Is your second statement even in doubt? Samoas are, by definition, the best Girl Scout cookies.
In the Loop I see scouts selling them all the time. The girls are on the sidewalk in uniform, usually on an artery between the office buildings and train stations, while their moms watch them from inside a Starbucks or Caribou.
I remember my mother made you with the face and I stand out in front of the Kroger’s peddling our boxes. All on our own, without even a sign to say what troop we were affiliated with.
Once we came home to find that our older sister had eaten all the Trefoils. Which she refused to pay for.
Somoas are the best, but Thin Mints are more fun to pig out on.
I dunno, but I often hear people talking about Thin Mint cookies, and I’m like really? Fuck Thin Mints. Fuck those cookies, man.
Yeah? I’ve only worked in the Loop and have never seen cookies being sold. But then again, I never grab lunch more than three blocks from the office, and when it’s quitting time, I head straight to the L and am done with it. With the exception of a few happy hour treks, if it’s not on my lunch or home route, I don’t see it. The only people I see hustling by the train stations are the same handful of dudes asking for oddly specific amounts of money.
I see this as a marketing scheme. If the Moms are smart they’ll trot their daughters in front of their local Kroger’s (or whatever) and sell the damn cookies. Because who the hell can say no to a cute little girl scout?
Unlike their counter parts, the boy scouts (who I actually feel kind of sorry for). A few weeks from now you’ll see them sitting out in front of the grocery store trying to sell you some crappy raffle ticket you have no interest in.
And the difference between these two kids is like night and day. When you see a gaggle of GS, they’re usually laughing, playing and having fun. The boy scouts are a different story. It’s usually just one lone boy scout out there with his Dad. Both of which have a look on their face of “PLEASE KILL ME NOW!”
Our building was on Monroe just this side of Wacker/the river, so a lot of foot traffic headed to the Olgilvie Metra station. We saw the same two girls selling cookies near there for years.
I’m a Trefoil fan, myself.
Also, Boy Scouts don’t sell cookies, but presumably they raise funds somehow. My husband (Doper Andy L) used to be a Cub Scout and told me he and his brother used to sell a ton of stuff (light bulbs, trays, etc.) to a pair of little old ladies down the street, probably because they looked so cute in their uniforms. I wonder if they still sell stuff like that?
Boy Scouts sell popcorn. I like popcorn, but it just doesn’t have the same appeal as a decadent cookie. Plus, why buy some stale popcorn (and it’s always stale) when you can go to the movies and get the good stuff?
In these conscientious times, there are people who would flock towards single serving boxes of GS cookies. For those moments when you want to get your fix, but you don’t want to totally pig out. I know the GS will never try out this idea, though.
They’ve always sold single serving boxes. 
A few years ago at work I told one GS’s father selling cookies that when I was growing up selling things for various things (little league, boy scouts, class trip to Washington DC) that I never would have dreamed of asking my father to sell things to his co-workers for me. GS’s father replied that there were a lot of kooks in the world and he didn’t want to take a chance of having her knock on-and get invited into-one of their houses.
I don’t care who sells the cookies, I want the cookies!!
Lame excuse. Is he not capable of supervising . Door to door or in front of a store (hey, what the heck, I sound like Dr. Seuss) parents should supervise for safety but allow the gs to sell the cookies, otherwise all she learns is she is incapable and needs other people to do stuff for her
Sure. 1 box = 1 serving.
Samoas are awesome, although you don’t get many per box. IIRC from my Girl Scout days Thin Mints have the largest number of cookies per box, although since they are smaller (thinner) than many of the other Girl Scout cookies I’m not sure how great the difference in mass is. But I remember the number of cookies per box being an important factor for me when choosing which ones I’d buy from myself, since all the boxes cost the same amount.
Seriously. Back in my day (we wore onions on our sashes, it was the style of the time), we were given cookie sales training that covered basic common sense stuff like not going door to door without adult supervision, not going into someone’s house, etc. Although parents were certainly expected to go around with us, they were encouraged to wait on the sidewalk or in the car while we went up to the door and made the pitch ourselves. Yes, it was a lot more work and hassle for the parents than just sticking an order form in the break room. But it also gave us a much greater feeling of accomplishment and pride and taught us a lot more than letting our parents stick a form in the break room would have. If the organization has decided their budget is more important than teacher girls they can do stuff on their own, that’s not an organization I want to support and I’ll rethink buying any of the cookies at all.
Girl Scouts often set up shop in front of my wife’s grocery store. She absolutely will not buy their cookies if the moms are doing the selling and the girls are just sitting there. Personally, I don’t care. I don’t even like Girl Scout cookies. (Plus I’m on a diet)
My troop never sold popcorn. We sold tickets door-to-door to an all you can eat pancake breakfast.
I was under the impression until a few short years ago that girl scouts baked cookies to sell. I was a tad disappointed when Mrs. Gadaí explained how it all works.
Hey, I still marvel at the fact that when I was a Blue Bird (early '70s–the Blue Birds were the junior arm of Camp Fire Girls) I went door to door on my own selling Almond Roca. And my mom was the most overprotective mom in the neighborhood, too!
The Girl Scouts sell up at the local Lucky. They sit at a table with their moms, but the girls do all the soliciting. I bought a box a couple of weeks ago and now when they ask I tell them I’ve already bought some, thanks (I know, I’m a heathen–I like Thin Mints but a box can last me for weeks because I only like two or three at a time). I don’t think I’ve heard a peep out of the moms.
I’m not going to get in a debate about which are the best cookies, except to note that I am only ever asked for my knock-off thin mints and not my knock-off samoas or tagalongs. Which is a shame because a tagalong straight from the freezer is a delicious joy.
The GSA themselves are quite adamant that the selling is only for the girls themselves to carry out, no adults wanted, except for safety supervision and the like. The whole point of the cookie drive, according to the GSA web site, is for the girls to get experience and learn these skills. Grownups just need to get out of the way and let the girls take the lead. Otherwise, what’s even the point? To grow extra dental cavities for no particular reason? If I’m to risk cavities out of this, at least let it serve the purpose it’s intended for.