This. Some people say it’s possible to open one of those little plastic sleeves and not have it be empty five minutes later. I think they’re nuts.
Two boxes coming my way… second week of March, I think. I’d get more - heck, I’d get a permanent supply - but the combination of the empty calories and the price always brings me to moderation.
The reason we can say they are targeting Girl Scouts is simple: Did you miss the part in the OP where they can’t set up a booth there anymore? Every year I’d find a booth INSIDE THE FLIPPIN’ STORE. To go from allowing that to selling knockoffs–yeah, that’s targeting.
And for those of you saying it’s just capitalism: that word doesn’t mean what you think it means. It does not mean “I must make as much money as possible by screwing everyone else.” But that’s exactly what they are doing. You honestly believe that Walmart needs to sell Thin Mints to be profitable? Puh-lease.
I’ve got to think that this is a local manager or regional manager who has an issue, not a WalMart wide thing. It doesn’t make sense to say Girl Scouts can’t sell their cookies because there are now WalMart branded cookies that are similar when the Homophob, er, um, Boy Scouts have long been allowed to sell their popcorn outside and WalMarts have always sold popcorn.
Safeway (grocery store) has its own version of Samoas (my favorite) which are extremely similar although not 100% identical. More like 97.5% identical. I can’t find them on Safeway’s web site but I just saw them in stock the other day.
They make them under liscense from the GSUSU, according to that. And they’ve only had that liscense since 2008. I don’t think that that gives them full rights to market them under their own trademark. But maybe a business lawyer could set me straight on that.
Does a representative of WalMart come to your door to deliver the cookies? Does a parent of a WalMart employee bring cases of cookies to work so that all you have to do is walk over to their desk to get your fix?
ETA: I think that McDonalds got the idea for the Big Mac from a very similar sandwich sold at the Waterfall Restaurant in Des Plaines, IL, which was just down the road from McDonalds HQ at the time. IIRC, it later became a Big Boy’s but they had the sandwich long before that.
I didn’t sell any of my daughter’s girl scout cookies, she did. Didn’t even take the sheet to work (though I should have). They even went door to door (which by GS policy, they need to do with an adult present - one of the other moms took them). She made the phone calls to the relatives.
It doesn’t develop her character for me to sell her cookies. If parents are hitting you up, simply say no if you don’t want the cookies.
(Although, a lot of people do WANT girl scout cookies, of all the fund raising items out there, Girl Scout Cookies are an easy sell. I have had people call me up looking for cookies. I turn the phone over to her.)
The only time it is the parents that I have seen is when someone brings the sheet to the office. The rest of the time it is door to door, calls to relatives, table at church, or a table at the local store.
If you re-read the post you’re replying to, you’ll see that they specify that the **profits **go to “developing confidence and characters in young girls,” not that the actual **selling **is intended to do so.
I have seen tables at stores where there were some girl scouts but the parents were still doing all the work. Maybe there are some scouts that do the selling but IME it’s often the parents.
I am actually opposed to kids selling stuff, especially door to door. If you are painfully shy it doesn’t make you confident or build character, it just terrifies you and makes you feel inadequate when you can’t sell as much as the outgoing kids whose parents probably drag them all over to help them sell.