Bake/Pizza Sales: Profitable or Pointless?

We all love pizza, and not to mention some delicious sugar-filled goods, at the end of a long school day. When asked which item they preferred, 5/8 students rather buy pizza, while the rest preferred cupcakes. And while we love to consume these goods for ourselves, we never stop to think of the time and money spent to buy these goods. These sales are stressful for the vendor and consumer, which leads to the question, are these sales profitable or pointless? For the consumer yes, but or the teachers and kind students who bring volunteer to bring in these goods the answer is not as clear-cut. The average pizza or bake sale makes the vendor anywhere from one hundred to three hundred dollars, and while that may seem like a considerable amount, that is before costs are deducted. If a teacher buys pizza with his or her own money, that price is deducted from the amount, and the rest is profit. I recently took part in a bake/pizza sale, and after all the chaos of selling and bombardment with eager students was over, we were left to count the money we had received  We had made 163 dollars, however, it took 87 dollars to buy the pizza, which was deducted from the amount, leaving 76 dollars and a 87% profit value.
While theses sales are not completely ineffective, the desired profit is not always achieved, clubs can end up spending more than you received. Aside from the slight monetary drawbacks, some believe the constant pizza and bake sales can potentially be detrimental to student health by sending the wrong message, and goes against the healthy and anti-obesity movement that is sweeping the nation. And while this may seem like quite a stretch, more than one student is concerned, one stating” I’m all for raising money and supporting clubs, but I do think we have to stay healthy. It’s okay for football players who will be staying after school to buy it, but there are a lot of inactive students constantly buying these and it doesn’t send the right message.” Another student, however, seemed unconcerned with the health effects saying, ” There is a limited variety of things you can sell in school, so I have no problem with the selling of pizza and cupcakes. I do think the school should hold a carnival or a car wash or something because that would be fun.” While these sales are accepted by most, one thing that people tend to agree on is that there should be more variety in fundraising. So whether it’s a bake sale or a carnival, students will always be eager to eat and support their school and have fun in the process.