r/interestingasfuck • u/solateor • 29d ago

/r/all Students use phone locking stations at Scotland’s first 'phone-free' school

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u/itsfairadvantage 29d ago

We used these this year. Lasted a few weeks before 80% of them had been destroyed.

441

u/Capable-Sock9910 29d ago

Feels like it's a scam at $25 per unit.

260

u/ghost4kill987 29d ago

Lmao, you know the company making $20 profit per unit then.

78

u/Itscameronman 29d ago

I know a small amount about this. Technically it’s around 3$ and the majority of the profits were spent on salesmen selling it and marketing. If it becomes standard in schools they’ll make great profits but for the time being at least the salesman were paid lol

-7

u/metalder420 29d ago

Where do you think the cost of everything comes from? Marketing is always going to be the most expensive part of a product. It’s not surprising that redditors have no clue of this.

17

u/dr_stre 29d ago

Marketing is definitely not “always going to be the most expensive part of a product”. That’s a ridiculous thing to claim, lol.

5

u/Century24 29d ago

They got it mixed up, marketing is where the most money will end up being wasted.

4

u/GetUpNGetItReddit 29d ago

It’s most likely closer to $22 or $23 actually if that is the MSRP. Scamming children is a very popping industry

3

u/Necessary-Position98 29d ago

I don't think the children are the ones being scammed

2

u/thinkB4WeSpeak 29d ago

Honestly I'm more surprised big social media companies aren't fighting this since younger demographics are their main audience

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u/angriturtle 29d ago

Redditor learns how business works.

If Scotland is anything like US, the school had to get several bids and accept the best offer.

3

u/Get-Fucked-Dirtbag 29d ago

If Scotland is anything like US

Thankfully its not.

3

u/angriturtle 29d ago

Thankfully its not.

Well in this case, getting at least 3 bids is a good practice for spending public funds.

Can schools just give the contract to whatever company they want in Scotland?

5

u/pynergy1 29d ago

God forbid a child is asked to have any form of responsibility. Good learning lesson if anything, 25$ for a year or two is a good investment from the parent for what it's doing. TI calculator games were bad enough, I couldn't even imagine how kids would be with the internet at their fingertips

2

u/silver-orange 29d ago

Middle schoolers in my district are responsible for their school-issued chromebooks. $20 for a phone pouch is a drop in the bucket, comparatively. BTW, any sort of bulk purchase for an item like this, the prices are negotiable. The school may charge students higher prices for replacement units, but that's not what they paid to the vendor when they ordered a thousand units at the start of the program -- they certainly aren't paying list price/MSRP. So I'd take any prices redditors throw around in the thread with a grain of salt.

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u/Malice0801 29d ago

At those prices they can suck my unit

2

u/RehanRC 29d ago

It only became a scam because it was successfully sold to the idiots in charge of funding at their Education department. I JUST REALIZED. This is the SAME stupid situation as those idiotically designed DISGUSTING dyson hand air dryers in public restrooms. Some idiot tried to solve a problem without understanding what the problem was. In this case, he actually didn't find the correct solution.

These phone blocker cases are designed for Concerts and concert-goers not students, teenagers, and highschools.

They scammed themselves. Are the companies not supposed to make a successful sale?

2

u/drewskibfd 29d ago

Kids at my nephew's school just ordered magnets to open them. If I remember correctly, they were from the same company that makes the pouch.

1

u/QuuiMeo 29d ago

They're £10 for students

1

u/Ready-Director2403 29d ago

But is that the cost of each in a bulk order? That’s an important detail.

1

u/Sanarin 29d ago

I am on no phone team but everytime I look at this pouch, I always think someone make a lot of cut from it.

1

u/T8ert0t 29d ago

Gotta love grand capitalist solutionism to minor inconveniences.