by Lorie Ann A. Cascaro
The summer vacation is over. Enrolment time is here and so is the hustle-and-bustle in the school supplies section of supermarkets. For most families earning a minimum wage, wise buying is the common denominator. Quality and brand names do not really matter, when it comes to school supplies. The primary concern, as always is–“how much?
Based on the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) region 11weekly price monitoring report for the period May 10-14, there are brands of school supplies in Davao City that are cheaper than those with DTI’s suggested retail price (SRP) as of May 13.
Among ruled pads for grades one, two and three with 80 leaves, Aspen (Alphabet) is the cheapest at only P6.50 per, while NBS Basics has the lowest SRP at P9.00. For grade four ruled pads, Aspen (Alphabet) is still at only P6.50, cheaper than Merit brand whose lowest SRP is P10.00. Although Three E (Mega 1st Class), which cost P11.50, has the highest price in Davao City, it is still cheaper than Easywrite that has the highest SRP at P22.50 and Yasaka with SRP of P12.00.
For intermediate pad with 80 leaves, Advance A Plus at P12.50 is the cheapest. It is P2.50 less than Merit with lowest SRP of P15.00. Amspec which costs P22.75, the highest price among brands monitored, is still cheaper than Easywrite with its highest SRP of P24.00.
Composition and writing notebooks with 80 leaves have similar prices at P9.75 on all brands, including Advance Kids, Topline ABC Cartoons and Aspen. Among the brands of composition notebooks with DTI’s SRP, only Best Buy (Econo) costs P9.50 while the rest range from P11.00 to P18.75.
Spiral notebooks with 80 leaves cost P9.75 for all monitored brands, while DTI SRPs range from P9.50 (econobond paper) to P19.75 (bond paper). The cheapest pencil among monitored brands is E pencil for P1.75, while the Standard Pencil has the lowest SRP at P3.75.
Majority of the brands in Davao City monitored are not included in the DTI list of SRP for school supplies. However, the SRP applies nationwide. DTI provides guidelines for buyers to prevent profiteering by retailers. For instance, in buying notebooks and ruled pads, consumers must look at the number of leaves, class of paper(book, bond, newsprint), type, size, brand name, name and address of manufacturer, converter or importer, and country it was produced. Also, in buying pencils, brand name, hardness symbol (1, 2, 3) and country it was made.
The expected action of retailers to bring down prices of school supplies for this school year has already happened in Davao City. As to the weekly price monitoring by DTI 11, compared to the previous week, the prices of pencils were 50 centavos lower. Advance Kids composition notebooks with 80 leaves and Amspec intermediate pad were cheaper by P1.25 than their prices a week ago. This is also similar with the spiral notebooks.
Bringing down prices of school supplies means a lot to average earning families. But, for most who belong below poverty line, cheaper or stable prices would not mean anything because they do not have extra money to buy their kids such stuff. Some of those poor kids go to school without even a pencil.
