School Store Etiquette

Mears PTSA operates a school store during lunch periods and special events. We offer the following information to help everyone make the most of the store. 

The school store offers Mears gear, school supplies, and foods and drinks. All of the foods and drinks offered during school hours meet ASD’s Student Nutrition guidelines. Additional items are available outside of school hours.

We generally open ten minutes into each lunch period and close five minutes before it ends. We sometimes delay opening to wait until students getting a hot lunch are served. The food items we offer are intended to be consumed as snacks or supplement lunches, not replace a quality meal.

We do have purchase limits for certain items, some due to their nutritional information, others due to TikTok and other social media trends that school staff and the school store work to counteract. Even with items that are available with no purchase limits, we sometimes act in our parent roles to check to make sure students are making good choices.

Because we operate on a limited schedule, about 15 minutes per lunch period, we ask that students help to keep the lines flowing so we can serve as many students as possible. Here are some tips for your students to help keep things moving smoothly:

• Provide flat, organized cash: Folding or rolling bills not only slows us down when serving students, but it’s also inconvenient when we cash out and do deposits. A bill folded in half (or even twice) is fine, but bills that are folded down to tiny squares or so tightly rolled that they could be used as straws are not. It’s also helpful if your student can organize cash and hand it to us all at once.

• Practice with making phone purchases: Most students are adept at paying with a card, phone, or watch. (We admit that some of us are in awe of their seamless and proficient use of technology.) Sometimes they struggle if they’re new to using a phone to make purchases. You can help them to practice so they have the know-how, and confidence, to use the app.

• Pay attention to consumer math skills: Some students do not count what they give us or pay attention to what they have handed us. They even run off without getting the change (we chase them across the MPR!) We encourage them to work on their math skills to protect themselves as consumers.

• Be ready with your order: We can fit four students in each window, and when there’s a large number of students waiting for the store, lunch staff may tell them to sit down if they don’t know what they want. We are happy to answer questions and serve students what they want, but unfortunately the limited service time and high demand don’t allow a lot of time for students to hang out.

• Know the minimums and maximums: We have a minimum of $1 for card/phone purchases. With processing fees, going below the minimum means that we’re losing on the sale. During regular school lunch hours, we don’t accept bills larger than $20 (except for clothing purchases). We’ve seen students bring $50s and $100s to school, sometimes in a large quantity. We don’t have a lot of cash in our drawers and making change for a larger bill. There’s also the security aspect: carrying a large amount of cash can draw attention. We’ve worked with the school’s security staff on this issue and they have told a number of students in the past to not bring that kind of money to school.

If your child needs special accommodations, as is often the case with clothing purchases, just let us know and we are happy to work with them. If lunch staff give them permission, students are welcome to come to the store early for clothing items, and larger bills are acceptable in those cases.

We hope you can use the information in this article as a starting point for a discussion with your student. We love seeing their faces every day, and in addition to selling items they want, we’re happily teaching them etiquette as they gain independence.

Thank you!