Comments on: Are Too Many Parents Selling Girl Scout Cookies?

By: Lila

Lila — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 14:21:54 +0000

Carol….sorry to burst your bubble the girls DO NOT make 95 cents a box….its actually 55 cents. Trust me as a troop leader, I feel scammed. The girls work their butts off only to be rewarded for so little.

By: Carol

Carol — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 12:22:19 +0000

Yes, of course we help sell. First off to say people at work are coerced in to buying is wrong. This is a product that sells itself and is looked forward to by many each year! Our area still takes orders for cookies but when you have every girl scout in the area selling at the same time and you are not allowed to go door to door unless you know the people (girl scout safety rules and common sense in this day) how else are you going to make enough sales? This is the biggest fund raiser the troops have and sets the stage for paying for all the troops projects and trips for the year. The troop makes 95 cents on each box the rest goes to the local council and paying the baking company. The area we are in cut all our scouts sales in half by having two counties that are side by side sell at the same time. Now people that would purchase and looked forward to cookie sales 2 times a year can only purchase once a year. My daughter is responsible to contact the neighbors, relatives and perspective new customers she knows so she does do as much of the selling as her Dad, if not more.

By: Ben

Ben — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 23:12:33 +0000

@Wendy — I’m a Boy Scout, so I sell popcorn. I think you’re underestimating what elementary schoolers, middle schoolers, and high schoolers can do. I sold $4,000 worth two years in a row, and in my Scouting career, I’ve sold a total of $18,000-$19,000 worth of popcorn. Yes, my parents did a LITTLE bit of selling, but overall, they probably only sold a total of $2,000 of the $18-$19K. Through those years, I learned valuable skills like being a door-to-door salesman. Also, my sister’s a Girl Scout, and while door-to-door sales are frowned upon in Girl Scouts, the girls can still learn sales-based skills by selling at their place of worship, to their family, and possibly at their school. Plus, my sister’s troop was not given cookies upfront, and I have not heard of any other troops that have received their cookies upfront. Lastly–in my experience, Scouting organizations have a common goal–to prepare the Scouts to be independent. From what you wrote, I assume you’re a Girl Scout mom, so I have a bit of advice for you: don’t get in the way of your daughter(s) learning independence from Scouting. Teach them the skills they need to succeed, help them out a bit, and enable your girl(s) to succeed.

By: Wendy

Wendy — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 17:40:22 +0000

Are you kidding me?! This year the cookie sales changed. We were given boxes of cookies up front. The number of boxes each girl received was based on the number she sold last year. It was supposed to be more boxes than she sold the previous year. Luckily, our cookie mom had the forethought to order fewer cookies per girl.
Then the PARENT signs for the cookies…agreeing to sell that number of boxes! If you don’t sell them YOU are responsible to pay! Of course the parents sold cookies! Otherwise you are stuck holding the bill. The GS Council says they sell 10% more cookies with the cookies upfront approach. Of course they do!!! TO THE PARENTS.
My daughter loves girl scouts but saying that GS wants the girls to do the selling is ridiculous.