Why I Believe Lakeshore Learning Is the Smarter Choice for School Procurement (Even When It Costs More Upfront)

Stop Hunting for the Lowest Price on Classroom Supplies. Start Looking at the Real Cost.

I've managed procurement for a mid-sized school district for over six years now. And I've probably analyzed $180,000 in cumulative spending across every category you can think of—from paper products to art supplies to classroom furniture. And one thing I’ve learned is this: in 2025, the cheapest option on paper is almost never the cheapest option in your budget.

That might sound like a cliché, but I’ve got the spreadsheets to prove it. And when it comes to classroom supplies, one vendor keeps popping up at the top of my total cost of ownership (TCO) calculations: Lakeshore Learning. I don't have hard data on every single competitor's defect rates over the last five years, but based on our tracking system—which I built myself after getting burned a few times—my sense is the gap is significant.

The Hidden Math of Cheap Supplies

Here's something vendors won't tell you: the first quote is almost never the final price for ongoing relationships. For a while, we were buying our tracing projectors and art materials from a discount supplier. The price per unit was about 15% less than Lakeshore Learning. Our procurement policy at the time rewarded whoever had the lowest initial quote. I thought I was crushing it.

Look, I'm not saying discount suppliers are always bad. I'm saying they're riskier. And in our case, that risk showed up in three places:

• Quality variance. Our first batch of tracing projectors from the cheap vendor? Three out of fifteen had alignment issues. That’s a 20% failure rate. Not ideal, but we thought it was a fluke. It wasn't.
• Returns and replacements. We spent about $450 in administrative time processing RMA requests, repackaging, and following up on replacements. No one tracks that 'free time' cost, but I did. After that experience, I made it a policy to get quotes from at least three vendors before signing, and to include a clause for quality guarantees.
• Teacher frustration. This is the one I can’t put a dollar figure on. Teachers who order a Lakeshore Learning trace and draw projector know exactly what they’re getting. When the cheap one showed up with a wobbly knob, the lesson plan had to be changed. That’s a hidden cost you can’t just spreadsheet.

The numbers said go with the cheap vendor. My gut said stick with Lakeshore. I went with my gut on the re-order. Turned out the cheap vendor had reliability issues I hadn't discovered in my initial research—their customer reviews on forums were mixed, but I hadn't checked deeply enough. A lesson learned the hard way.

Why Lakeshore Learning Wins on TCO

Now, I'm not saying Lakeshore Learning is perfect. They're not always the cheapest. But when I did a full TCO analysis over 18 months for our classroom supplies, including the lakeshore learning tracing projector, here’s what I found:

• Consistent quality. Their products, from office desk supplies to art materials, just work. The defect rate on our last 10 orders from Lakeshore was less than 2%. That’s miles ahead of the industry average I’ve seen.
• Teacher discount program. This is their secret weapon. Most people don't realize their teacher discount is not just a gimmick. It’s a real, verified discount that can bring the TCO down to below the cheap vendor level. I’ve seen it happen. “What was best practice in 2020 may not apply in 2025.” When we added the 15-20% teacher discount into our TCO spreadsheet, the ROI flipped.
• One-stop shop. Ordering everything from one place—from the trace and draw projector to the art paper to the bulletin board supplies—saves us time. And in procurement, time is money. The fewer purchase orders we issue, the lower our administrative cost.

Let’s talk numbers for a second. According to public pricing data I’ve checked (as of Q1 2025), a budget tier lakeshore learning trace and draw projector from a discounter might be $80. Lakeshore’s equivalent is around $95. The difference is $15. But factor in the 15% teacher discount, and Lakeshore’s price drops to about $81. Then factor in the probability of a defect (20% for the cheap one, 2% for Lakeshore). The real cost per usable unit for the cheap projectors? Over $100 when you include return shipping and staff time. Lakeshore? $85. That’s a 15% savings, not a 15% cost.

I wish I had tracked our customer feedback more carefully from the start on this. What I can say anecdotally is that the upgrade to Lakeshore made a noticeable difference in teacher satisfaction. We started getting fewer complaints, and more 'hey, this is easy to use' comments.

But What About the Budget? Isn’t It Always Tighter?

I hear that a lot. And it’s true—school budgets are always tight. I’m not saying you should ignore the price tag. I’m saying you should look at the whole picture. “Here's the thing: most of those hidden fees are avoidable if you ask the right questions upfront.”

The fundamentals haven't changed: we all need to stretch every dollar. But the execution has transformed. The way I see it, the old wisdom of 'buy the cheapest thing and save money' is outdated. The new wisdom is: buy the thing that works, that has a predictable quality, and that comes with a program that actually lowers your cost over time.

Even after choosing the new vendor for our last major order, I kept second-guessing. What if their quality wasn't as good as the samples? What if the discount program was a hassle? The two weeks until delivery were stressful. Didn't relax until the delivery arrived on time, and the first teacher I showed it to said 'finally, a projector that works.'

So here’s my final opinion: If you're a school procurement manager, stop looking at the first number on the invoice. Look at the last number. And more often than not, that last number points to Lakeshore Learning.