It is amazing how things will creep up on you when you just are going along minding your own business. I was served notice on Saturday by my two daughters that Girl Scout Cookie selling season started Saturday. For those of you in the USA there is no need for me to explain about Girl Scouts and Thin Mints, if you are over the age of eight and reading this the chances are that you have had a Thin Mint or two in your life and have been approached to buy girl scout cookies, may have even had to assist in the sale of the cookies as well. So for my USA based readers just skip down to paragraph three, as I will explain Girls Scouts in paragraph two to our foreign friends here that read the daily dose.
Juliette Gordon Low founded the organization that would come to be known as the Girl Scouts of America. For this paragraph I’ve called on my oldest daughter, Blondie, to help fill me in on the details of the Girl Scouts. According to Blondie you foreign readers don’t need any background information, I guess that I am the only one who wasn’t aware that this is a global organization, I guess the part that threw me was the name, Girls Scouts of America. But since we are here in the paragraph to explain Girl Scouts I will make an executive decision to alter the plan and just maybe drop a little trivia in here with Blondie’s help. The Girl Scouts were formed in 1912 in Savannah, Georgia and started with eighteen girls. During the Great Depression of the 1920’s the Girls Scouts collected and distributed food and clothing to people in need. When World War II came about they were involved in collecting scrap metal to be recycled into military hardware and also taught survival skills to their members. The 50’s and 60’s led to movements in the south to include other races into the predominately white organization. The 70’s ushered in the first black to lead the organization with the election of Gloria Scott. In the 80’s it was decided to create a younger level of the scouts named Daisy, aimed at getting girls of kindergarten age into scouting. With the 90’s came computers and technology so the scouts added a technology badge that the girls could earn. The technology leads to Digital Cookie in 2014, an online sales platform for selling the famous Girl Scout cookies. So 2018 marks the 101st year of selling Girls Scout cookies, the first batch was baked and sold in 1917. Now I bet you are thinking that Blondie is really up on her girls scout history by the time we laid out here, and for the most part she was, but she did google the time line just to be sure. So you were able to know the name Gloria Scott, thanks to the googles search. She had the rest from memory.
I went ahead and decided to look for a little information myself; Girls Scouts is a pretty darn big organization. Turns out there are 1.8 million girls and 800,000 adults that are involved in this organization today. They claim to have over 59 million alumni to boot. That is a whole bunch of people no matter which way you cut it.
The Girl Scouts website is full of information and plenty of “Donate” buttons so you can contribute to their cause. They are a registered 501-C3 charitable organization for IRS purposes, lots of information, but I never could find their financials on their website. Most charities have their financials available for viewing but not these girls. That makes me wonder a whole bunch about how this organization operates. Just how much money is this organization knocking down each year from product sales and donations? I had a problem with them a few years ago when one of their leaders was talking abortion and women’s right to chose stuff and I almost pulled the girls out for those reasons. The wife and I decided we would allow them to continue, but the wife got actively involved with Shortie’s troop so she could keep a close eye on just what was being communicated from the folks up on Fifth Ave in New York. Yes, the Girls Scouts corporate office is on Fifth Ave. , that is some pretty pricey real-estate from what I understand.
Notice in the last paragraph I said product sales and not cookie sales. Yes, the Girl Scouts evidently can’t survive on cookie sales and donations alone; they have to do a “fall product sale” also to bring in revenue. The more I look at this organization the more I see it as one giant selling machine using young girls to push products.
A box of cookies in Texas sells for $4.00 in our area, the troop will realize $0.60 from each box that goes into the troops funds. The rest goes to pay the bakery that makes the product and to the state and national Girls Scout organization offices. I’m not a baker, I have no background in baking and baking contracts but based on the portion size of each box, and cookies of similar size portions for sale at the local grocery store my guess is these cookies are costing the girls scouts between $1.60 and $2.00 a box dropped shipped into the area for pickup by the local troops.
That would make for a pretty healthy profit on each box; I do know that the girls can earn some little prizes for reaching certain sales levels. Keep in mind only one prize though per scout, not a prize for each level reached. My wife said that they have been told that 1% of the gross profit of the cookie sales funds the prizes, it sounds like some cheapskates designed that incentive package.
Blondie’s troop did a big trip last summer to Savannah, Georgia to see the place where it all started back in 1912. They used the funds from two seasons of cookie sales to fund the trip for the eight girls in her troop and two leaders. I had previously mentioned that Shortie and her troop had done a sleep over with the penguins at Sea World in San Antonio so the girls have been getting to do some neat things besides the normal camping trips and regular meetings.
Last year, I can boastfully tell you that, Shortie was in the top ten in individual cookie sales for the area we are located in; there is over 2,300 girls in that area by the way. Now I may be bragging but I’m allowed too, I’m writing this, people cannot say “no” to this girl when she asks for a sale. The key in sales is to ask for the order, most sales people never learn that, I gave her some lessons in selling and she has applied them well.
She is determined to reach the prestigious 1,000 box level this year, she barely missed it last year, and she ended up 40 boxes short. Shortie does what most girl scouts won’t do and that is she works the neighborhoods going door to door selling. That is what the girl scouts did back when I was young, but evidently it is not common place any longer. She has people now that she has sold to for four years already because she works the neighborhoods knocking on doors. Either her mom or I have to walk with her, but we stand at the front sidewalk and she goes up and does the introduction and selling.
So for those of you who were wondering why I wasn’t in the Steem Poker League free roll on Saturday afternoon, let’s just say I had a date with a beautiful young lady who happens to have a bright future in sales.
I may miss quite a few more poker games just so you know; as long as the weather is good and she has a goal to meet I will be making the rounds when I can. Twenty three down, nine hundred seventy seven to go.
Until next time,
