Girl Scout cookie sales crumbling

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Girl Scout cookie sales crumbling



http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-02-19-girlscoutcookies_N.htm

National numbers are not yet in, but regional Girl Scout councils nationwide are seeing the impact of the down economy, as well as bad winter weather, in declines as large as 19% in pre-order sales, which took place January through early February.

Pre-order sales— mostly door-to-door and workplace — make up around 70% of cookie sales, council leaders say. Councils are hopeful they will make up for the drop-off with sales at shopping center booths through early spring, says Michelle Tompkins, spokeswoman for the Girl Scouts of the USA.

Among the councils reporting declines:

• Eastern South Carolina Council, near Charleston, shows pre-sales down 19% from 868,386 boxes in 2008 to about 700,000 boxes so far this year, says product sales manager Keisha Frost.

• Northeast Ohio Council, near Cleveland, reports pre-sales down about 16%, from 2.5 million to 2.1 million boxes, says Marianne Love, director of business services.

• Nation's Capital Council, in Northern Virginia, Washington and parts of Maryland, sees 5% fewer pre-sales, down to 3.7 million boxes, says public relations and marketing director Nancy Wood.

• Frontier Council in Las Vegas sales are down 1.3% from 612,792 to 604,524 boxes, says development director Emily Smith.

[bdamomma]

1. ..............

:-:-(

it just never stops.

[NightWatcher]

2. "presales"? I've never filled out the form and paid in advance, but when I see them set up

outside any number of stores, I'm sure to grab a few boxes.

Maybe people are just tired of "presales". You'll see my cash when I see your cookies.

[tanyev]

3. Yeah, I ordered some from a little girl in the neighborhood last year,

paid in advance, but never got my cookies. I'm not blaming her--it's very possible she just left them at my front door and they got nabbed by someone, especially since my house is right by a school bus pick up point. Anyhoo, lesson learned. If I want cookies, wait and buy them when I can walk away with them in my hot little hands.

[Maine-ah]

13. weird. We never made anyone pay in advance.

Place the order, and got our money at delivery. I placed a large order this year, and as usual, will pay upon delivery.

[Sydnie]

16. Troops have to select an option now

They can either do presales and get their orders in advance (and get their cookies delivered earlier, thus cutting the throat of other troops possibly) or they can place a blanket order for x number of boxes and hope that they can get rid of all that they ordered. There are give backs allowed, but not many if they opt for the second choice. Your troop ordered them, they own them.

The girls you see at the stores selling them are the troops that opted for the second choice and they are trying to move their product without door to door sales. These days, it seems to be the most sensible way to do it for safety reasons.

It's not like when we were a kid and could roam blocks and blocks from home knocking on strangers doors alone anymore.

[Gormy Cuss]

18. That's common around here -- pay now, see the cookies in a month or so.

And yes, sometimes the cookies never appear.

[Mari333]

4. that 20 percent 'down' figure seems to be across the board on everything

equity in homes, sales everywhere...everything i read says everything is 20 percent down in sales or worth..20 percent down here in my town in tourism...so almost 1/4 down for everything out there being sold. aww too bad, the girl scouts are good people.

[saltpoint]

5. Another bail-out's brewing, mark my words.

Let's see Lindsey Graham and Mitch McConnell oppose this one.

[ThomWV]

6. Haven't bought any in years - never did like them, always thought they sucked actually

And I am a cookie lover. Girl Scout Cookies: Nasty dried out things, baked by machine a decade ago and neatly sealed until profitable. If not for the social pressure felt to buy a workmate's kid's quota I never would have touched one of the things.

[madrchsod]

7. they got rid of my favorite years ago

i buy one or two boxes a year now..

[TuxedoKat]

8. I'm not surprised...

I'm a GS Leader and have hated the cookie program ever since I found that when I was a GS back in the '60s and '70s, the girls got back .25 per box of cookies that sold for .50 a box. Flash forward to 2005-6 or so and the girls were earning about .37 cents per box that sold for $3.50 a box. I don't know what they pay out now, but it is now less than .37 but they give some other benefits depending on the number of boxes sold. WTF? I can understand administrative costs going up but I couldn't believe there was such a gross disparity in the amount the girls earned per box and the price of the cookies. It does not reflect well on the organization.

I don't push the girls in my troop to sell cookies since we make so little from them. This year GSUSA decided to go against their previous policy of allowing the youngest group of GS (Daisies, Grade K-1st) to sell cookies too. Another move that I think doesn't reflect well on GSUSA.

[elocs]

12. I know a mom who pulled her young daughter out of GS when it seemed to be one fundraiser

after another. Although I cannot resist the appeal of a kid selling something at my door because I want them to succeed, it really is not fair to send young children door to door and put them under pressure to sell something to a complete stranger while mom or dad watches on from a few feet away.

[Sydnie]

14. GS, by their own charter, are not allowed to hold any other fundraisers

You make your money with your cookies or the parents must pay out of pocket for any scheduled activities, period.

If you know someone that was doing other fundraisers besides the cookies, they violated the charter completely.

I know, I was the cookie mom for my daugthers troop for years. Every box was like gold to them for the troop and their activities for the year.

[TuxedoKat]

21. In our council

if you don't participate in Be A Reader (magazine sales) you can't do any other fundraising but you can do cookie sales. Some troops also do wreath sales too. GS Troops can solicit for donations though too, at least in our council. I barely have time for the troop so I don't bother with any of the fundraising besides cookies (which I hate) but let the girls participate for their sakes. Fortunately money for outings isn't a problem in our troop. We don't do that much and the girls' families can afford the few outings we do.

[TuxedoKat]

23. I agree

I find the fundraising annoying and tiresome too. I don't have time for all of that. We only participate in the cookies sales (which I can't stand -- see other messages). I wanted to be a leader to encourage community service and education/learning new things with the girls.

[petronius]

19. Did you leave out a "not"? I'd think that no longer allowingthe littlest

kids to sell would be a good thing. K-1 seems way too young for door-to-door sales, IMO...

[TuxedoKat]

24. No, sadly

I was shocked to see that they were pushing the youngest girls to sell this year in my other daughter's Daisy Troop. I didn't even take the form home for her to sell any, but I will probably give the troop a small donation to make up for the lack of selling cookies on her part.

Every year previously GSUSA had made such a big deal about not having Daisies sell cookies so it is curious that they reversed their position.

[petronius]

25. That's really too bad - I wonder if they really expect such small girls to go out

and sell, or if it's a way of pressuring the parents into doing it. Either way, not cool...

[customerserviceguy]

9. Not surprising

since parents of Girl Scouts have a lot less co-workers to sell to these days.

[Blue_Tires]

22. well said...

[radfringe]

10. Girl Scout cookies shrink along with economy

Girl Scout cookies shrink along with economy
Higher prices for flour, cocoa, transportation mean smaller cookies this year
By BOB KEEFE
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
http://www.ajc.com/business/content/business/stories/2009/02/03/girl_scout_cookies.html


The lousy economy is taking a bite out of even the venerable Girl Scout cookie.

Higher prices for flour, oil and cocoa will mean smaller Samoas and thinner boxes of Thin Mints for many cookie consumers this year. Tighter household budgets, meanwhile, are threatening to put a pinch on sales, even for the sweetest of Scouts.

----snip----

Regardless of how sales end up, buyers might notice they’re getting a little less for their $3.50 per box when they get their goodies in a couple of months.

Samoas and Tagalongs, for instance, are slightly smaller this year.

Boxes of Thin Mints, Do-si-dos and Trefoils are smaller by an ounce in some markets — the equivalent of two fewer Thin Mints per box — but because Georgia troops use a different baker, Georgians will get just as many Thin Mints as they did last year, according to Walton.

[2Design]

11. less cookies for higher cost and several years ago their was an

article on someone misappropriation of funds - so I stopped buying

[GreenPartyVoter]

15. I did my part and bought 6 boxes from two of my littlest cheerleaders.

[elocs]

17. I can remember many years ago when I worked at my city's civic center

for a semi-pro basketball game with a crowd of maybe 5,000. There was a GS there who had a table with her parents beside her and with the cookies stacked up right there and she made out like a bandit. She did not have to go door to door and was selling cookies hand over fist and the crowd loved it because they immediately got their cookies. It's been a few years since I bought any (nobody came to my door) and then I had them sent to the troops.

[madmom]

20. My Girl Scouts never took money till they had the cookies in hand. That

being said we did have a few people write us bad checks so we had to go to a cash only policy. Who in hell stiffs littles girls by writing bad checks?

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

26. Girl Scout cookies are too expensive.

That's why I don't buy them.

[JimGinPA]

27. Their Sales Would Increase If One Of Them Came Over Here...

Instead of me having to look for them at Wal Mart on weekends.

[SoCalDem]

28. They are not as tasty as they used to be, and they cost too much.. Just donate to the scouts

and make your own cookies.. better all round..

who wants their little girls going door to door these days anyway?

back when I was a GS, we actually had to lug the damned cookies around, and sell them on the spot,..and of course the only ones we were allowed to sell were the ones no one wanted:(

(lived in Panama, and no chocolate melt-y ones allowed)

[omega minimo]

29. .

[Arugula Latte]

30. We did our part ... bought four boxes (and got one for free because we lent our our wagon)

:)

Thin Mints ... still the best ... :9

[JimWis]

31. Well, I did my part. Ordered one box of each kind. I have never

had to pay in advance. I usually order them every year, from a friends daughter, or a granddaughter, or whomever I know who is in scouts. Boy this economy is affecting every damn thing. I might be weird, but I like those cookies. Really.