# Lousy reporting- 17K boxes of girl scout cookies **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 15, 2008, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lousy-reporting-17k-boxes-of-girl-scout-cookies/449474 "2008-05-15T18:54:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Tristan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tristan/32/18058_2.png) [@Tristan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tristan)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2008, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lousy-reporting-17k-boxes-of-girl-scout-cookies/449474/41 "2008-05-16T14:36:20Z")
[QUOTE=Sigmagirl] MILF and cookies? [/QUOTE] I am interested in your program, and would like a brochure. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2008, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lousy-reporting-17k-boxes-of-girl-scout-cookies/449474/42 "2008-05-16T14:51:45Z")
[QUOTE=Sigmagirl] MILF and cookies? [/QUOTE] HA! Where have you been hiding! ---
**Author:** ![Pullet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Pullet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pullet)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2008, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lousy-reporting-17k-boxes-of-girl-scout-cookies/449474/43 "2008-05-16T15:33:41Z")
[QUOTE=Dolores Reborn] I took it to mean 4 boxes @ $14, one more box for $1, = 5 boxes for $15, saving 50 cents a box. [/QUOTE] That’s how I read it, too. But I thought the price was enforced by scary blue-suited high-school age girl scouts with hand-crocheted garroting wires. Since when can the seller change the price? Two by two, suits of blue ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2008, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lousy-reporting-17k-boxes-of-girl-scout-cookies/449474/44 "2008-05-16T15:37:16Z")
[QUOTE=Malacandra] It certainly came as a surprise to the baby seal. [/QUOTE] The surprise is it’s prepared with adult seal. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2008, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lousy-reporting-17k-boxes-of-girl-scout-cookies/449474/45 "2008-05-16T16:53:08Z")
[QUOTE=Jackmannii] Or even 200 boxes of organic bean sprouts. For record-setting purposes, I’m surprised some enterprising Girl Scouts haven’t teamed up to sell cookies at Ohio’s drive-through booze and cigarette outlets. Loads of people would add boxes of cookies to their six-packs and smokes-to-go. You could probably sell 17 _million_ boxes that way, especially if the moms showed up in racy attire to help out. [/QUOTE] Maybe most of them just don’t care enough? I mean, little kids who probably do have an interest are probably too young for that kind of enterprise, and by that point, the older ones probably have dropped out or aren’t really all that invested. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2008, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lousy-reporting-17k-boxes-of-girl-scout-cookies/449474/46 "2008-05-16T19:34:42Z")
For some reason I am now seeing the Teutonic Girl Scout from _Airplane!_ selling cookies at an Ohio drive-thru package liquor store. “Buy some _cookies_, mothafucka! [whomp]…” ---
**Author:** ![cards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@cards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cards)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lousy-reporting-17k-boxes-of-girl-scout-cookies/449474/47 "2008-05-19T19:11:31Z")
[QUOTE=Shirley Ujest] Orangutans sold 17,000 boxes of Girl Scout Cookies in Dearborn?! [/QUOTE] But they were made from real girl scouts! ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lousy-reporting-17k-boxes-of-girl-scout-cookies/449474/48 "2008-05-19T19:18:56Z")
[QUOTE=cards] But they were made from real girl scouts! [/QUOTE] With oily palms. ---
**Author:** ![Hi\_Neighbor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hi_neighbor/32/494_2.png) [@Hi\_Neighbor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hi_Neighbor)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lousy-reporting-17k-boxes-of-girl-scout-cookies/449474/49 "2008-05-19T22:39:41Z")
I dabbled with Aflac for a few months out of college, and I still get e-mails from my District Sales Coordinator. I really should ask him to take me off of his mailing list. Anyways, he forwarded this story to all of his associates. The e-mail was prefaced with, “Hearing the economy’s bad?” This was mainly because, as a new associate, we learned a number of common objections we’d hear out in the field. A poor economy was one of them. I was just wondering how relevant this story was to selling supplemental group health insurance. Unlike the Girl Scouts, insurance salesmen aren’t quite as adored. It’s a nice story, but it didn’t inspire me to make an attempt to sell insurance again. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lousy-reporting-17k-boxes-of-girl-scout-cookies/449474/50 "2008-05-20T14:51:23Z")
As a troop cookie mom (and parent of a scout, obviously) this story horrifies me! The entire family put their lives on hold for over a MONTH, to help with this goal. I’m also rather stunned that the local council didn’t put a stop to it - ours has very strict rules about where you can set up cookie sales booths (locations must be pre-approved, strict time limits, etc.). ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lousy-reporting-17k-boxes-of-girl-scout-cookies/449474/51 "2008-05-20T15:38:30Z")
[QUOTE=Mama Zappa] I’m also rather stunned that the local council didn’t put a stop to it - ours has very strict rules about where you can set up cookie sales booths (locations must be pre-approved, strict time limits, etc.). [/QUOTE] “Put a stop to it”? Are you kidding? The girls all got a trip to Europe out of it. Would you wanna be the Scrooge that says “No” to that? Since this has been going on for years, apparently nobody at the council has a problem with it. [shrug] And presumably their long-time location was preapproved years ago, and they did observe the five-week time limit. My GS council here stopped offering prizes at all after extensive cheating and outright thievery the year my eldest daughter was in the 4th grade Brownies. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lousy-reporting-17k-boxes-of-girl-scout-cookies/449474/52 "2008-05-20T22:14:15Z")
17K boxes plus whatever all the other girls sold, and they only get $21K? That’s a lot taken off the top! ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2008, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lousy-reporting-17k-boxes-of-girl-scout-cookies/449474/53 "2008-05-21T03:37:40Z")
[QUOTE=gigi] 17K boxes plus whatever all the other girls sold, and they only get $21K? That’s a lot taken off the top! [/QUOTE] Yeah. The exact ratios may perhaps vary by council, but here (DC metro area), of the 3.50, the council keeps 2.85 (which pays the supplier, and goes to council operations etc.), and the troop keeps 65 cents. (younger troops only keep 60 cents a box, but the girls get cheapcrap toys etc. as prizes). So 17,000 boxes would net the troop 11,050. It sounds like other girls in the troop sold a lot also if they profited 21,000 - that would require selling over 32,000 boxes. I wonder if the troop saved up money from multiple years - some teen troops do that. That would make more sense than the entire rest of the troop selling that big also. We really are prevented from sales like this, due to Council restrictions. All the parents take the order forms to work, of course, but even with that my biggest sellers have never done many more than 300 boxes. Some girls in other troops, who have access retail locations due to family businesses (eg. a family-owned drycleaner) have done a thousand or more but that’s pretty unusual. Traditional booth sales (tables at grocery stores etc.) sell maybe 50 boxes an hour. I was cookie mom for a Junior troop and a Cadette troop and the teen girls barely sold _anything_. ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2008, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lousy-reporting-17k-boxes-of-girl-scout-cookies/449474/54 "2008-05-21T17:13:47Z")
[QUOTE=Pullet] That’s how I read it, too. But I thought the price was enforced by scary blue-suited high-school age girl scouts with hand-crocheted garroting wires. Since when can the seller change the price? Two by two, suits of blue [/QUOTE] They can’t – it’s clearly a mistake in the article. The article should have said that if you buy FIVE boxes of cookies at $3.50/box and hand her a $20 bill, she says “Hey, for only one dollar more you can have another box!” Since 6 boxes at $3.50 a box is $21. The classic “upsell” technique. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lousy-reporting-17k-boxes-of-girl-scout-cookies/449474.md?page=2)