Have you considered that it was perhaps not an actual Girl Scout, but maybe some sordid character (I picture Danny Devito in a uniform with some cheap makeup over his moustache) out to con and sell a truckload of cookies that they hijacked on the interstate? Don’t be surprised if the same “little girl” doesn’t show up later this year, in a different disguise, offering to tuck and point your chimney or resurface your drive.
On the one hand your sole experience may make this seem an excessive response, considering how bad publicity from this could affect the sale of girl Scout cookies, which is the GSA’s main income IIRC, I can see why they’d be so worried about a pattern here.
You mean the girls don’t bake their own cookies? And they don’t get to keep all the money for their troop?
We don’t have this in the UK (we don’t even have many girl scouts anymore) and I’d never heard of this practice till recently. How mean.
If this is, in fact, a rogue situation where someone is selling for either personal gain or the troop is selling old cookies outside the cookie campaign, what are the penalties to the scout and/or troop?
Robin, who is always good for a few boxes. From each person.
In all honesty, the kid will probably be called and told “I’m sure you were unaware that this was wrong but…” and asked politely not to do it again. The council probably wanted to verify who was selling outside the designated time before they called some random girl and said “You selling cookies?”
It’s unlikely that her knees will be bashed in, her parents’ cars keyed or her uniform stipped of its patches. (Unless another mom or leader does this because she’s outraged that someone would cheat, which is not condoned.)
At most she’ll be asked to buy her cookies up front and hand boxes to her customers when she sells (sometimes from a “cookie cupboard” or other such arrangement), but she’ll still be a Girl Scout, still be able to sell (just maybe not traditionally), and the world will continue to spin.
(Oh, and Sparrow, the girls haven’t baked thier own cookies since the 1930s or so (IIRC). Health codes and all.
[Slight Hijack] Tiger Cub Scout leader checking in here - - I don’t know if the Boy Scouts sell popcorn, but I do know the Cub Scouts (First - Fifth Grade) do. As with the Girl Scout Cookies, some money (but not much) goes back to the Pack, but it’s really designed to help pay for administration. The prices are exhorbitant - - something like $10.00 for a small tin of flavored popcorn that would cost $2.50 in a grocery store.
In fact, our boys sold in front of a grocery store in a somewhat upscale part of town last fall. We put the seven-year-olds by the exit. They’d pounce on each shopper with “Would you like to buy some popcorn to help us go camping?” which was good for about 1 sale per every 10 customers, but the price earned us this comment from one shopper: “Where are you going camping, Europe?”[/Slight Hijack]
My wife is cookie mom for her GS Troop. The Girl Scout administrators take paperwork and cookie sale protocol VERY seriously. It’s worth it to have the house smell like thin mints for the few days before the girls come to pick up their cookies, though. Mmmmm… Thin Mints…
**clayton_e:[\b]
12%?! Where do you live? In my council in southern New Jersey, the pack gets to keep %30 of popcorn sales. I guess it varies by council, but 12% (or less!) seems way out of line. Our council doesn’t participate in the Trails End awards program, and maybe that helps, but I can’t believe it account for such a big difference.
**Ivorybill:[\b]
The small tins of caramel nut popcorn are $7, and we sold a lot of them at our booth sale at the local supermarket in October. We’ve gotten our best results selling just the $7 tins and the $10 12-packs of microwave popcorn (with a dozen or so $15 tins offered just in case). We break open the microwave boxes and sell single packs for $1, and we sell a lot of popcorn this way (and make $2 extra per box that doesn’t have to be reported to council).
Our pack is in Illinois and we get 30% as well. I wonder if your council skims a bunch.
<MontgomeryBurns>So, when is the little cookie bootlegger scheduled to be executed? I’d like to watch! There’s nothing quite so charming as a brightly-burning Scout.</MontgomeryBurns>
The above is a joke. A “joke” is a witticism, entended to engender yuks. Please take notes. This will be on the Finals.
Wow, that’s a great way to teach kids ethics. Good job!
As opposed to shilling overproced junk that the troop may or may not see a decent portion of the money for, and likely breaking a few soliciting/vendor laws in the process? Hell, I’m glad the kids are getting something worthwhile out of it. There are much more effective ways of raising money; the scoutmasters just go for this because it doesn’t involve any work on their part. There were a couple times I just wanted to tell my scoutmaster to sell his own f***ing popcorn if he wanted the money so badly.
When I read that, I thought “What the hell is the BSA (Business Software Alliance) doing selling popcorn?”
“Hey there, we’re auditing your company. Buy some popcorn!”
My son is a Cub Scout and sells that damn Trail’s End popcorn. It has, printed right on the sales form, words to the effect of “75% of the money raised stays in the pack.” Or something like that.
Does that mean 75% of the net profits? Or that 75% of what they sell is actually money for the pack?
He’s now selling Wolfgang Candy. They do popcorn in the fall and candy in the late winter. Their fund-raising money goes for summer day camp.
mmmm…Wolfgang Candy. I used to live down the street from the factory and every morning on the way to my car I would get a whiff of whatever they were cooking that day. Nothing like starting your day with a nose-full of peanut butter cups!
Last year I ran out of my Do-Si-Dos too early. Fortunately one of my coworkers has daughters in the organization. They did a council wide search and found me some more.
They were delivered this week here. One box down.
On the SDMB main page, the thread title only goes as far as "How Mrs. Kunilou got a Girl … "
Hee hee hee. I amused myself at the thought of a thread about how Mrs. Kunilou got a Girl pregnant.
CrazyCatLady said:
Originally Posted by PaperBlob
(and make $2 extra per box that doesn't have to be reported to council).
Wow, that's a great way to teach kids ethics. Good job!
There’s nothing unethical about it, as far as I can tell. Council
Dang, I accidentally hit submit before I was done!
CrazyCatLady, I don’t think there’s anything unethical about it, since the it was council that suggested the idea and said not to report the extra $2 per box. One reason they might allow this is because we sell more boxes of microwave popcorn that way, which brings in more money for Trails End and council too.
LilMiss is a Girl Scout. The way their sale works is the higher average sale per girl, the more money for the troop. IIRC, if the average is 100 boxes/girl, they make .67c/box (selling them for $3.50/box). Other portions of the cost go to the Greater Minneapolis Girl Scouts Organization, the baker, and one other place I can’t remember. We DO have the ability to use some of what LilMiss earned in the cookie sale specifically for her- such as partial credit for camp.
What bothers me is the fact that SHE sold 48 boxes. I sold 152 boxes. They emphasize the girls ~not~ going door to door, but rather having the parents pimp the cookies.
Where’s my badge?
So, underreporting your income (in other words, lying) isn’t unethical? Good to know.