Yearbook Distribution

Our 2007 Yearbook Think Tank members share ideas to make distributing yearbooks easy and fun.

Creating Excitement for the Event

Bridget Collabello at Soule Road Middle School in Liverpool, New York, uses a “Countdown to Yearbooks” bulletin board to build excitement as well as to decrease the number of inquiries about the yearbook arrival date. She also sells any extra yearbooks on the same day that students receive their "pre-paid" yearbooks. She reports that it is a bit more hectic, but overall sales will be higher.

Bridget also duplicates pages of the yearbook and sends them to the "outside sources" featured on the page or the individuals who helped make the page possible. For example, the coach who teaches at another building should get a copy of the page that featured her team. This gesture is appreciated and sometimes will result in extra sales and even more cooperation/participation during the following school year.

Centralized Distribution

Ellen Bredeweg, yearbook adviser at Palm Springs Community Middle School in West Palm Beach, Florida, first distributes yearbooks to her yearbook staff and then distributes her pre-ordered yearbooks using a centralized approach. Since they offer Foil Names on their covers, the books are organized in alphabetical order. Then, students with names in a certain alphabetical range (such as A-J) are called to the distribution area over the school’s PA system. The majority of the books are distributed in one class period. The next day, they offer extra yearbooks for sale at an increased price.

Homeroom/Classroom Distribution

On the day preceding the last day of school, Leann Moody and her yearbook editors at Dixon Middle School in Provo, Utah, label and organize yearbooks in the library, which is closed. The next day, sorted yearbooks magically appear in each homeroom for the last day of school. Students sign yearbooks while a yearbook media presentation is played on all of the TV’s throughout the school building. 

At West Chester Elementary School, students may choose from personalized and standard covers. Amy Eaton, the yearbook adviser, prints “This yearbook belongs to” labels for students ordering non-personalized yearbooks and places them inside the cover.  Amy reports that this approach makes sorting and distribution so much faster.

Gloria Murray, yearbook adviser at Serra Catholic School in Rancho Santa Margarita, California, uses an Excel spreadsheet using the school roster to track student purchases. Student name and homeroom are recorded to make reporting easy. While orders are being processed, she sorts the list alphabetically. Then she sorts the list by classroom to give a final report to each homeroom teacher. This way the teacher only sees the information pertaining to that specific homeroom/classroom. 

When she receives the yearbooks, she delivers the appropriate amount of yearbooks to each homeroom for distribution.  The teachers are given a distribution letter that clearly details the distribution procedure. Any extra yearbooks available for sale are left at the front office for purchase.

Jessie Johnson, yearbook adviser at Buffalo Lake Hector Elementary School in Buffalo Lake, Minnesota, distributes yearbooks, along with a list of the students who’ve ordered, to teachers for distribution in the classroom. She also mails yearbooks to students who have moved. If she has extra yearbooks, she mails them to any staff that retired over the summer, so they will have a memento of their time at her school.

Kristin Hayward and her staff at Meadow Park Middle School in Beaverton, Oregon, have found that delivering the books works well for them. Her staff members create a list of students who have pre-ordered yearbooks organized by homeroom.  They schedule times with the teachers for one day the last week of school and deliver yearbooks. They then load up a cart, take a cashbox with plenty of change, and a copy of the fines and fees list. The students come out of the room and get their yearbook if they don't have a fine or fee.  Kristin then sells yearbooks during lunch for the rest of the week.