The Scrip Advisor

September 13, 2008

It's not unusual for many GLSC customers to rack up 60% of their annual scrip earnings in the traditional holiday shopping season. But this year, your traditional holiday season will be cut short. And if you don't plan ahead, your scrip program may suffer.

Learn what you can do to prepare for the "Holiday Calendar Crunch".

August 5, 2008
By Tim Koenigsknecht
Director of Customer Development, Great Lakes Scrip Center

"Can I pay for my scrip with a credit card?"

If you're like most GLSC coordinators, that's a question you hear all the time. For many families, credit cards are the preferred way to shop, as they accumulate rewards, airline miles and rebates. It's difficult to convince these families to participate in your scrip program if you can't accommodate their preferred way to pay. The problem is, the freebies that entice families to pay with credit cards, aren't really "free". Find out more about the ugly math of credit cards.

August 6, 2008
By Tim Koenigsknecht
Director of Customer Development, Great Lakes Scrip Center

In part one of "The Trouble With Credit Cards", we shared the ugly math of credit cards and true costs to your scrip program. We showed you how typical merchant fees can consume almost 40% of the average scrip program's profit. And we showed you how families who purchase low margin gift cards with credit cards can even cause you to lose money! Learn more about battling this fiscal foolishness

March 6, 2008
By Laura Tew
Great Lakes Scrip Center

At only three years old, the SCRIP program at Holy Cross School in Dover, Delaware is growing by leaps and bounds. Christine Simon and Maria Shroyer took over the fledgling program two years ago and have developed seven ways to better their program. Read how they did it.

Read The Full Article

October 15, 2007
By Ginny Weidner
Great Lakes Scrip Center

Divine Mercy School in Faribault, Minnesota has always had one of the leading scrip programs in the country. They have been a strong customer of Great Lakes Scrip Center customer since 1998 with 160 to 170 families who participate in this Pre-K thru 6th grade school. Not surprisingly, Divine Mercy was one of the first schools to begin using GLSC’s free ShopWithScrip online scrip management tool.

Read The Full Article

September 10, 2007
By Laura Tew
Great Lakes Scrip Center

The five-year old Scrip program at Country Club Elementary School in San Ramon, California was floundering when Julie Eseltine took over the job. Julie had wanted to find a volunteer job with her school so that she could make a difference. When she found out that the Scrip Coordinator position was becoming available, she jumped in with both feet.

Read The Full Article

November 28, 2006
By Jack Smith
Great Lakes Scrip Center

Great Lakes Scrip Center has been serving scrip users since 1994, and we’ve heard just about every question imaginable about scrip. For most of these questions, we’ve had simple, direct answers. However, when it came to our customers’ tax questions, we didn't have any clear direction to offer our clients besides "speak with your advisor".

Read The Full Article

March 15, 2006
By Dave Burgess
Great Lakes Scrip Center

While most scrip programs are healthy, GLSC staffers sometimes see programs that are challenged despite the best efforts of a hard-working volunteer. Why do some programs struggle when others flourish? It's usually because they're making one of several common mistakes that many scrip program supervisors make.

Read The Full Article