Some people love shopping, but I am not one of them.
I always worry that I am not getting the best deal, that I haven’t done my research or that someone else knows something about saving that I didn’t know.
A coworker of mine who is a parent recently mentioned a service provided by an online company that gets an “A” in my humble opinion with the school year soon upon us.
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Forestview Middle School shared on its official Facebook page a post aimed at anyone who is a parent of a school-aged child that supposedly makes shopping for school supplies simple.
The Brainerd public school post stated Forestview, like other schools across the nation, chose to sell prepackaged school supplies for the upcoming school year through School Tool Box.
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The selected school supply package a parent chooses will be delivered to the parent’s address or place of business through “easy online ordering” that can be customized.
The benefits would include avoiding other back-to-school shoppers scrambling to find the same school supplies suggested or mandated by a particular school.
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The school supplies that one purchases by using the School Tool Box website are “trusted brand name supplies” from a teacher-approved list, according to the Facebook post.
The suggestion by Forestview Middle School to use the online supplier seems to resonate with at least some parents. More than 35 people liked the idea and shared the post almost 20 times as of Thursday, Aug. 5.
There are customizable boxes one can order according to which grade the student is in, so the buyer can change quantities or remove items that are not needed. There is also free shipping on orders over $50 and expedited processing options available at checkout.
The parent can view the prepackaged box by clicking on the option. A teacher’s note will often appear listing items that are requested but not included in the kit and items that are requested or required, and are available as an optional, add-on purchase.
For example, a backpack or a school bag, a water bottle and gym shoes are the items that are requested for a fifth grader at Forestview while earbuds or headphones, and a USB mouse for Chromebooks are requested or required by the teacher but not included in the prepackaged kit.
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It sounds easy enough and, in my humble opinion, takes the headache out of shopping for school supplies. But if one has a question about ordering, they can call School Tool Box toll-free at 1-800-952-1119 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
A parent can order from School Tool Box even if the child’s school is not participating in the online program, but the parent should have a child's list from the child’s corresponding school with them while ordering and place each item on the list from the website into the shopping cart.
And here I thought snagging a Star Wars-themed Trapper Keeper — with its sliding plastic rings instead of metal binder rings, and wraparound flap with a Velcro closure — was about the best thing about back-to-school shopping.
FRANK LEE may be reached at 218-855-5863 or at frank.lee@brainerddispatch.com . Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/DispatchFL .
