How Pass the Apple Brings Efficiency to Teacher Supplies
One of my regular writing gigs is to research business trends. I talk to a lot of interesting entrepreneurs and software developers, but every once in a while I run into a business that I want to spread the word about. That’s the case with Pass the Apple, a consignment store for teachers trading classroom supplies.
Launched a few months ago on Teacher Appreciation Day, Pass the Apple aims to take a bite out of the cost teachers pay to supply their classrooms. It’s help that teachers sorely need. Classroom supply budgets are limited to nonexistent in many schools, and teachers frequently do their stocking up out of pocket. The NEA publishes tips on how to “stretch your supply budget“, but good, durable educational materials aren’t cheap.
Pass the Apple founder Yolanda Terry saw an opportunity in durable, though — many materials can outlast the classes they’re bought for. A veteran teacher, Yolanda saw her peers retiring or switching to new grade levels where their old materials were no longer useful. “I just felt like there has to be a way for us to create an economy where we’re buying and selling and support our own,” she told me.
Terry started with her own inventory — 26 boxes of classroom materials accumulated over five years — but also thought bigger. Pass the Apple isn’t just a store, it’s a membership network. Teachers join for free, put their items up for sale, and buy from other teachers. There is already a wide variety of items, from crayons to alphabet boards to action figures, and there are plans to launch a wholesale-priced inventory of new items soon. If the site grows enough, it could easily become a one-stop shop for teacher supplies.
What Pass the Apple and Airbnb Have in Common
What impresses me is how easily Pass the Apple does what used to be hard. During my retail days, we did a lot of sales through our store website. A friend and I coded the database in perl. I uploaded our stock once or twice a day. It wasn’t a bad process, but it was cumbersome and multiple users would have been a disaster. We also had to handwave shipping costs because we couldn’t predict how much a given order would cost to send.
Terry and her husband Antonio have a much more complex system running. Using an off-the-shelf platform customized by a software developer, teachers log in and submit item data. The Terrys then review and post the items. The teachers do their own shipping when a product is sold, priced based on calculations performed by the site.
Overall, their software just works, even when dealing with unusual items. “The largest item we’ve sold so far,” Antonio told me, “is a teaching easel.” I’m not even sure how the teacher boxed that up.
The focus on the network makes Pass the Apple a perfect small example of a growing business trend. It’s a business that connects a network of people with shared needs, much like Airbnb or (one of Yolanda’s inspirations) Chairish. Today’s internet is in part a logistical revolution, one that allows their surplus to meet others’ demands in a way that used to only work on a local level. “That teacher no longer needed that easel,” Antonio pointed out, “and normally she would have one or two options: she can take it with her or share it with her colleagues at school.” With Pass the Apple, the pool of people the teacher can share with has grown much larger.
More Than Just Consignment Goods
Pass the Apple may never blow up the way Airbnb has. The Terrys’ market is very specific, and they live far away from Silicon Valley venture capitalists. They’re pleased with their growth so far, however, and firm about their mission to provide teachers with both supplies and encouragement.
“I want to continue to encourage teachers and allow them to see there is help out there,” Yolanda said. “Hopefully they will feel they are supported.”