How a School Store Helps Students Learn: Tips from a School Supply Store

Mathematics is an abstract study – a slew of symbols that have to be translated into concrete figures that form a solution. For many children, visual depictions of equations and hands-on experience with math help them to understand larger concepts in the subject. If Sally takes away two pieces of candy from the box, how many are left? If Joe buys three pencils at 89 cents a piece with $5 at the school store, how many remaining dollars does he have to spend?

$2.33, to be exact. Now, imagine being a student and learning to make that in change for a fellow pupil stocking up on supplies. Doing so would involve active use of multiplication, addition, subtraction, as well as counting and handling money. Besides quick calculations on the sales end, what other math skills can student employees make use of at the school store? Read on and see why children and pre-teens that help run school stores excel to the head of the class!

Ordering Supplies

Clerks assigned to this task can evaluate total budget and determine demand of products in order to select and order the best supplies for your school store. In placing orders, students will document what is being bought and finalize the purchase by phone, fax, mail, e-mail, or online.

Skills at a Glance:

• Inventory Control
• Supply and Demand
• Market Research
• Management

Inventory

Students can calculate profit and loss by keeping receipts and a count of how much merchandise is in store. Using the original price point of the supplies in the inventory (the cost at which they were bought from the school supply company), inventory clerks should multiply the count of each item by the cost to determine the total cost of inventory.

Skills at a Glance:

• Profit and loss
• Stock management
• General math and accounting

Accounting

By keeping accounts of revenue and expenses, students can record all financial aspects of the store by identifying expenses and tracking purchases made. This detail oriented work can help those in charge of managing budgets and ordering supplies find the best possible solution in the allocation of resources.

Skills at a Glance:

• Mastery of basic math
• Organization

Learning shouldn’t be a pursuit limited to the classroom: start a school store at your institution today, and help your children and students expand their education. Whether you’re a teacher, parent, or administrator, Raymond Geddes has the tools you need to get started – both literally with our popular school supplies and figuratively with our official manual on how to run a school store.