Back-to-school bargains: Same supply list cost over twice as much depending where we shopped

Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Utah families face varying school supply costs, with Walmart offering the cheapest option.
Walmart's complete list cost $30.28, while Amazon's was $66.23, a 119% increase.
Shrinkflation and misleading pricing affected Dollar General and Amazon's perceived bargains.

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah families are hunting for pencils, paper and backpacks. But the same school-supply list can cost more than twice as much depending on where they shop.

As we have every year for the past seven years, the KSL Investigators set out on an investigative shopping quest.

The assignment: Get everything on a list supplied by a local schoolteacher while spending as little as possible.

Using the list, we shopped the back-to-school sections at Walmart, Target, Smith's, Dollar General and Amazon to see where we pay more and where they pay less.

The game was simple: Get everything on the list while paying as little as possible.

Before breaking down the numbers, we made a few observations that might not be surprising — but could be easy to miss.

For the second year in a row, we hit a speed bump at Walmart. We selected a backpack hanging on a hook labeled at just $5. But when we made it to checkout, it rang up for six times more. Somebody appeared to have placed it on the wrong shelf.

Shrinkflation has also struck, noticeably at Dollar General. While the price was the same, notebooks that had 70 pages in previous years now had just 60 pages.

Then, while shopping on Amazon, we discovered what appeared to be an incredible bargain: a water bottle for 1 cent.

It was a great deal, until we reached checkout and discovered shipping would cost between $47 and $90, depending on how quickly we wanted it.

We went with a different option.

The biggest observation, however, was the same one we make every year: It absolutely pays to shop around.

Here is where you can cheat off our homework.

Dollar General's basket rang up at $27, but it was not complete. The store did not have a scientific calculator, and its notebooks did not meet the page requirement on our list.

That made Walmart the cheapest complete stop at $30.28.

Target totaled $39.88, followed by Smith's at $48.43.

Amazon was the most expensive at $66.23 — 119% more than Walmart. Amazon was also the most expensive option for eight of the 11 items on the list.

The KSL Investigators found Walmart offered the cheapest complete school-supply basket at $30.28. Amazon was the most expensive at $66.23. Dollar General’s $27 basket did not include every required item. (Photo: KSL)

Yes, shoppers pay for that convenience.

Some products stood out across nearly every store.

Rulers were more expensive this year at every store we checked. Erasers were either the same price or more expensive everywhere we shopped.

Binders were the biggest budget buster. They were the most expensive line item at four of the five retailers.

Back-to-school prices moved in both directions compared with 2025. Walmart’s basket dropped 26% and Smith’s fell 9%, while Target, Dollar General and Amazon all increased. (Photo: KSL)

Compared with our 2025 price check, the results were mixed.

Walmart's cart dropped 26% from last year, while Smith's was down 9%.

Prices moved in the opposite direction at the other stores. Target was up 2%, Dollar General was up 3% and Amazon rose 12%.

Photos

The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.

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Matt Gephardt

You might say that Matt Gephardt was born into journalism. On the day he arrived at the Indiana hospital, his father, a reporter, had to quickly rush away after the delivery in order to front a news report. Matt’s television debut came a few years later when, as a toddler, he was used by an Indianapolis reporter to demonstrate how prescription drugs can be mistaken for candy. Matt’s “professional” career in the business began when he was 17 years old, attending high school in Los Angeles, and he landed a summer-job as a teleprompter operator in the Salt Lake City market. He moved to Utah, enrolled at the University of Utah, and never looked back. In the more than 20 years since, Matt has worked virtually every newsroom job: production crew, video editing, video photography, producing, executive producing. In 2010, Matt made the jump in front of the camera as an investigative “watchdog” reporter. Matt’s reporting has not only earned him several journalism awards, it has also led to law and policy changes at local, state and federal levels. When not investigating on behalf of Utah consumers, Matt enjoys “urban hiking” with his wife and three children – setting out on foot towards Sugarhouse or Downtown hoping to run into a friendly group of people gathered at a park, a festival or a new store or restaurant to try out. Matt is absolutely thrilled to be working at KSL where the commitment to ethical journalism, fairness and community is in lockstep with his own ideals.

Sloan Schrage

Sloan Schrage started as an “old man” intern with KSL TV in 2007. For the past ten years, he’s produced daily and investigative stories that impact safety, security and wallets of Utah consumers. When he’s not at KSL, he’s either with his family or trying to repair cars with help from YouTube tutorials, or buying cameras or other photography gear that he’ll never use.