Memphis-Shelby County Schools students head back to the classroom on Monday. FOX13 wants to help you find the best possible price for your child’s school supplies!
If you’re feeling overwhelmed, you might be able to use artificial intelligence to find the cheapest school supply prices for your child’s individual school. You can even customize it to your area code. Here are the results we found when using three of the most popular chatbots.
CHATGPT:
We started with ChatGPT. FOX13 pretended to be a parent of a 7th grader at Craigmont Middle School and a 4th grader at Wells Elementary.
I uploaded screenshots of the most recent school supply lists I could find. At the time of looking in early July, many of the schools’ supply lists were dated. Thankfully, ChatGPT warned me that they were a few years old.
Right away, it recommended I shop at Walmart and Dollar Tree to get the lowest prices. It gave me an estimated budget of about $100 at both stores.
When I asked if it would be cheaper to order anything online, it recommended getting the clear backpack. ChatGPT even wished my imaginary children a great year.
MICROSOFT COPILOT:
Next, we tried Microsoft Copilot, which also recommended Walmart for the cheapest school supplies. It gave a price estimation for most of the items on my list.
Copilot also recommended buying tissues, wipes and hand sanitizer and Dollar Tree. The software recommended shopping in early to mid-August, even though school starts in early August.
When I asked if it would be cheaper to go to other area codes, it recommended bigger Walmart supercenters in Raleigh, Cordova and Southaven.
Copilot also gave a budget estimation of about $100.
GOOGLE GEMINI:
Google Gemini did not let FOX13 upload the specific school supply lists. It appeared to come up with suggestions for what it thought my children might need. However, Gemini did remind me of tax-free weekend.
The cost estimation was way below the prediction that ChatGPT and Copilot gave.
TAKE-AWAYS:
None of these tools are totally accurate, but they’re good jumping-off points. The feature I loved most was getting to map out the specific locations I should visit across Memphis to save money.
It’s a good idea to double check price accuracy on store websites before heading out the door.
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