Finish up that summer reading and gas up the bus fleet—the first day of school is upon us! And while some of America’s future leaders are already back in classrooms, there’s still time to get them prepared for what will certainly be the most productive school year to date.

What does this mean for parents of school aged children around the country? At Mobile Posse we thought we’d take a quick look at what to expect for the season. We asked some of our 4.5+ million users about how they shop for Back-to-School. Two days later, more than 150,000 of them had responded to the on-phone, idle-screen survey…and here’s what they said:

Where do people shop and why? Office supply and discount stores were by far the favorite locations for school supply shopping, with 2/3 of our users shopping at one location or the other. Not surprisingly, almost three in four respondents consider price the deciding factor in buying school items—only 6% were willing to shop somewhere based solely on a specific product’s availability.

Who do people shop for? The average Back-to-School shopper is picking supplies for ~2.2 children, but a whopping 10% buy supplies for 5 or more children. Pretty amazing, considering less than 4% of US residents actually have 5 or more children (remember: school supplies make great gifts and donations).

How much will they spend? Over half of families spend between $25-75 on school supplies. That breaks down to an average of more than $60 per household, and over $27 a year per child. You can’t put a price on a good education!

Have something you’ve been dying to ask? Mobile Posse idle-screen surveys provide access to millions of users ready to answer your questions. And through our on-phone technology, we can have the answers you’re looking for 48 hours from survey drop. Now THAT’S convenient!