Earn thousands while shopping on-line

Over 180 schools have been earning money while students order their stationery on-line, with one Auckland school receiving $30,000 over the last three years.

Using OfficeMax’s School Supplies direct programme, schools take part in a point’s rewards system, with the money earned being rebated directly back to the school.

Every order over $22.50 earns a registered school My School Reward Points with each point going towards a school rebate on all purchases, something Robert Armstrong, finance manager at Rangitoto College has always appreciated.

“The rebate we received for 2009 went towards IT equipment, sports gear, grounds maintenance and the school magazine,” says Mr Armstrong.

“We joined because we wanted our students to start on day one with the right stationery for their particular classes and we wanted students and parents to be able to buy on-line as an alternative to retail shopping.

“It’s easy to join myschools.co.nz and uploading stationery lists is reasonably straight forward. Students and parents shopping on-line has reduced the workload for our volunteers and staff who run our school stationery shop,” he says.

Kevin Obern, OfficeMax managing director is all too aware of the cost pressures related to education on both schools and parents alike, and any reduction in those costs are of huge benefit.

“Parents can spend hours trying to source the correct stationery supplies for their children at the beginning of the school term. With myschool.co.nz they can simply log on and see what stationery is required for their child’s class and place their order, all on the same website,” Mr Obern says.

Over 15,000 orders for 466,000 products were received this year. Customers who order early also have the option to select their own delivery date, which is particularly convenient if they are on holiday at the beginning of the year.

The School Supplies direct programme is free to join and free to access. Stationery requirements are uploaded to the website by each school and are broken down by year level and subject, keeping stationery orders accurate.

Parents can simply go on to the website, type in the name of their child’s school, class and year level and the correct stationery and workbook requirements appear.

They have also introduced payment of school and subject fees on-line. This streamlines all school costs into one payment with positive results.

“Having your total school costs in one easy on-line payment is another convenience the site offers and it’s of massive benefit to both school and student at the start of the term,” he says.

When asked what is next for Rangitoto College and the myschool.co.nz shopping site, Mr Armstrong has definite plans to leverage its potential benefits.

“We intend to add text and e-mail to our parent promotion to ensure they purchase stationery prior to the school year starting.

“By 2010 we should see 70 per cent or more of families using it and see the maximum benefits; saving students and their parents shopping time, reducing our support staff workloads during a busy time of year and benefiting the school financially,” he says.

About School Supplies Direct – www.myschool.co.nz

• Primary and secondary schools can join the programme for free.

• Students and parents shop on the site for free

• Every order over $22.50 earns a registered school My School Reward Points.

• Each point goes towards a school rebate on all purchases.