Who shrunk the Girl Scout cookies?!?!?

[Anonymous]

14:16 - I think we get $0.65-$0.70 per box.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Frankly, the whole cookie enterprise has gone over the top in terms of pressuring the volunteers and their kids and absorbing activity time. The sell that this is about teaching business skills to 7 year olds begins to look threadbare when parents are pressed to sell more of these items at work to “keep people off my back.” Give the troops the cash.

Who has ever said that? If your troop leader or cookie manager said that to their troop, you definitely need to be having a serious conversation with them about troop priorities (and of course, volunteering to help with things!) I'm a leader and we definitely don't have anyone pressuring us to sell to keep people off of anyone else's back. I do tell my parents and girls that the more we sell the more money we have for stuff, and the cheaper (or nonexistant!) dues can be. But our troop suggestion was 40 boxes a girl, and that's pretty easy to get by doing just one or two cookie booths.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Go to Aldi. Thin Mints for 1.25 that taste amazing.

+1!!!

Seriously. And Aldi doesn't allow hydrogenated fats or palm oil. Donate to your local GS troop. They don't get any money from cookie sales, it all goes to corporate.

The troops get between 60 and 70 cents a box, and the council, who owns and operates the camps and have the paid staff that plans council-wide programming, deals with registrations, etc., gets about $1 per box (I forget the exact amount and I don't have the info sheet with me right now) So almost half stays in-state and directly supporting the local troops.

Girl Scouts of Central Maryland is still at $4 per box - it's up to each council what to charge.

[Anonymous]

DH said the same thing when he tried the samoas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can't decide what makes me more sad, people buying 10 boxes of cookies (wow) or people trying to skimp out of helping girl scouts to get a deal on said cookies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can't decide what makes me more sad, people buying 10 boxes of cookies (wow) or people trying to skimp out of helping girl scouts to get a deal on said cookies.

Donate the money to the troop instead. And not just the charity cookie donation, just straight-up donation. Around here, if the troop skips the "incentive" rewards, we get 70 cents on the box (whether it's a $4 box or a $5 box).

I am freaking sick and tired of *selling* Girl Scout cookies. It's so much work for so little return. At the end of cookie season, I figured out that if each family had just chipped in an extra $50 we could have saved hours of our lives.

Take that up with the Girl Scouts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's March 2019 and because the cost went up a full dollar per box from last year, our family only bought two boxes from the neighbor's girl -- tagolongs and somoas (where before I spent the full $20 on five boxes; one going to the military overseas). Both boxes only contain 15 cookies. In the case of the tagolongs, the amount of empty space to cookie was 40/60 percent. We hate to not support our neighbor's child but this year is has been our last. To charge a dollar more and give less product takes nerve. It is also up to each chapter to set the price of each item which is why the child of my friend in South Jersey sold her boxes for $4 instead of $5 a box (except for the gluten-free cookies, which would be $5 instead of my area's $6 a box. I intend to write GSA and let them know. The tough one is telling the next door neighbor we have to stop supporting them.

Seriously......over a dollar?

[Anonymous]

I didn't think this about the size of the cookies but the packages and number of cookies have definitely gotten smaller. The tagalongs used to come in a roll like ritz crackers but now they come in a plastic package with space for a full cookie between each one.

[Anonymous]

There are different versions of the same flavor cookie?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are different versions of the same flavor cookie?

Yes. I swear the Maryland area used to sell the "name brand" cookies, and then switched over to the "generic" a few years ago. They are NASTEE. They DO NOT taste the same AT ALL. I will not be purchasing any more generic cookies - I will just donate directly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are different versions of the same flavor cookie?

Yes. I swear the Maryland area used to sell the "name brand" cookies, and then switched over to the "generic" a few years ago. They are NASTEE. They DO NOT taste the same AT ALL. I will not be purchasing any more generic cookies - I will just donate directly.

Yes, because they are made at different plants.

[Anonymous]

Cookie mom of 9 years here. Some facts:

Selling cookies is a troop decision. It’s not required at all. The only rule is that a troop cannot do any other fundraisers unless they do both cookies and fall sales. So all the complaints about selling cookies? Talk to your troop leader or change troops. Or start your own.

Troops get .65 (with prizes) or .70 per box (without prizes). A bit more once they hit 1,000 boxes (I think).

Nationwide, there are 2 bakeries: Little Brownie Bakers and ABC. Troops within the GS Council of the Nation’s Capital (GSCNC) are with LBB. There are slight variations in the cookies and the names based on the bakery. For example, elsewhere and Tagalongs are called Peanut Butter Patties.

The price per box is $4 ($5 for S’mores and Toffee-tactic, which are somewhat new). The base price has been $4 since 2010, so I do believe they’ve likely shrunk the boxes to keep the price the same. Again, this is within GSCNC. If you’re local and being charged more, that is against the rules big time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They aren't smaller. You just got bigger probably from eating too many cookies. And they are $4 around here. And they didn't even taste good way back in the 80s when I sold them!

Ha ha this is so true! Never had a Girl Scout cookie that was worth the calories.

[Anonymous]

The entire thing is a racket. No way am I buying this crap.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can't decide what makes me more sad, people buying 10 boxes of cookies (wow) or people trying to skimp out of helping girl scouts to get a deal on said cookies.

Donate the money to the troop instead. And not just the charity cookie donation, just straight-up donation. Around here, if the troop skips the "incentive" rewards, we get 70 cents on the box (whether it's a $4 box or a $5 box).

I am freaking sick and tired of *selling* Girl Scout cookies. It's so much work for so little return. At the end of cookie season, I figured out that if each family had just chipped in an extra $50 we could have saved hours of our lives.

This is the difference between wealthy people and the 50% of the country that couldn’t come up with $400 if their car broke tomorrow.

I grew up in the poorer group and my parents didn’t have $50 to give me so I sold candy and cookies as a fundraiser for my school activities.
Today, I’d throw $50 at it without a second thought — although I wish my kids had the opportunity to grow up as I did and learn those lessons by experience.