business models which suck (part II)
Posted by Ian Holsman
Recently in Victoria the state government has banned the sale of soft drinks in public schools in a effort to curb obesity.
I only now found out that the sale of soft drinks was actually a major income stream for the state schools who used it help supplement their grants they get from the government (for things like playground and sports equipment sadly enough).
The prinicpals association are now saying that their canteens/food shops will have to close down because of this.
Of course, the government isn’t going to subsidise this lack of income to them. But it makes me wonder.. what other ways state schools try to supplement their income.
you have:- mandatory donations, which are supposed to be voluntary but the stigma attached to not paying it is large. (and it does leak out who does and doesn’t pay)
- lamington drives
- chocolate fundraisers
- school fete’s
- working bee’s
Most of these impose the cost of the childs education on the community surronding them, which is fine if you have wealthy neighbours who are obese themselves. (anyone heard of a tofu drive?) so basically you are shifting the obesity problem to the a larger audience (as schools increase the amount of drives and fete’s to compensate)
and of course it isn’t going to stop children drinking soft drinks either.. they will just buy them elsewhere/ or bring them from home.
So I’m thinking the state schools should look for other revenue streams:
- Product placement. We use ‘Parker’ pencils here, and little johnny will be ridiculed if he brings in others. of course we are the exclusive distributor of ‘Parker’ pencils.
- Apparence Fees/Bidding for teachers. You want little johnny to be taught in the A-Grade or F-Grade teacher’s class? Well how much is it worth to you? a dutch/vickrey auction would do wonders here.
- Merchandising. (they do his in private schools already with the school uniforms). but you could expand this a bit down to the type of exercise books are the ‘norm’.
- Advertising. put some billboards up around the parent pickup spot and at busy intersections.
remember .. it’s for the good of the children.
Or the government could just acknowledge the education system needs more money to run, and spend it.
I say take some money out of old-age homes ;-)
But seriously has anyone considered introducing a HECS style user pays system like we do for universities where once you earn over $30k they take a percentage of your wage until you pay it all back.
Disclaimer I have 3 children in/about to enter the school system.