the counters. She does pretty well with it. I don't know the exact dollar amount (I can email her and ask), but I know it's well worth it for her.

Hope this helps,
Holly

I just found out today. Those machines (pencil and paper) make about $40.00 per year and "have a ton of paper work." The lady that told me about it said it wasn't worth it for our small school. I like the idea though. We ALWAYS had the chance to buy notebooks (.25) and pencils (.10) when I was in school. The price hiked when I was in high school. Am I that old? I would forget to tell my mom when I was low on paper and that was very handy.

In high school we had a little store that ran during lunch time. They sold regular stuff like paper, pens, pencils. Nothing big. They also hand candy sticks. Sometimes I would just buy those to save my money and not have to stand in line. That would now be against a state law.

We have machines in the office that sell notebooks, pencils, or a notebook pencil combo. This is run by the school and they get the profits.