Speaking from experience, I have to say that you sound pretty silly, here; when my daughter pleaded with me to help with the cookie-selling operation, I doubt it was to get the ‘dad’ badge that she earned and put on her vest and hey wait a minute.
I’d be pretty interested to learn if there’s a decent generic equivalent to Thin Mints. I think the generic equivalents to Caramel Delites/Samoas (available at Food Lion in my area) at $2.50/package are perfectly satisfactory.
Open to suggestions.
And I refuse to buy any GSC unless the GS asks me directly.
Keep in mind that, unlike chocolate chip cookies, Girl Scout Cookies contain no actual Girl Scouts.
Something that might help it make more sense is that the cookies are tasty.
And having a “Girl Scout Cookie season” means many Americans get excited the first time they see a table outside a store with balloons, smiling kids, and… Thin Mints!!!
I recall last year that at one of the booths, they told me that if you buy cookies but don’t want them, they will donate them to… something. I don’t remember what, but it seemed to be a good idea at the time so I bought a couple boxes for myself and one for them to donate wherever it was. It’s a good cause, so I don’t mind supporting the Girl Scouts.
(My quick search gets an AI response that they donate to military troops, first responders, and food banks.)
Last year during GSC season, a woman at work was selling on behalf of daughter. She told me that little Sally had fallen in love with this stuffed ferret in the catalog, and was going to sell 200 boxes and get that ferret no matter what. Problem was, as Mom told me, that selling 200 boxes was way out of reach for Sally. Mom said she would just buy a lookalike ferret from a toy retailer.
I’ve never been a parent, and I’m still not sure how I’d have handled this. On the one hand it would kill me to see my daughter heartbroken over a $25 toy, and I could just buy the damn thing for her. On the other hand, children need to learn to face and endure disappointment, and parents do them no favors by shielding them from it.
They also have an annoying tendency to discontinue the best varieties. They used to have a chocolate chocolate chip cookie that was great, but it’s gone now.
I believe that the link I provided upriver has a list of all the discontinued cookies.
eh. GS cookies are no better than bog standard groc store cookies. But are 4x the price. For which the GS organization gets next to nothing and the cookie manufacturer gets most of it.
In 1963 they might have been a great idea for the girls, for the organization, and for the customers. Now? It’s a warped scam where parents sell cookies on behalf of their kids to one another.
Not as evil as United Way, but close.
And of all the various child-related fund-raisers, GS cookies are probably the least scammy. The rest aren’t bad; they’re obscene.
Past time to put this relic of ye Innocente Olden Dayes to rest for good.
This does not appear to be true, from what I can find.
This cite says that, out of the $7 sale price for a box of Girl Scout cookies:
- $1.54 goes to the cost of the cookie program (paying for the cookies, distribution costs, credit card costs, etc.)
- $1.35 goes to the local troop which is selling the cookies, and to pay for rewards for the girls who sell the cookies
- $3.03 goes for “member support” (financial assistance for members, volunteer support and training, customer service support, maintenance of camp properties and program facilities, and other member resources)
- $1.08 goes to “girl programming and experiences” (experiences that support the Girl Scout Leadership Experience, support of Higher Awards, equine care, and other girl programs)
Various sources indicate that the last two buckets are for the local/regional council, and no proceeds from the program go to the national association.
A guy I used to work with sold Girl Scout cookies for his daughter in our office every year. It was a major operation, he sold a LOT of product. It was nice that he wanted to help her out but she never made any kind of appearance herself. I sort of thought it defeated the purpose of teaching the young person life skills.
My wife knew a guy who bought 26 boxes of Thin Mints every year. They went straight into the freezer, and he’d get one tube out each week. (For those who don’t know, each box of Thin Mints contains two tubes with the cookies inside. 26 boxes with two tubes yield 52 tubes of cookies, one for each week.)
Where do you get these chocolate chip cookies which contain actual Girl Scouts?
My neighbor’s daughter sells them. For the last 2-3 years, she’s also provided an online link if we want to use it to order and pay. Then the girl scout just does the delivery, with a personal note. It makes it convenient if I decide I should have ordered more cookies.
Heresy! Have you never had freezer Thin Mints? The Lemon cookies are quite nice, too.
quote="LSLGuy, post:28, topic:1032063"
Now? It’s a warped scam where parents sell cookies on behalf of their kids to one another.
/quote
Parents of Girl Scouts aren’t the only customers.
Eta: weird coding…
Back in my day, in New Zealand, we had Girl Guide Biscuits, which were largely the same idea, except it was only one kind of biscuit, a kind of shortbread with the Girl Guide emblem emblazoned upon it. They sold them each year, and you could order them by the carry-case box, which held sixteen packets.
I’m not sure if they still sell them, it seems like something has occurred where they are now just regular supermarket items instead.
In the U.S., a similar shortbread cookie, Trefoils, is usually among the varieties sold.
That makes sense. Same shape emblem!