I would gladly buy the stuff from a dozen children in my office if it prevents something like thismurder of an 11-year-old child who was going door-to-door fundraising when he was murdered by a 15-year-old child.
That sort of thing is why, when these things are handed out, you’re told NOT to go door to door. You are to sell to parents, relatives, friends and anyone your parents can twist their arm into buying.
So the whole ‘it builds character’ thing gets thrown out because it’s the parents shilling, not the kids.
I HATED this as a kid. I absolutely suck at selling of any kind. Girl Guide cookies was easy, lots of people love them and we went out in groups. Anything else? I only ever sold one or two and usually to my Mom. So I never got the prizes and it was just one more thing to be picked on about.
One of my co-workers has a tween and she brings stuff from her daughter’s school. I flip through the catalogues but there’s not much I want in there (the Christmas wrapping and chocolates and such is out right now… I don’t eat much chocolate anyway and I have enough wrapping to last the next few years, if not most of the next decade). Thankfully she doesn’t push on it. It’s there to look, buy if you want but you don’t feel you have to. the Epicure catalogue she brought in though…
:eek:
That’s terrible!!!
How much are these “buyouts” that you all have been talking about and how many times a year does this come up?
I used to feel guilted into buying stuff from my neighbor’s and co-workers’ kids, but no more, I’ve taken a stand!!! NO MORE!
…uh…that is…unless they are selling anything with chocolate! 
Man, makes me wonder how much my mother hated it. I grew up in an area where door-to-door and selling to friends and relatives were pretty much the same thing, and in either case you would need your parents to drive you around if you wanted to visit more than two houses. On the upside, my mother was from a different area so at least I had a ready pool of people who weren’t already inundated with school-mates selling the exact same thing I was.
Never did win any prizes.
Fundraisers I like:
- Straight buyouts. (Preferred.)
- Silent auctions
- Bake sales
Fundraisers I despise:
- Chintzy crap you’re supposed to sell to your co-workers
- Overpriced, fat-and-sugar-laden food (Market Day, I’m looking at you)
In fact, I’m going to go on a little mini-rant about the latter topic. My son’s school just sent out a newsletter asking parents to please attempt to bring healthy treats for birthdays, etc., instead of just sending frosted cupcakes or whatever. They also talk a lot about the four food groups and eating a healthy diet, in school.
Then they send home these Market Day brochures and push us to buy heavily from them. This month, there’s a pie special! Buy a pie and the school gets an extra 50% kickback!
Well, I don’t want to buy a pie, because first of all I’m diabetic, second of all we don’t need that crap around our house anyway, and third and most importantly, if I wanted to eat a pie, I’d bake one myself instead of buying some processed shit from a school fundraising company. God.
'Tis the season for this crap, I guess. Today, the chorus teacher gave the kids magazine order thingies. They want you to renew your mags through a kid, at about 50% over what you would pay if you sent back one of those annoying card inserts from a magazine. And literally 20 kids asked me today if I’d buy one. I hate saying no, but obviously I have to. It’s to pay for them to go on a trip. I wish our school taxes could pay for that… they’re certainly high enough.
Also, yesterday I was hit up by a student who was raising money for his church group to go on a trip to Niagara Falls. The crap he was selling was outrageous-- dip mixes for $9! Tiny little candles for $10! Sorry kid, I know you love Jesus but I’m not shelling out for that. When he showed me the order form, I noticed another teacher in the school who signed up for $54 worth of stuff. She must be loaded.
When I buy Girl Scout cookies, which I do because I like them and because I sold enough of them myself I feel rather obligated, I try to kick an extra couple of dollars (or something) in because the troops really get very little of the money back. Just FYI.
I don’t think I work with anybody with school-age kids, which is fine by me.
I throw it all away and write a check to the PTA.
This year, my children have already been asked to sell wrapping paper and cookie dough. Then there’s been the “fun run” pledges for the new track surface and outright begging for donations to the PTA.
Each child is also asked for $100 to cover field trips. Then you have the fund for class parties and teaches gifts and the myriad book forms. Later in the year comes the school auction ($100 pp to attend) and requests for donations TO the auction so they have stuff to auction off.
Then comes the school plays (yes plural) that you’re expected to fund AND pay for tickets too. Bingo night, the talent show, science night, the book sale, etc. Donate a book to the library for your child’s birthday, pay to enter the spelling bee, buy raffle tickets for the inter-district teacher basketball game, buy tickets for the Halloween fair.
ENOUGH!
I don’t have kids, but every once in a while when you’re walking around in San Diego you get hit up by the Rescue Kids Mission or some such thing–some vaguely-defined fund to help keep Southeast San Diego kids away from crime or something. They’re always selling a handful of strange, obscure candy products from a big black or dark grey bin. And they give this recited little speech in utter monotone about how you can help keep kids off drugs or whatever if you buy some candy. It’s creepy as hell, the candy is overpriced and looks awful, and it’s clear the kids have no interest in the whole exercise but they have to sell a certain number of the things.
I use a variation of this approach to avoid buying the stuff at work. I don’t have kids and the fundraisers are so pervasive that some people will be selling for two fundraisers at once. They’ll attach the sign-up sheets to the outside of their cubicle walls.
I’m such a curmudgeon that they don’t even ask me about it. I think they think I bite or something. I think I’ll let them keep thinking it.
Little League Cookie Dough - I buyout
Cub Scouts Scout-o-Rama tix, we sold in front of the grocery store. They pay for themselves in one visit, so no guilt. My kid sold enough to get an Xbox 360 that he shares with Dad.
Wrapping paper - we buy, and send the web link to family. Overpriced, yet really nice paper.
PTA hit at the beginning of the year - I write a check for $250 every fall.
Boy Scouts popcorn - park ourselves in front of the grocery store again. I get a chair and a book.
Several thoughts:
-
I like kids learning to work for something. Understanding the concept of pay-for-performance is good if you are raising a kid in a capitalistic society. I ALSO discuss the value of the prize (the knife my son wants for selling popcorn is worth maybe $20, yet he needs to unload $500 worth of popcorn to earn it). Good lesson in hard work that is easily tracked gets you rewards. The kids also learn some public speaking, how to pitch, how to be polite, etc.
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Selling at the store was also one of the best lessons in NOT judging people by their appearance. Great sales from guys with dozens of tattoos, piercings, etc. while the soccer mom just walks on by.
Not having kids helps, but if I did I would do what my parents did–instruct the kids not to bring anything like that home. If it’s a project I want them to be part of, etc., I can fund that on my own. I don’t remember the chocolate bar money going to anything special at school.
I pretty much throw away the giftcrap brochures. Both kids come home all hyped over the cool prizes they’ll get if they sell 36 subscriptions or 72 other items and there’s this GREAT PARTY they can come to and I FUCKING HATE that. The school administration talks that up because they know it makes the kids whine to their parents, and the parents then pimp the crap at work just to shut them up. Moon Unit was really excited this year. I told her flat out that I was not going to take it to work, and we were not going to pester the neighbors, and we don’t have any family in the area to sell it to, and unless she could come up with a plan to sell it within those restrictions, then we were not participating.
We did not participate.
Of course, Typo Knig happened to be home and answer the door when a neighbor’s kid came pushing the same sort of junk for her school (a private school). And he bought some stuff. I sort of don’t mind supporting the neighbors but I also sort of resent being asked to pay for their kid’s private education. Though I might have done the same thing,sigh. You better believe we’ll be knocking on their door come Girl Scout Cookie time this year!
Oh - and last year, just after the main school fundraiser ended, Dweezil came home with another packet - nearly identical - for the BAND. Good lord, that’s a STOOPID idea, hawking an identical fundraiser less than a month after every household in the county (and it’s a large one) has been hit up by the neighbor’s schoolkids.
I should add: I do take the Girl Scout cookie signup sheet to work, and I volunteer heavily (I’ve been the troop cookie mom for the last 2 years; that’s a lot of work for about 4 weeks), and I do go door-to-door to help her sell them. But that’s a voluntary activity, and I think it is good for the girls to learn to work for the things they want.
Plus, it means cooooookiiiiieeeeeeesssssssss. I’ve caught Typo Knig in the dining room a few times the last 2 years, fondling the cases of Samoas 
Ugh. We got it both ways. We were told to sell the stuff door to door, then given a lecture about how dangerous it was, what kinds of horrible people are out there, and how we should never-ever-ever go into someone’s house while selling.
Here in TN (Knoxville area) the kids actually sell something useful that people look forward to every year: big ol’ coupon books. $10 a pop, which is a hell of a bargain considering that the coupons are good year-round and that many of them are to places people actually go to regularly: McD’s, pizza places, movie theaters, etc.
Girl Scout cookies are different. Everyone loves Girl Scout cookies. That’s a model for a successful fundraiser: sell a super-high-quality product that can’t be found anywhere else. The other posts here give me the impression that a lot of groups imitate that model, but very few can duplicate it.
Sounds like school to me.
I just found the idea of going door to door…humiliating. I couldn’t articulate what it was. I guess I partly hated talking to people. (Actually, I still do.) I hate being nice to people to sell them a product. Actually, I hate selling. And now that I’ve seen Glengarry Glenn Ross, I know that that’s actually a normal thing.
Hey, here’s an idea. Let’s show the kids the “ABC” speech scene and then tell them to have at it! :eek:
Right, nobody has to sell Girl Scout cookies. Just show up and people buy them.
Heh…$9…$10 if only!
I am turning into an old geezer.
Back in the day kids would come all over selling stuff for $1, $2-3 tops. I’d buy tons of it from most every kid.
Now, I feel lucky if the kid at the door only wants $20 for something completely lame. A kid a few nights ago wanted $50!!! (it was for some ‘coupon thing’ that didn’t look all that good when I flipped through it.
I’ve turned into an old fuddy-duddy turning them down all the time.
{and the taxes here are high…and the schools get dump truck loads of money}