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Vent on Girl Scouts and cookie selling - sm

Posted: Mar 9, 2010

Just a vent, frustrated at one my younger daugher's troop leaders. They have a goal of 170 boxes per girl to sell. Generally if she gets 30 boxes on her own we are lucky I drive them to all the neighbors (14), and hit up grandparents (have agreement with siblings not to bug them with this sort of stuff), and we sell about 60 boxes that way. But.I have two daughers in two different troops. So I take them out soliciting here and they split the sales. I just got an email chewing me out for not taking her anywhere else (rural neighborhoods are 4+ miles away) and everywhere else to sell cookies (her daughter has sold 600 boxes this way...she lives in town though, I do not). The troop also does booth sales and they split the cookies sales evenly between the girls who attend which generally gets my daughter up to about 150 boxes or more every year. I rely on the booth sale for her "quota" and share of sales. So I take some offense at the chewing out. They have a trip coming up in June and the troop is paying for most of the expense. I am waiting for them to say she cannot go if she does not sell 170 boxes. Yes, some girls are "carried" more than others but my daughter does try. She has also been in the troop for four years. I told the leader I would see what I could do but I work seven days a week and have a pretty horrendous schedule and have very little spare time (whereas she works 5 days a week 9-3 and her schedule is not nearly as nuts as mine). I guess I should have pointed out to her that we rely on the booth sales to plump up my daughter's numbers. --I am beginning to think they are just trying to push us out though maybe I am just being paranoid. I was a co-leader until this year, they asked myself and one other to step down as we had 5 leaders and 12 girls this year, (now 3 leaders) which was fine with me but lately they make plans that they know my daughter cannot possibly attend due to school - their school has days off that ours does not (private). She has missed 2 events so far due to them doing this. The only reason she can go on this upcoming trip in June is because her last exam is the day they leave (leaving at night) so she can go by dumb luck and miss 2 days of school that week before the last week of school. --I just hope they don't try to yank the rug out from under my daughter if she fails to sell 170 boxes. She is looking forward to the trip. I guess if I have too I can always write them a check for the difference, just need to find out how much per box they get, believe it is 50 cents a box, so I will owe about $75 plus the $ we are covering for the trip which is basically just food. Just annoys me to no end.

;

some clarification - sm - GS drone

[ In Reply To ..]
My DD is very well behaved and all the other girls too, nothing out of the ordinary, so it is not a personality thing. This is a good group of girls. But the leaders and kids are I guess sort of a clique. They are the private school (not my daughter), so they have a shorter school year and some really obscure holidays the public school does not. My daughter went there for preschool and kindergarten then switched over to public school, just feel like she is being penalized sometimes because we "left". I think next year if she wants to continue in GS we will switch to the local troop. Just sad as this is a good troop and they do stuff and have good goals and community projects (which is my next headache). My daughter wil be required to do one totally on her own since they will enlist their school for it and as she does not attend she cannot participate there. The public school will not allow it (PB&J drive) due to peanut allergies. My older daughter tried this last year when she was in this troop, so she ended up soliciting all the neighbors (again) but did pretty well, think got about 60 jars total of PB&J, not too bad. So I guess that is what she will be doing as well. I really do want them in GS though but sometimes there is a lot of BS.

GS - anon

[ In Reply To ..]
definitely get a new group. As a fellow mom of 2 girls, we don't need any more drama than we already have to deal with;) The private school moms may not be intentionally leaving your daughter out or trying to push you out, but obviously they are not at all considerate of planning around a schedule that would be convenient for everyone. I would just cut your losses and find a new group. It's supposed to be fun. When it becomes a chore or solely BIG business for profit on cookies at the EXPENSE of girls and their learning experience, then it's time to move on.

I agree. You have to ask yourself, "What is this situation really teaching them?" and (sm) - CM

[ In Reply To ..]
if it's not in line with what the girls should be learning from Scouting find another group.

my opinion - mb

[ In Reply To ..]
I would report this leader to Girl Scout Council. She is not acting fair at all. I was a leader for 10 years and never had a quota for cookies. We worked with what we had raised. It is suppose to be fun. This leader would not have liked the troop my daughter is a leader with. The parents refuse to have their children sell cookies because of the fat content in them. They would rather pay for all the events.

I think it is coming from the top - the new culture of GS

[ In Reply To ..]
I don't know what GS used to be, but I have been recently educated that this is a huge corporation sponging off little girls for money. The whole thing has morphed as far as I can see and I pulled my daughter out. Calling council will do no good; they just circle the wagons.

I thought my daughter would miss scouting, but 20/20 it was pretty exhausting trying to get along with everyone from her standpoint also. It is very much a breeding ground for cliques.

It's nothing new - Old part-timer

[ In Reply To ..]
Even back in the 60s when I was in Scouts, the corporation pushed high sales requirements on us. I hated selling the overpriced cookies (and at the time, they were only 50 cents a box, later went up to 75 cents!). I'd go door-to-door to have people say, "How much?!" with a shocked expression.

My lasting effect from all this is that I NEVER pass up a Girl Scout selling cookies and no matter what the price, I don't make a comment. I remember all too well what it was like!

I have mixed feelings about this... - Kendra

[ In Reply To ..]
I was never in Girl Scouts, but I did cheerleading and rodeo and softball and all kinds of other things, all of which require fundraising. While I do not think the leader should have chewed you out, I also HATED when I would go out and raise a couple thousand dollars for something, just to carry someone who raised 60. I would work so hard to sell whatever and then someone else would end up with a big chunk of the money I raised. It is frustrating, so I can see both sides.

Weren't you rewarded for high sales? - Former GS

[ In Reply To ..]
When I was in GS and other functions, top sellers were always rewarded. While I understand how frustrating it is that some sell a lot and others sell little to none, the point of joining these groups is to learn to help others develop weaknesses by adding your personal strengths to the club.

Perhaps your selling techniques are a strength, whereas someone else may not have great selling techniques but does have artistic ability. Maybe someone who doesn't sell a lot helps in other ways.

There will always be someone who doesn't feel the need to help in any way and just likes to take what they can get, but I found your answer to be, in a way, part of the problem with these clubs. Some feel "entitled" to more because they've sold more, which is just as bad as feeling "entitled" to something not earned.

The OP did her best and that's what counts.

No, I was not rewarded for high sales... - Kendra

[ In Reply To ..]
and while you say that I am probably the problem, I really feel that some people do not try because they don't have to. I am in no way saying that this is the case for the poster, but as I said, I am torn about this. Why should someone who spends every weekend selling cookies and clearly puts out more effort hold up someone who really does not try all that hard. I am not against helping, but year after year, I sold and sold and sold while some people did not do anything or even try. Again, I am not saying that this is the case in this situation, I just feel that people who sell more should be entitled to more, honestly. That encourages those who might not try as hard as they can to try a little harder. Clearly, if there is a girl putting out a lot of effort and overcoming shyness to try to sell things and one can see a big effort on her part, this is a different situation, but so many times a few children and adults do all the work while others just sit by and reap the benefits.

I would like to clarify - my answer

[ In Reply To ..]
If the girls wanted to have a bake sale and sell cookies and keep ALL the money, I would be okay with that, but the Girls Scouts Inc. take most of the profit from the cookies and God only knows what they do with it, but the girls seem to be scraping up their pennies to pay for camp which is owned by Girls Scouts Inc., who gets the money from the girls for the camping trip! Good Lord! It is like a Madoff ponzi scheme!

I ask the Scouts questions when I buy - Work 4 It

[ In Reply To ..]
I ask them to describe each variety of cookie, which cookie do they like best, which is the best seller. I ask them what their sales goal is and what they are going to do with the money.

If I am going to pay so much for so little, I want at least some information and entertainment for my money. They like it too, throwing elbows and evil eyes all over each other trying to be The One To Give The Answer.

Then I buy however many boxes $20 will get me. Except the diet cookies, those always taste like construction paper.

I have grown to loathe the Girl Scouts organization! - LoriMT

[ In Reply To ..]
My daughter is a Brownie and this is the first year we've sold cookies. I had several people dodge me and not pick up their cookies. I ended up writing a personal check for $150 dollars for cookies I got stuck with. We sold the cookies with the promise that each girl earned "cookie credits" to put towards GS camp this summer. The cookie credits are a freaking joke! My daughter sold 200 boxes of cookies and I get a whopping $35 off the $250 price tag. Woo Hoo. For all the work my daughter did selling those cookies and delivering those cookies, I would think she would get at least half off of camp.

Not to mention this year the district council decided rather than give a prize to each high seller from each troop, they would put the name of the high seller from each troop into a drawing for a Nintendo Wii. So basically. Oh and the high seller from each troop gets a stuffed frog!

While I think the GS organization teaches the girls some really positive lessons and teaches them to give back to their communities, etc., they are basically making a ton of money of these little girls and are not giving anything back to the girls AT ALL.

My daughter will probably not be participate in GS from this point on.

Yes, the troops work hard for the little amount they get - sm - GSdrone

[ In Reply To ..]
I have decided once my daughters numbers are tallied up after the booth sales I will pay the troop the difference, X number of boxes times 0.50 (what they would have gotten from the sales had they been made). So if she "sells" 150 boxes I will give the troop $10 for the 20 she did not sell to make her "quota". The troop can use this for the trip or whatever, I do not care. (they also mail cookies to troops overseas so could use it for the postage). I will also put this in writing to the troop leaders all 3 with a copy of the email the one leader (who is a co-leader) to the "leader" and the other co-leader. Hopefully our leader will take her down a peg for sending me that email. I will do this Sunday as we have a couple more people to solicit still then I will finally put in her order. If DD decides she does not want to do GS next year I will not object.

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