Yeah, Tyson hasn't been our buddy either. I tryed to explain to our veep that it wouldn't work but you can't tell her anything. It won't work in our area because for the cost of one Tyson Chicken box, families out here can buy 3 whole chickens and eat for a week. And that is exactly what they do.......lol........ Live and Learn (although she hasn't...lol)! :eek:
Metzymom, you hit the nail on a great point. When I see all these new fangled fundraiser ideas I ask myself a couple of questions. One, how much will it cost our PTA to promote this idea via flyers? Also, how much will it cost for shipping and handling? Last year we tried the Tyson program. We sent out flyers and received only 5 Tyson labels. So, we lost money on the price of the flyers. Now I am more cautious on what we promote. I would rather make money on fundraisers then lose money.
I'm with Tim on this one. Even when asked to log on to do regular internet shopping (the ones who already shop online) via schoolpop.com, we found that it was us doing all the advertising and very few did use it. I think if you live in S. Florida or some other cruise friendly area, this might be a cool idea. But for most schools, I just don't see it working. I though schoolpop was a great idea, but it didn't go over well in a town that is mainly retired and older folk. They just don't do the puter thang... I know that we will mention schoolpop at the beginning of next year, but otherwise, we won't be advertising them. Look at your area. Do a lot of cruises get booked in your town? It would be cool if that is the case. Otherwise, you are just providing free advertising for a cruise line.
Honestly, I'd be hard-pressed to recommend it to any parent group. Unlike a BoxTops or a Kmart program, the frequency of purchase of cruises is extremely low. So -- in effect -- a parent group would be asked to do "work" (promotion mainly) in the hopes that the few parents who do book cruises will remember to book with the right company and use the school code. The odds of success are too low.
While there's "slippage" in the BoxTops and similar programs, it's a pretty safe bet that a whole bunch of your parents/familes eat GM cereals all the time.
Finally -- even among infrequent purchases -- cruises aren't a great fit. If a school program was going to be built around an infrequent purchase, it at least should be around an infrequent purchase that's in the "school-family" market like, say, a minivan.
Sounds interesting.....good interesting!! Now I'm wondering something like this if my parents were to book a cruse do they just mention the school's pto or do you have to have a student? How will you advertise this? The only other thing I can think of is, I really wouldn't 'plan' for this money in your yearly budget, seems like it would be hard to bank on the amount you will recieve, kind of like the KMart cards.
Would like to know your thoughts and opinions on a new fundraising idea - It works like most shop and earn programs but has to do with travel or more specifically, crusies. All you would do is register your school - then when ANYONE associated with your organization books a cruise your organization would receive a portion of the commissions. All supplies would be free of charge to you and there is no quotas to meet, no over head to be left stuck with. This idea is currently being pitched to a large travel company. Would appreciate any input you can provide! Thank you
