As Back-to-school shopping reaches record levels, School Tool Box ships supplies nationwide

DeKALB – As parents complete last-minute back-to-school shopping before school starts for DeKalb County schools next week, Doug Stice is still in the throes of school-shopping mania.

Stice is the president and CEO of School Tool Box, 12107 Barber Greene Road in DeKalb. School Tool Box ships boxes of school supplies to schools and homes across the U.S. Three large UPS trailers are filled daily with school boxes full of supplies for the upcoming school year. Several hundred pallets of school boxes are shipped out of School Tool Box’s warehouse a week. And this time next week, students in Genoa, DeKalb and Sycamore classrooms, to name a few, will begin the new school year.

“The last two weeks of July and the first two weeks of August are our busiest times,” Stice said. “We’ve been sending out a lot of boxes as students prepare to return to school for the fall.”

Ship-to-home orders offer customizable boxes, changing quantities or removing unneeded items, with free shipping on orders more than $50. Expedited one- or three-day shipping is available at an extra cost.

Ship-to-school orders include a colorful keepsake box, personalized name labels and free delivery by freight to schools.

All products are backed by a school-year guarantee. One meal is donated to Feed My Starving Children for every box ordered. By asking customers if they would like to round up to the nearest dollar, School Tool Box has raised more than $20,000 this year for Feed my Starving Children.

Stice describes business this year as “exceptional,” similar to the sales of 2019, although 2020 was “remarkably good.”

According to the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics’ annual survey, consumers plan to spend record amounts on school supplies this year.

Families with children in elementary through high school plan to spend an average of $848.90 on school items, which is $59 more than last year. Total back-to-school spending is expected to reach a record $37.1 billion, up from $33.9 billion last year, an all-time high. Families are planning to spend more on K-12 students in every category, with electronics and clothes having the biggest increases.

“School supplies are not bread and water, but they’re needed to survive and succeed in school,” Stice said. “School supplies don’t change a whole lot from year to year, but they’re needed at the start of each school year.”

Trends Stice has noticed this year include favoring composition notebooks instead of spiral notebooks and the popularity of reams of white paper. The demand for household cleaning supplies has returned to pre-pandemic numbers.

“Last year, I sold 15,000 masks, and antibacterial wipes and hand sanitizer couldn’t be found on store shelves,” he said. “Now demand has returned to normal.”

Chris Meyer of Sycamore, a line leader at School Tool Box, has worked for the company for the past five summers. Meyer attends Augustana College, where he is majoring in elementary education.

“Working here, I now know a lot about school supplies,” Meyer said. “It’s taught me how to work efficiently and quickly. It’s a good job for high school and college students. It’s fast-paced and fun. You meet a lot of people and make friends.”

Stice said that in addition to providing summer jobs for local students, School Tool Box’s goal is “helping teachers, serving parents and equipping kids.”

“Having quality products for school enhances education opportunities,” Stice said. “It’s back-to-school shopping now, but it is never too late to order the supplies you need.”

For information about School Tool Box, visit www.schooltoolbox.com.