We use Great Lakes Scrip, but I assume it's the same kind of program. We don't pre-buy any scrip cards. We only order what our customers (parents) have ordered and paid for. I've heard many schools do pre-buy the most popular cards so they have them on hand for walk-up buyers, but our scrip program hasn't gotten that sophisticated. We issue an order form once a month, due in two weeks. The chairperson orders the cards online and they usually arrive about 3 days later. She distributes them through the students unless the parent indicates they want to pick them up at school personally. This is only our second year running this program and we've already earned about $1,500 (not counting orders placed this month which should be our biggest single month).
Has anyone used the Schoolpop Scrip and Earn program? One of our local schools just had a fundraiser doing this and supposedly did really well, but I'm always a little scared of having to prepurchase something in order to sell it. It looks like most of the cards only make you 2 - 9%. I would appreciate any experiences with this.