Girl Scout cookie selling not going well

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wish the Girl Scouts would figure out a new gig. Nobody needs those second rate cookies. Many who order them throw them out.

But how are kids getting 200 orders? They aren't. Their popular/social/well-connected parents are putting the ask out on facebook.

This. I love Girl Scouts, it's been great for my kids but I am really, really over selling cookies. Neighbors don't answer their doors anymore, nobody wants to spend money immediately after Christmas and Hanukkah, it's COLD outside, and all my local friends have girls around the same age selling their own cookies. Most of my and DH's co-workers are not local, so I don't bother selling to co-workers. At most, my girls have sold 20 boxes a year. This year, we're selling to the handful of people who responded on Facebook and neighbors who asked about it, and they'll make the rest of their money at booths. I actually wish the entire organization would just switch to doing booths and not bother with individual sales.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My neighbor took our order but didn’t collect money. Are you SURE you need payment upfront and not just the orders?

Op here. Yes. I need to write a check or give the cash prior to the order going in.

I was a Girl Scout for like 6 years. We got an assortment of 150 cookies and then could sell them. What was wrong with that way? Im debating doing this so my dd could sell but I am afraid of getting stuck with unsold cookies.

Nope, if you're in the nation's capital region, your troop leaders are doing it wrong. Money doesn't get taken out of the troop checking account until after the cookies are delivered.

+2
Agree.

Op- you either misunderstood or your troop leader misunderstands the protocol.

Who is your cookie manager? Start there instead of the troop leader. The cookie manager goes through a mini traing and knows more than the troop leader in this area.

[Anonymous]

I try to have $5s on hand when they do the stands and just donate. It’s during diet season so bad timing here.

[Anonymous]

OP GS cookies have always been pre-ordered (at least for last 10-15 years when my girls were in it). Money is collected when cookies are delivered. I order from every GS who comes to my door, whether I know them or not. I do not buy from their parents who text me, post on FB, or bring in an order form to work. The goal is for the girls to learn to sell cookies, not their parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish they would go to direct donation. The cookies are gross.

You are welcome to donate cash. We always have one or two neighbors that just hand us a $20 and say "I don't need cookies, but I'd love to donate to your troop". This happens at cookie booths sometimes too.

Technically we're not supposed to accept that - but yeah, I don't think anybody is turning it down.

[Anonymous]

the cookies have gotten so bad I don’t buy them anymore.


That being said-if you want to sell cookies go to the local universities to the frat houses-you will do very well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My dd is a first time Brownie Girl Scout. We are supposed to go door to door and at parent workplaces to take “pre orders”. This isn’t working at all. No one wants to pay without orders in hand and fronting 100+ cookie order is expensive. Neighbors told us to come around with a wagon when we have our cookies in stock and they’d love to buy. Grandparents said the same.

I went to the troop leader and it seems the girls are never going to get actual cookies in hand. They only sell through “pre orders”. Is this true? Maybe this is why I couldn’t ever find cookies to buy in years past…

Dd has only sold 3 boxes. I’m also not thrilled because without cookies in hand she’s not learning any sales pitches. I really wanted to make a booth with her to sell. I’m prohibited by ethics to sell at work.

How does everyone else sell 200 boxes? I’m missing something.

Yeah! At long last people have recognized that GS cookies are grossly overpriced and taste gross.

I see stuff like this here, and then in the real world people get legitimately mad at me when I don't remind them to order cookies. People love them. My daughter is probably quitting at the end of this year, and I'm going to hear about it from disappointed family members and coworkers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My dd is a first time Brownie Girl Scout. We are supposed to go door to door and at parent workplaces to take “pre orders”. This isn’t working at all. No one wants to pay without orders in hand and fronting 100+ cookie order is expensive. Neighbors told us to come around with a wagon when we have our cookies in stock and they’d love to buy. Grandparents said the same.

I went to the troop leader and it seems the girls are never going to get actual cookies in hand. They only sell through “pre orders”. Is this true? Maybe this is why I couldn’t ever find cookies to buy in years past…

Dd has only sold 3 boxes. I’m also not thrilled because without cookies in hand she’s not learning any sales pitches. I really wanted to make a booth with her to sell. I’m prohibited by ethics to sell at work.

How does everyone else sell 200 boxes? I’m missing something.

Yeah! At long last people have recognized that GS cookies are grossly overpriced and taste gross.

I see stuff like this here, and then in the real world people get legitimately mad at me when I don't remind them to order cookies. People love them. My daughter is probably quitting at the end of this year, and I'm going to hear about it from disappointed family members and coworkers.

Pffft. They can buy the versions in the grocery store, made with the same ingredients in the same factories. Keebler sells “Samoas” and “Thin Mints” renamed in the supermarket year round, and there are others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish the Girl Scouts would figure out a new gig. Nobody needs those second rate cookies. Many who order them throw them out.

But how are kids getting 200 orders? They aren't. Their popular/social/well-connected parents are putting the ask out on facebook.

This. I love Girl Scouts, it's been great for my kids but I am really, really over selling cookies. Neighbors don't answer their doors anymore, nobody wants to spend money immediately after Christmas and Hanukkah, it's COLD outside, and all my local friends have girls around the same age selling their own cookies. Most of my and DH's co-workers are not local, so I don't bother selling to co-workers. At most, my girls have sold 20 boxes a year. This year, we're selling to the handful of people who responded on Facebook and neighbors who asked about it, and they'll make the rest of their money at booths. I actually wish the entire organization would just switch to doing booths and not bother with individual sales.

So skip individual sales. Lots and lots of families do. I’m a little irritated by all the UMC parents complaining about this …. How do you think they keep prices so low for girls from low income families? It’s all that cookie money. And lots of girls from low income families need cookies to fund their troops because their parents can’t shell out $10 here and there for activities.
We do Boy Scouts also and the costs ate literally 10x as much, because they don’t have that cookie income.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My neighbor took our order but didn’t collect money. Are you SURE you need payment upfront and not just the orders?

Op here. Yes. I need to write a check or give the cash prior to the order going in.

I was a Girl Scout for like 6 years. We got an assortment of 150 cookies and then could sell them. What was wrong with that way? Im debating doing this so my dd could sell but I am afraid of getting stuck with unsold cookies.

If people sign up to buy cookies they will pay when you deliver. I have never paid before receiving my cookies.

I only buy cookies from the kids who knock on my door or sell outside a store. I won’t buy from friends who just post or send links for their kids.

[Anonymous]

The money comes out of the troop account later. Ideally, preorders are good to help figure out the mix of cookies the troop should order for your booths. I was a cookie mom for three years and after that we stopped selling because it was harder and harder each year, and the troop didn't make much per box.

[Anonymous]

My DH and I used to just pick a number we were comfortable fronting (usually $200) and we would just front the money for the more reluctant buyers. We thought of it as a donation to our DD troop in the event we couldn’t get money from those people even once we had cookies in hand, but in the one instance that happened, we just found someone else who bought them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You are actually not supposed to accept payment up front. People order and pay when the cookies are delivered. As for the wagon situation, you can order cookies "for yourself" now and then sell them to your neighbors when you receive them.

But yes, the ordering period for GSCNC SUCKS, it's stupid to have it completely over the holidays. I hate it.

For the 3rd year in a row we’ve sold zero boxes so far because I will not attempt to do it over the holidays. I have zero capacity for one more thing. It is the stupidest time for sales and we can’t be the only families that think so.

Neither DH nor I can sell at work. I think I may take DD to the metro station or a nearby college campus in her scout uniform and hand out her digital cookie link/QR code.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How old do they girls keep doing this for? Dd still has a lot of friends in late ES selling, and I always buy one if they ask me directly. But I don’t think they’re very good cookies and hate buying.

Until 12th grade, if they stay in that long (I did). The troop has to sell at least one box in order to be approved for additional non-cookie fundraising. The older girls can use the cookie money to fund their award projects too.

I dislike the cookies and cookie sales, but I don't want the girls to half-ass it because that money pays for the wonderful camp properties we use, as well as other things. They definitely appreciate your support.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Haven’t been a leader in 10 years - right when they started online orders and we ignored them. Not regulation, but we collected money upfront. The shipping costs for online make it a ridiculous proposition.

The beautiful thing about GS is that you can do things the way you want, so long as you can account for the money and boxes of cookies. But GSCNC has THE WORST timing for cookie sales.

People can order online for girl delivery to avoid shipping costs, that way you don't have to deal with the money at all. I like this so much better and really push people to order this way but a lot of our older neighbors don't want to order online.