Box Tops for Education gets a new digital makeover, much to parents' frustration

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — They've been around for almost a quarter-century and many students looked forward to cutting them out in exchange for cash for school fundraising.

There's now a change to "Box Tops for Education" with a mobile app that eliminates the process of cutting out box tops.

With the new app, there's no need for scissors. Parents just need to scan a receipt, which earns ten cents for every product purchased. The app automatically identifies all participating box tops products and bonus offers.

Parents have two weeks to scan their receipts, and the money is sent directly to a school of their choice.

Tori Shires, of Baldwinsville, is a busy mom, who tries to give as many box tops to her kids' school.

She's not alone; their website tracks earnings starting in 1996 and over 900 million dollars have been raised.

Tori adds, “The Box Top program is a wonderful way for schools to earn extra money for PTA's extracurricular activities, that require little effort from parents normally... other than what they're normally buying right?"

That all changed this summer when the box tops you clip got a digital makeover.

You can still find some on store shelves as they phase out, which are still valid for 10 cents.

Now, there's a free app for apple and android devices. It requires you to scan your entire receipt, which gives Tori some pause.

“I don't think they need to know every single thing I buy,” Tori says. “My kids' school last year earned over 1,000 dollars from Box Tops. That's a really big deal when it comes to activities, to learning supplies for teachers, and I would hate to see the school lose out on money because of a change in the program."

Shires reached out to "BTFE" on Twitter asking if she could black out purchases and only leave the eligible box top purchases visible.

The company responded saying "unfortunately, we do need all of the purchased items visible, however you can cross out your payment info!"

Update 5:45 pm:

General Mills, the parent company for the Box Tops for Education program says you can block out all other items on your receipt that you don't want to show up on the app.