To me the answer is simple. It is a candy fundraiser where the fundraising group sells every single candy bar it purchases which means at the end of their sale they have absolutely no inventory left over.
The problem with candy bar fundraisers is that groups need to commit to inventory before the sale starts. In the past some fundraising distributors might take full cases of candy back if it was unsold. But that practice has disappeared for a couple of reasons. The biggest reason is safety. When you think about it would you want to purchase candy that left the control of the distributor's warehouse? The distributor could really not assure it had not been tampered with.
The other reason returns are rare is the nature of candy pricing. Prices are set by the number of cases you purchase. The more cases you purchase the lower your price per case. It is hard to determine pricing if you don't know how many cases you are committing to purchase.
Lots of groups make the problem of being overly optimistic or aggressive. That makes no sense. Typically people selling candy can sell 1 or 2 carriers of candy. That means most groups purchase 1 case for every 2 to 4 people.
Aggressive groups count on each seller to sell a full case. So I believe the world's finest chocolate bar fundraiser is one where a group plans how much it wants to sell, purchases that amount and sells every single candy bar.
Posted on 11/04/2009
