Post by Patsy Baloney on Mar 8, 2023 15:39:07 GMT -5
I think, at the end of the day, it’s absolutely ok to say you don’t want to participate in cookie sales, want to step back, want to take a new approach, etc. If your troop is pushing you to sell more or do something you don’t want to do, the answer is no.
The beauty of Girl Scouts is that it is to be what you need it to be. Your scout doesn’t need the sales experience. Or maybe she hates it (I ALWAYS did). So, don’t focus on it.
Our troop sells less than 1500 boxes total. This year, we added booths for the first time. It was a mostly positive experience, and I can see us absolutely doing 2-3 booths per season and calling it a day. Cookie sales are not beneficial to us. We barely make anything and most everything they learn about entrepreneurship can be done in troop meeting programming.
If my scouts were more into sales, I might allot more time to it. But, they’d rather have outdoor adventures, learn new skills, participate in the arts, advocate, etc.
I feel for everyone having a sour cookie season. It’s always awful. Check with your service unit/council about where to give feedback and if there are any product committees you can join.
This thread makes me even more glad we quit GS. I really truly hated online sales. I remember as a GS walking around the neighborhood. The whole point was girl sales and learning the business aspect. I'm sure it makes me a curmudgeon but I hated having to shill her cookies. You want the (shitty) prize, then you put in the work!
There is so much more, but it's just really changed since I was in GS. I even helped run a troop in college, so I was all in. I'm just over it now.
I think that it depends on your council. I am a leader in Atlanta and we have a terrible council and cookies have been a pain in the ass the past two years. It also doesn’t help that there are a million different websites and nothing is integrated. So, like everything, it is regional, lol.
Their online site is hands down the worst site ever
I know nothing about GS but can you say no to a cookie sale? Since the gains are so minimal, why spend so much time, effort and tears doing it?
Cookie sales are not required. However, if your troop wants to do their own fundraising (like putting on an activity for other troops and charging for it) my council requires your troop to participate in cookie sales and might also require the troop participate in the fall candy/nut sales (but I'm not sure about that part).
I know nothing about GS but can you say no to a cookie sale? Since the gains are so minimal, why spend so much time, effort and tears doing it?
In our council you cannot do other fundraising unless the troop participates in both Fall Product and cookie sales. We do get a lot of money from both sales, and our troop is fully self funded, which parents like. I highly prefer Fall Product in terms of product sold and ease of running the sale. The website is so much better for tracking sales and selling. It is a lot of work, but good for the girls. The girls gain a lot of skills working these sales.
I know nothing about GS but can you say no to a cookie sale? Since the gains are so minimal, why spend so much time, effort and tears doing it?
I’ve always known I want my kids to learn about business and being self-employed so the cookie sale has been the perfect introduction to entrepreneurship for my DD who is the older child and in 4th grade. It’s our first year doing this and it took me a bit to figure out how the sales work and how to make the process age appropriate for DD. It’s a highly desired product driven by serious nostalgia which makes a lot of different kinds of people come by and buy them. Only a handful have any complaint about the price even though we are selling them at the weird $5.50 price point. People we wouldn’t otherwise interact with on a regular basis as a 4th grader come buy the cookies, and we’ve had some good discussions about American history and demographics.
Post by nothingcontroversial on Mar 10, 2023 13:31:11 GMT -5
I was a Girl Scout a million years ago, so this was pre-internet. Also, I grew up in the middle of nowhere, and our council's office was over 30 miles away from us. So, that's how we got away with what I am about to say. We refused to do the "official" cookie sale. We baked our own cookies and had our own bake sale. We didn't report it to council, and we kept all of the money for ourselves. We used the proceeds to fund our weekend cabin camping trip.
I was a Girl Scout a million years ago, so this was pre-internet. Also, I grew up in the middle of nowhere, and our council's office was over 30 miles away from us. So, that's how we got away with what I am about to say. We refused to do the "official" cookie sale. We baked our own cookies and had our own bake sale. We didn't report it to council, and we kept all of the money for ourselves. We used the proceeds to fund our weekend cabin camping trip.
Your name is a lie!!
Also, I think stuff like this happens a lot. 🤷🏻♀️ you gotta do what you gotta do!
Post by liverandonions on Mar 10, 2023 13:46:21 GMT -5
We seem to have had inventory issues as well - beyond the Raspberry Rally which is dead in the water, but oddly enough my daughter has sold more cookies this year than any other year. We're doing a booth today and I'm taking my last 9 boxes to it, and hoping she can get at least 6 boxes sold from the booth transferred to her sales because that will put her into the next price bucket which she wants and then i can be done!
Ours are $5 a box and we get $.75...the differences from place to place is amazing
Yes! If we help our daughter's at a cookie booth we have to register as a volunteer on the GS website and pay $25.
That's some BS! We did not have to do that!
I can almost guarantee you do have to do that. They're cracking down hardcore on it this year - any parent that attends an event with other girls, had to take Youth Protection training on child abuse as well.
I was a Girl Scout a million years ago, so this was pre-internet. Also, I grew up in the middle of nowhere, and our council's office was over 30 miles away from us. So, that's how we got away with what I am about to say. We refused to do the "official" cookie sale. We baked our own cookies and had our own bake sale. We didn't report it to council, and we kept all of the money for ourselves. We used the proceeds to fund our weekend cabin camping trip.
Your name is a lie!!
Also, I think stuff like this happens a lot. 🤷🏻♀️ you gotta do what you gotta do!
I was actually wondering if my troop would have "gotten away with it" if we did a similar thing today. My hometown is still over 30 miles away from the council office. If we tried this today and the troop leader asked everyone and their parents to keep this on the down low and not post anything about it on social media, would it work? I suppose that the general public at a bake sale wouldn't know that it was an "unapproved" fundraiser, so they wouldn't look up how to contact council and snitch on the local Girl Scout troop, would they?
My niece is a Brownie. I bought something like 12 boxes of cookies online from her last week, since I live several hours away from her. I have already received two emails that my cookie shipment has been delayed. I still have cookies left over from last year's sale (a box of Thin Mints and 3 boxes of Samoas), so I'm not too concerned.
Post by Patsy Baloney on Mar 10, 2023 13:57:58 GMT -5
nothingcontroversial I’ve ratted on a few troops before, but I keep a list of troops with jerk leaders who, in one way or another, harmed either my troop, another troop, or another leader.
It’s my FAFO list.
But generally, councils don’t have the employee bandwidth or visibility into all of their troops to monitor all of their activities. The only way I see someone getting caught on this, beside the snitching, is a troop account audit.
Also, I think stuff like this happens a lot. 🤷🏻♀️ you gotta do what you gotta do!
I was actually wondering if my troop would have "gotten away with it" if we did a similar thing today. My hometown is still over 30 miles away from the council office. If we tried this today and the troop leader asked everyone and their parents to keep this on the down low and not post anything about it on social media, would it work? I suppose that the general public at a bake sale wouldn't know that it was an "unapproved" fundraiser, so they wouldn't look up how to contact council and snitch on the local Girl Scout troop, would they?
My niece is a Brownie. I bought something like 12 boxes of cookies online from her last week, since I live several hours away from her. I have already received two emails that my cookie shipment has been delayed. I still have cookies left over from last year's sale (a box of Thin Mints and 3 boxes of Samoas), so I'm not too concerned.
I wonder. My daughters’ troops are not in our town but in a neighboring one. I posted about a cookie booth (in that neighboring town) on a FB group and got a nasty gram from another GS parent suggesting that our troop was unauthorized and reminding me that I couldn’t have a booth in my town. The turf wars are real near me.
I was actually wondering if my troop would have "gotten away with it" if we did a similar thing today. My hometown is still over 30 miles away from the council office. If we tried this today and the troop leader asked everyone and their parents to keep this on the down low and not post anything about it on social media, would it work? I suppose that the general public at a bake sale wouldn't know that it was an "unapproved" fundraiser, so they wouldn't look up how to contact council and snitch on the local Girl Scout troop, would they?
My niece is a Brownie. I bought something like 12 boxes of cookies online from her last week, since I live several hours away from her. I have already received two emails that my cookie shipment has been delayed. I still have cookies left over from last year's sale (a box of Thin Mints and 3 boxes of Samoas), so I'm not too concerned.
I wonder. My daughters’ troops are not in our town but in a neighboring one. I posted about a cookie booth (in that neighboring town) on a FB group and got a nasty gram from another GS parent suggesting that our troop was unauthorized and reminding me that I couldn’t have a booth in my town. The turf wars are real near me.
As long as the booth is within the borders of the council the troop is in, then the other parents need to STFU. In our council, there are "council sponsored" booths and every troop in the council has equal access to it. It's first come, first serve and there are limits on how many booths a troop can sign up for (at least the first couple nights of sign up). Troops can select a booth 60 miles away from where the troop is located as long as it's within their council.
The only time there is a problem is when someone sets up a booth in another council's area (which can happen when people are near council borders). Rules are different for different councils - different cookie selling dates, different prices, sometimes different cookie varieties if one uses LBB and the other uses ABC. This is situation would be considered against the rules since it can give a troop an advantage over others.
Edit - re-reading your post, it sounds like you were only advertising the booth but the troop and the booth were both in the same town? Sometimes GS parents are just too much. I'm all for abiding by the rules because they are supposed to make things fair, but some people like to make up their own.
I can almost guarantee you do have to do that. They're cracking down hardcore on it this year - any parent that attends an event with other girls, had to take Youth Protection training on child abuse as well.
I can almost guarantee you do have to do that. They're cracking down hardcore on it this year - any parent that attends an event with other girls, had to take Youth Protection training on child abuse as well.
We didn't.
I don’t feel like this is our policy either.
That’s the pendulum swinging way too far the other way. As a troop leader, I want to create an environment that parents feel welcome to be a part of. Granted, I would not be leaving a parent alone with my troop without a troop leader or other registered volunteer. But you should not have to register and go through a safe environment training to be at a troop activity. That would give me red flags that something was amiss if I was not able to stay.
That’s the pendulum swinging way too far the other way. As a troop leader, I want to create an environment that parents feel welcome to be a part of. Granted, I would not be leaving a parent alone with my troop without a troop leader or other registered volunteer. But you should not have to register and go through a safe environment training to be at a troop activity. That would give me red flags that something was amiss if I was not able to stay.
I do support doing what is needed to make sure it's a safe environment for sure but making people pay to help at a cookie booth (where the kids did most everything) is too far.
Someone that I know through a friend of a friend was a Brownie leader because her daughter was a Brownie. Her daughter's biological father had died of cancer, so this Brownie leader got the idea to have her Brownie troop collect donations to purchase cookies to give to people receiving cancer treatments (and their families). The project grew each year and eventually ended up too successful. Someone snitched on them because apparently it "wasn't fair to other troops" that her troop got so many sales from doing this, and people also said that she was "exploiting her daughter." Council leadership intervened, and told her that she had to take the money that she collected, and use it to purchase cookies from other troop's cookie booths. She and her daughter eventually gave up on the whole project.
Someone that I know through a friend of a friend was a Brownie leader because her daughter was a Brownie. Her daughter's biological father had died of cancer, so this Brownie leader got the idea to have her Brownie troop collect donations to purchase cookies to give to people receiving cancer treatments (and their families). The project grew each year and eventually ended up too successful. Someone snitched on them because apparently it "wasn't fair to other troops" that her troop got so many sales from doing this, and people also said that she was "exploiting her daughter." Council leadership intervened, and told her that she had to take the money that she collected, and use it to purchase cookies from other troop's cookie booths. She and her daughter eventually gave up on the whole project.
Isn’t that exactly what the “gift of caring” aims to do? I do not miss GS.
That’s the pendulum swinging way too far the other way. As a troop leader, I want to create an environment that parents feel welcome to be a part of. Granted, I would not be leaving a parent alone with my troop without a troop leader or other registered volunteer. But you should not have to register and go through a safe environment training to be at a troop activity. That would give me red flags that something was amiss if I was not able to stay.
I do support doing what is needed to make sure it's a safe environment for sure but making people pay to help at a cookie booth (where the kids did most everything) is too far.
I was told it's because the adult volunteer has to handle the money at the end to turn it in so that's why they would need the background check on you. I would think it's a step the organization takes to help prevent embezzlement. I mistakenly signed up to run a cookie booth when the troop leader said she wouldn't be able to make it to one of them. Note - this would be if the volunteer is there alone, without the troop leader or other already registered volunteer. I was allowed to stay in the background, but our troop booth was small enough that the 1 adult assigned to be there (the cookie dad) was fine so I left.
Post by sporklemotion on Mar 10, 2023 18:38:07 GMT -5
was5– your edit is correct. We joined a troop in a neighboring town because we couldn’t find one in our town, but I guess they are different Councils (or whatever they are called). The troop is half my town and half the neighboring town— it’s not affiliated with a school so it draws kids from wherever. All I did was put a post on a FB mom’s group mentioning the time and place of the sale and mentioning my daughter’s and some of the other members’ schools. The booth was arranged through the council in the neighboring town and took place in that town, which is 10-15 minutes away from us. Everything was done by the book, but I guess the person was pissed that I advertised it in our town when we’re not part of that council. She dm’ed me out of nowhere and gave me shot about it.
nothingcontroversial— that is awful that they wouldn’t allow those donations. Geez!
I do support doing what is needed to make sure it's a safe environment for sure but making people pay to help at a cookie booth (where the kids did most everything) is too far.
I was told it's because the adult volunteer has to handle the money at the end to turn it in so that's why they would need the background check on you. I would think it's a step the organization takes to help prevent embezzlement. I mistakenly signed up to run a cookie booth when the troop leader said she wouldn't be able to make it to one of them. Note - this would be if the volunteer is there alone, without the troop leader or other already registered volunteer. I was allowed to stay in the background, but our troop booth was small enough that the 1 adult assigned to be there (the cookie dad) was fine so I left.
Ok, well that makes sense. The troop leader was there and took care of the money at the end of the booth.
My troop’s cookie sale ended last week, we are sold out, and it’s winding down for the council. I have a parent who hasn’t paid attention to any of the communication I’ve sent out about this (WE ARE SOLD OUT. STOP TAKING ORDERS) who sent me an order for $120 worth of cookies yesterday.
NO MA’AM.
I’ve texted two other troop leaders to see if they have the inventory to fulfill but I’m going to make this lady drive her ass to all corners of the county to pick them up for fulfillment.