Every year girls of many ages partake in a time-honored tradition: Girl Scout cookie sales. But this year, the joy that Girl Scout cookie season brings may be, well, a little bittersweet.
In the last half a decade, the Girl Scouts of the USA has faced membership decline, and the organization has brought in a consulting team for an image overhaul. The conclusion? Focus less on selling cookies.
Membership in the Girl Scouts fell by 250,000 in the last five years, according to a Time report, and cookie sales have been down as well. In a struggle to retain importance, the organization will shift its focus to areas such as technology and community service.
So if you see a cookie-buying opportunity, jump on it, for fear of fewer chances down the line. Personally, I will be creating a stash of Thin Mints and Caramel DeLites to last me through the year. Do you plan to stock up now? Are the Girl Scouts are making a wise move?
Nails Inc
I certainly hope they don't stop selling cookies! Tagalongs are the most delicious things on the planet!
1I don't think they are necessarily going to sell fewer cookies or stop selling them. I think they just mean that too much of the focus for girls in the organization is on selling cookies. Not on earning badges, learning lessons, and making friends -- but on selling cookies.
I'd tend to agree. What else are girl scouts known for besides cookies any more?
2i would sacrifice one of my limbs to have a supply of samoas (caramel deLites). oh my. i have some phone calls to make.
3NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Getting rid of the cookies would kill me! And not because I like thin mints. It would impact so many other businesses too! Think of the warehousing companies that every year since the inception have store and distributed the cookies. That's just one, I'm sure there are many many more.
GS cookies must STAY!
4Mmmmm now I'm craving some thin mints! Hopefully they don't stop selling them, but if they did at least that would be one less treat I wouldn't have to worry about snacking on.
5My niece is a girl scout. I have been to the meetings. Frankly its nothing like it used to be and that may be the reason its down , also with so many other extra curricular events and parents working so much more that might be a reason also.
All that her troop did was raise money for trips, sell cookies, and sometimes decorate banners for parades, the patches they earn dont mean anything to them anymore (I still have my sash from brownies and girl scouts). When i was a brownie, we went camping and volunteered and picked up trash and learned new skills......
6Nooooooooooo! I might have to stock up on Samosas.
7I dont buy the cookies anymore, too many calories too high in fat and too expensive!
and the "good for you" ones taste like my avitar.
8Oops, Samoas, not Samosas
9TLS you mean Samoas right? which are now called "caramel delites"
10My little sister was a girl scout, all the way through her senior year in high school. That's dedication. I did notice the decline in cookie sales, and also in interest in those cute little girls sitting outside the doorways of Safeway.
Aaahhhh, thin mints...
11I severely doubt this means the demise of GS cookies-- they're a huge cash cow. I do think the GS needs to put less emphasis on selling cookies and more on skill building and community service when it comes to the girls.
When I was a scout, my troop opted out of the chintsy prizes to keep a portion of our cookie money. That, plus saving and other fundraising activities afforded us a trip to Europe! It was a wonderful lesson in personal planning and savings.
12I hope they don't stop making the Edy's Light Girl Scouts Samoas Ice Cream because it is SOOOOOOOO GOOD.
13I have to brag for a minute: I was the number one seller of cookies in my whole area when I was in Girl Scouts. Okay, thanks for letting me get that out.
Now let me say this, that was the one bright spot of Girl Scouts. I didn't learn anything useful like my brother and boyfriend did in boyscouts. They learned survival stuff, making knots, and all kinds of other stuff. I was in the Girl Scouts for years too, so it wasn't for lack of time. I really think that the Girl Scouts need to do something, but selling less cookies isn't one of them. They need to focus less on "girl" stuff and teach girls about all kinds of things, broaden their horizons. Make sense?
14I got kicked out of the G.S. when I was very little at one of my first meetings. Apparently I was too unruly. And I hate their cookies so I would be glad if they all go away.
15i HATED selling cookies. i would sell like 7 boxes each year. for me, it was the absolute worst part of girl scouts.
16Hopefully they can the changes and keep the cookie sales as a well. I don't know what I'd do without my yearly Samoas and Thin Mint fix. Although I have noticed it's been getting harder and harder to track down Girls Scouts to by from, I had to call the local office to find a troop nearby.
17I hated selling the cookies, too. We were encouraged to NOT go door-to-door, which basically meant you had to rely on how many your parents/their friends/your relatives would buy. My mother didn't work, and my father owned his own small business, so they couldn't even take the order form to work with them (like most parents do).
I actually no longer like girl scout cookies now that they've switched bakers. I don't think they taste the same, and I think the new versions taste too plasticky or something.
As for being a girl scout, it all depends on your troop leader and her level on involvement. When I was a brownie/junior girl scout my leader was excellent. We went camping, learned survival skills, learned first aid, how to sew, how to work video equipment, computers, etc. (We went on very few trips, though.) When I became a cadet, my leader 'retired', and our new leader focused solely on raising money. We sold cookies, candy bars, you name it. We went on a few trips, but I quit soon after receiving my silver award, because I'm not a salesperson. I've never been - and never will be - any good at it, and I didn't want to remain in something that only focused on that.
Well, that and I was too old. I was starting high school and didn't want the other kids thinking I was a nerd. ;p
18level of*
19I hate cookie time in my office, the women get so competitive! I mean the first sign of the cookie order sheet? BAM they are at your door, and if you already ordered from someone else, OMG the looks of sheer panic! I used to order one box from everyone untill the GS started to make their cookies with solid gold and I couldnt afford them anymore.
20NO! this cannot, I repeat cannot happen! Though I eat far less cookies than I used to, I can't go without tagalongs, those shortbread cookies, Samoas (bka caramel delights) and thin mints! I was a daisy and then became a girl scout and did ok when cookie time came around, but I sure do help those little green girls out now!
21I think they should just sell these cookies in the stores and do other things in Girl Scouts besides selling cookies. Like someone mentioned, the Boy Scouts do so much more, so true! They need to get back to what it's supposed to be all about!
22I bought some girl scout cookies from a girl in my apartment building almost 2 weeks ago, and I'm still waiting!
23A former 1st grader Brownie here, I remember that getting a badge wasn't motivating at all, needless to say I was only a GS for one year. They should give out REAL prizes... anyway, it would be horrible if the world became absent of the Samoas!!
24Girls scout cookies are so good!
25I'm gold award scout. I have been saying this for years that there needs to be less emphasis on cookies and more about community service and fundraising without the use of cookies.
I was always upset that girl scouts were known for cookies and not local community involvement. Every one knows what a eagle scout is and what goes into that. Why not a gold award recipient? I have to explain that all the time on my resume. People are too into cookies to realize there is more to girl scouts than cookies. In a lot of ways I blame national for not making people aware and obviously just focusing on cookies.
Anyhow, just figured I'd make a comment.
26Won't affect me in anyway. I agree with the "poster" about office rats peddling their wares - I hate it.
27Girl's Scout Cookies are so bad nutrition-wise, but oh so good.
28I wouldn't be devastated if they were gone forever (I hated selling them when I was a Girl Scout), but I don't think they have to sacrifice selling cookies in order to change their image. But I do think they should focus on community service and technology more- it is the 21st century, adapting wouldn't hurt them. But I'm sure there's someway to do both- wouldn't selling the cookies benefit them by allowing them to pay for some sort of technology classes/opportunities?
29Well they could try selling them online too..?
30I guess I am going to have to stock up on Samoas this year. I love those cookies! I quit Girl Scouts when I was 11 because of the way people acted around cookie selling time. My last year in scouts, I was selling really well and my leader found out. She wanted her daughter to be the number one seller in our troop so she bought 100 boxes of cookies from her daughter to outsell me. I thought it was ridiculous so I delivered the cookies, turned in my stuff and never went back to scouts.
31Oh geez...why oh why can't they sell those yummy Samoas at the grocery store? I've been asking that question forever. Does anyone have an answer? ... lol...seriously!
32SaMOAS!!!! i just recently found Samoa ice cream for edy's but unfortunately its only limited edition, but nice coincidence that you guys are talking about them...YUMMMM!!!
33omg this cannot happen!
34I guess those varieties of cookies are for the U.S.? Because the only ones I've seen in my part of Canada - British Columbia are the 1st one's picture (chocolate-covered chocolate mint) & the vanilla creme/chocolate creme ones (both in the same box)... Although as a former Brownie myself I try to support them, I'm afraid that I can't do it because the quality has gone down as the prices have gone up. Of course, when it came to my niece I felt duty-bound to buy 2 boxes...
She went from Brownie & a few months as a Girl Guide before becoming disillusioned with her troop & quitting (others soon followed)when they stopped the camping trips, volunteering & learning new skills to focus solely on selling cookies & other "marketing" ideas... Make money, make money! and nothing to really show for it; certainly wasn't for the girls who worked so hard with bottle drives & selling cookies.
The 1 thing I can't stand are stale cookies - and that's AFTER taking the cellophane OFF the box! I've taken to making my own now - Almond cookies - YUM! I'm told they taste like shortbread. So, by accident, I make Sugar-Free Almond Shortbread Cookies. And the best part is I know exactly what goes in it too.
35huh - that would really suck i think if there weren't any more girl scout cookies - that's something that we all look forward to each year. i wonder if the GSA would consider putting them for sale on their website if they decided not to have the girls sell them anymore. i feel like they are a staple in our society now..even though it's not as much as it was in the past.
i was a brownie when i was younger and i think that it's a 'rite of passage' for girls to sell them...
36I never knew many girls who were girl scouts growing up. It just wasn't that big in our area, BUT I do LOVE Samoas (Caterpillar girl, as of last year they were still called Samoas). I would be horrified if they stopped selling them.
37i don't know any girl scouts anymore so I haven't had any of these delicious cookies in years. I was a daisy (jr brownie) and then a brownie and then a junior girl scout and I remember just loving it most of the way through. I quit because we got a new mom as the leader and everything we did had to revolve around her church and I found that insulting as a fifth grader i guess haha
but i really didn't like the cookie selling process other than filling out the form. i remember having to deliver the cookies after a huge snow storm and it was a complete nightmare! i wish i could find my sash wtih all the badges because my mom used to show my hers from when she was a girl and i thought it was the coolest thing in the world.
38Y'know, if the Girl Scouts hadn't raised their prices so much over the years, they probably would have more sales!
When I was a Girl Scout myself, each box was $2.50.
39I was a girl scout for 8 years and my troop didn't focus a lot on the cookies. We volunteered at nursing homes, went camping, did crafts, and went to jamborees. I still have all my badges (20 years later) and am psyched my niece is a brownie.
I learned how to bake a lot of the cookies like thin mints, caramel delights (it changes based on geographic area btw!), peanut butter patties, and shortbread. But I always buy a box from the GS in my neighborhood.
40I think I'm all done buying Girl Scout cookies for life. Maybe, this organization needs to think about its mission or change course and use a different funding method.
41I am a new leader this year. Cookie sales only occur for two months of the year, so that is hardly the focus. The girl above that said the badges were no motivation didn't understand what they represented and it is good she only stayed in one year. Each meeting does represent either a furthered learning or community service. I think it is obvious that the GS have gotten a bad rap. Each girl I know does do activities outdoors and in and has a firm understanding of supporting the community around them. I do agree that with the increasing number of other activities that kids can be in, and the general lack of participation by many kids for any activity, there has been a changing trend with different generations. GS in our area is very strong and growing. And there are two suppliers of the GS cookie and that is why there are two different names for some of the cookies like the Samoas and Caramel D'lites.
42My Daughter is currently a Girl Scout she loves being a Girl Scout. Her troop does MANY community service projects, such as a food drive for the loacal food pantry, pick up trash in the parks,volunteer at the local animal shelter. We go Christmas Caroling to the nursing homes here every year and we make them a little craft for a gift. They are working a a Junior Aid Award and a Bronze Award too. Some of is the leaders...her leader says if dont sell any cookies thats ok its your choice and every year they do very well with thier cookie sales.
43Sorry Girl Scouts. After a lifetime of buying your yummy cookies our family is now calling it quits. Good cause or not shrinking the package or increasing the cost is anacceptable. We always look forward to the cookie drive each year but now it will be one less expense to think about. When my business is expected to cut prices even in down times while other businesses do the opposite we simply cannot be a part of that.
44just like cjc and few of the others, cookie sales is not the focus of girl scouting. If it is, it is because the leader is making it that way. girl scouting is about learning new skills, meeting new people whether they be here or in a different country. Also the money they earn for selling cookies is really not a lot and most of the leaders that I know (myself included) didn't push the selling of them. The money the girls earned was used for them to go see the world centers of girl scouts and to go see the Birth place of the founder of girl scouts Juliette Gordon Low in Savannah Ga. For the older scouts who have been in scouting in their high school years that looks good on the college applications. Hopefully they will not stop selling cookies all together.
45We love girl scout cookies. I have two granddaughters who were selling this year as brownies. one sold 180 boxes and the other sold 125 boxes. and it was not that hard. most everyone loves cookies. I was never girl scout because we didn't have money when I was young to join and then it just wasn't cool. Tho my granddaughters love it and they have so many girls that want to be in scouts that they dont have the adults needed to help out and run it. I hope more parents keep this up. they still go camping and do really neat things for their badges. I think they are learning alot and making good friends.
46Cookies aren't going anywhere they are still the number one funding for the girl scout organization,but in recent years the focus has been on cookies and they are trying to get back to what Juliette Low originally had in mind which is an organization designed to teach young ladies how that they can do and be anything. They are switching the focus back to teaching girls to be leaders not just cookie sales people.
47After several years in Girl Scouts, my daughter gave it up. The girls knock their brains out to sell cookies and keep pennies and the national leaders build huge complexes and live off their unpaid slave cookie sellers. No wonder the organization is on the rocks. Even the lady who ran the troop finally gave up in disgust. It's just not worth it. They don't do anything but sell cookies. A few live in luxury at the expense of little girls. The organization is a farce.
48My daughters are both in Girl Scouts and have been screwed over by the Girl Scouts of Eastern Missouri on earning their Gold Award. My youngest was in 8th grade and 14 when she did everything she was supposed to do to earn it and they turned her down because she wasn't 14 and in 9th grade. Girl Scouts are so bound up by "red tape" that they don't realize they are actually killing the girls' desire to be a part of an organization that they are REQUIRED to support by selling cookies, but then don't get the support back! The Gold Award Committee of the Girl Scout Council of Eastern Missouri should be ashamed of themselves for their behavior at the meeting also - they didn't introduce themselves to the girls and even had a lady on speaker phone that the girls didn't even know was there until she coughed. And to the committee member who told the girls that "Girl Scouts of USA" wouldn't care about 2 girls from St. Louis (when they asked if they could appeal their decision)- we'll find out!!!!!
49I think cookies are not going away, however as with everything in our world whether we like it or not, change is on the horizon. And while I am at it here is one more opinion to go with all the rest, I have been a Girl Scout Leader for 14 years and was a Girl Scout myself off and on for about 5 years, and truthfully I myself quit as a girl for many of the reasons already talked about, however both of my daughters will have 13 years in after this year. Both with their Gold Awards, many many many countless hours of community service, lots of camping, a slew of hours with great friends and the chance to attend many other events too numerous to list as well as traveling places they may not have otherwise. Yes this organization like many others, including boy scouts, has it's bad things, and the only way they change is to meet them head on and fight for change. That does not however mean it is all bad or deserves to be thrown away. I have worked at just about every level of volunteering possible in my council, and have seen them treat the girls and volunteers in ways that were horrible, but Girl Scouts have excellent core values that have nothing to do with selling cookies, we only do that for 3 months, beginning to end. As with any organization there are good and not so good volunteers just as there are good and not so good people in every walk of life. When you buy girl scout cookies, you are not just supporting money making, you are supporting girls learning some great basic core values, and that is worth more than any concern over package size, calories, or even money.
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