by Neil MacQueen, …Math Wiz and Donut Lover
For sure… Donuts Taste Great
But in the long-run, they are less filling,
AND more than 3 times as expensive as software.
This article has several stunning mathematical demonstrations of the real cost of “free” church donuts and church coffee versus our software. Also below…..how a NEW computer costs you less than six donut holes a week.
Tip O’ the Day: NAYSAYERS HATE MATH…. so use a lot of it.
Your “free” donuts cost more than our Bible software.
Here’s Le Math…
Cost for a dozen Krispy Kremes = $6.00 per class.
Cost of four copies of Awesome Bible CD = $1.53 per class
Here’s how…..
Same Old Teacher Bob picks up a dozen Krispy Kremes for his computer lab each week. Cost = $6 per week for his class.
Amazing Computer Teacher Betty picks up Awesome Bible Stories CD for her lab’s four computers. 4 CDs x $23 each = $92.
BUT…. Computer Teacher Betty has five different grades rotating in each week to use all 6 stories on her 4 CDs.
5 different grade groups x 6 stories = 30 classes/lessons that Betty gets out of each CD.
Betty’s $92 worth of software divided by 30 classes = $3.06 per class.
Box of Bob’s Krispy Kremes: $6 per class.
But wait… there’s more!
Betty RE-USES his Awesome CDs a second time three or four years later with another group of kids!
30 classes x 2 = 60 total lessons. $92 worth of software DIVIDED BY 60 lesson uses = $1.53 (or about 16 cents per kid)
Total of Bob and Betty’s Investments:
Bob’s donuts for 60 classes = $360
Betty’s software for those 60 classes = $92
Cost of Betty’s software per kid-use = 16 cents.
Cost of one of Bob’s donuts per kid = 50 cents
Math for Juice and Cracker-lovers:
If you were to buy 1 Gallon of Orange Juice per Sunday for 30 kids = $4.00/gal x 48 weeks = $192
Add a box of Graham Crackers for 30 kids = $4/box x 48 weeks = $192
Thus, your “free” juice and crackers cost you $384 per year.
Juice & Crackers VERSUS JESUS…
Life of Christ CD is a workhorse program most computer labs use for 3 to 4 stories a year. Use it with those same 30 OJ swilling kids 4 x 30 = 120 “kid uses” of the CD per year. Now multiply by five years of use = 600 kid-uses.
You spent $64 on those two CDs that lasted you 5 years and had 600 kid touches. That’s 11 CENTS a use per kid.
Not a typo: ELEVEN CENTS FOR LIFE OF CHRIST CD.
Compare that to your ANNUAL $384 juice and cracker budget.
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Doesn’t it bother you that they GIVE AWAY FREE COFFEE to ADULTS,COFFEE FREELOADERS MATH:
Cheap Church Coffee is about $8 a pound. According to Starbucks, there are 40 cups of coffee in one pound. Eight divided by 40 cups = 20 cents for the “free” coffee.
Now add 5 cents for the styrofoam cup, and 5 cents for the creamer/sugar.
That’s 30 cents per cup of “free coffee” nobody ever complains about giving to the adults.
If they have TWO cups of “free” coffee and reuse the cup…. you’re now up to 55 cents per adult.
BY CONTRAST….
The freeloaders want you to cut your resource budget because 16 cents per kid per Bible lesson CD is “A LUXURY” (they say sipping on their 55 cents worth of ‘free’ coffee).
“How long, O LORD, will wicked ignorant people triumph?” -Psalm 94:3
BONGO versus “FREE” COFFEE MATH:
1 copy of Bongo Loves the Bible CD = $25
Each week, a different grade 1-5 class uses Bongo.
$25 divided by 5 weeks = $5 per week to use Bongo.
BUT… you have 2 kids using Bongo at the same time
So $5 divided by 2 kids = $2.50 per kid-use.
But wait! Bongo has 4 different games!
So you can use it for a total of 20 weeks with five different grades –without repeating a game.
$2.50 per kid divided by 4 games = 62 cents/kid
And Bongo does not go away. Kids will want to play it again and again. So let’s say they play each game TWICE over the next couple of years. (repetition is the cornerstone of Bible Memory).
So… if the COFFEE MAN’S DAUGHTER plays all 4 Bongo games in the 3rd grade, and repeats them two years later in the 5th grade, increasing her mastery of Bongo’s core Bible content…..
62 cents divided by 2 tours through the BONGO software =
31 CENTS per student to own Bongo
And….it gets even lower per kid when you factor in quantity pricing.
So for example, if you had 5 copies/computers of Bongo at the qty price of $105,
then the actual cost of BONGO PER USE, PER KID = ~ 26 CENTS per kid ~
How much IS that craft costing you?
A good one with interesting ART materials and design might cost you $1 per kid.
Remember Bongo CD? He’s 26¢ per kid.
btw: Learn more about Bongo Loves the Bible here!
Before we get much further, somebody please calculate the cost of boring students so they don’t want to come to Sunday School….
I thought so.
Computer Math!
Hopefully you got them donated new or used. But let’s say you go out and ACTUALLY PAY FOR YOUR COMPUTERS with the church’s money…
Here’s THE REAL COST of a NEW COMPUTER:
1 good new computer will last 7 to 8 years in the average Sunday School.
So, let’s say you use it 40 Sundays a year (Sept-May). 8 years x 40 weeks of use per year = 320 classtime uses.
A decent inexpensive new computer right now can be bought for $500. So….divide $500 by 320 uses and you get….
$1.57 cost per week for 1 new computer over it’s lifetime.
Reverting back to donuts….that’s about the cost of 6 donut holes per week.
Divide that in half because you have 2 kids in front of that new computer, and your BRAND NEW COMPUTER is costing your 75 CENTS per kid per use. That’s less than the cost of good art project materials.
Total up the cost of new computers + all the software you need, and you’re at about $1.00 per kid every time you step into the computer lab.
Now use the computers another 100 times outside of Sunday School over the next 7 years and watch your costs per use go even lower.
More Donut Math Examples!
EXAMPLE #1: Play and Learn CD: ”The 20 cent CD”
My lab has four copies of Play & Learn Childrens Bible CD. Cost: $12 each x 4 =$48. We use them about 10 lessons a year with our little kids, and in my last church we were going on SIX years using them. That’s $48 divided by 60 uses = 32 CENTS every time we’ve pull out all four Play & Learns. And we’re not done using them. We’ll be using that CD for several more years, I’m sure. Final cost per use = somewhere below 20 CENTS per lesson.
EXAMPLE #2: Jesus in Space:”The 22 Cent CD”
Buy 2 copies of Jesus in Space CD and it will cost you $52.00. If you have 20 kids in your ENTIRE Sunday School, that’s $2.60 a kid. (You’d bring them in 4 to 6 kids at a time to use those 2 copies).
BUT….the CD has 3 stories so you need to divide $2.60 by 3 stories = 86 cents per kid each time you drop the CD in the tray.
That’s the price of 3 donut holes per kid.
But wait! …there’s more! 
You’ll most likely use all 3 stories at least TWICE over the next four or five years. That cuts the cost to 43 cents per kid per use.
And if you have 2 copies of that CD and 40 kids in your program using each story twice over the next 5 years, your FINAL COST =22 cents per kid.
The Cost of Getting Started Scenarios
Scenario 1: The Cost of a “Basic” Software Library
Let’s say I buy $250 worth of software a year -for four years in a row which covers all four computers. Total: $1000 for all 4 years. Seems steep. But remember that ALL the CDs I buy will get used for many more than four years! –I’m going on 8 years of use with many of the CDs. So that $1000 worth of software covers me for EIGHT YEARS. Thus, my per year cost over eight years is really only $125 worth of software -which covers all four computers for eight years.
That’s ONE HUNDRED and TWENTY FIVE BUCKS A YEAR spread over 8 years for a “basic” reusable software library for four computers.
Divide that $125 a year by 40 Sundays = $3.12 a week. Thus, it costs you three dollars and twelve cents every time you walk into your computer lab for eight years. And that’s a conservative software library budget. Would you be willing to spend $4 or $6 a week on those four computers and 8 kids? I would, if it makes a difference in their lives and our program.
Scenario 2: The Cost of an Awesome Software Library!
Let’s say your “Awesome” library is double the cost of your “basic” library’s cost of $3.12 a week. So a great software library costs you $6.24 a week –for all four computers over an eight year period, using the computers 40 weeks/class period a year.
I’ve done games and drama lessons where I spent more per week!
RANT-IN-CONCLUSION:
A box of 20 “Timbit” donut holes from Tim Hortons is about $4. Add a quart of orange juice for $3… and you’re spending MORE on snacks than software per week.
+ A new computer costs you $1.71 per week over its lifetime.
Total it all up and we’re somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 BUCKS PER WEEK to run FOUR new computers with a decent software library …for the next 8 years.
(I’d make that text BIGGER but it would break the page.)
We can crunch the numbers a lot of different ways. Your numbers will depend on your kids, the number of computers, and the number of times you repeat lessons from software over the course of 5 to 8 years. But anyway you crunch them, software and computers are not really that “EXPENSIVE” over time.
Turning child attenders into bored kids and unchurched adults….. now THAT’S Expensive!
