How about using Sign Up Genius or another app? Our school volunteers use it to coordinate food donations, etc. and it could be used easily for this as well. A shared Google page would also work - either would put all the orders in one place and make everything visible to everyone involved.
Does the troop only make $.70/box everywhere? And how much does the Council get?
We ordered GS cookies from a girl we know. The last few years, she e-mailed us an online sign-up form. She graduated last year. She passed along her customer list to a girl who e-mailed us to tell us she’d taken over the customer list and to respond if we would like to order cookies.
No more GS cookies for us! They are overpriced and (even store brand) clones are easy to find here.(But if there was a young neighborhood Girl Scout that we knew who came to our door, we’d probably still buy a few boxes from her.)
I was a Girl Scout leader for 12 years (5 of those without a co-leader). I hated cookie sales for all 12 of those years.
Actually, there were several things I disliked about being a scout leader - the paperwork, the endless training, and many of the other leaders. (It was probably just my cluster, but the other troop leaders were so clique-y. At cluster/council meetings, I often felt as if I were back in middle school, trying to scrounge a seat at the Popular Girls’ Table.)
But I loved “my” girls and getting to know them over the 12 years that they were “mine.” I am Facebook friends with most of them now and I love seeing the young women they have become.
Oh, and I LOVE Girl Scout cookies - the eating them, not the selling of them. Mmmm…Samoas…
OP: Don’t worry about training or finding a successor. It’s not your job, and it will drive you crazy trying to find a volunteer. It will all work out somehow, even without your help. Just don’t get sucked in and agree to be the Cookie Mom next year, too - I knew women who fell into that trap, even after their own daughters had left. Nightmare!
I was in charge of an annual show for several years for an organization I just resigned from. I wrote everything I knew in a “show” book–schedules, contact numbers, budgets of past shows, programs, flyers, post show procedures…you name it. Now the person in charge e-mails me with questions every day–and I say “It’s in the book.” to most all of it.
I don’t think anybody has opened the cover of the book–I know because they’ve spent quite a bit of time re-inventing the wheel rather than use procedures developed after years of experience. But not my problem and it isn’t yours either.
@CTTC – our GS troop made $.50 per box sold. It varies regionally i suppose. The last few years we sold cookies was in a different format - more parent work than girls. The Girl Scout council has very strict protocol on how to do it all; there’s no varying from their format; and its a huge money raiser for them; shaking my head on that. I will always buy cookies from girls who knock at the door; but that’s about it any more.
I have worked with volunteers for years, and I guarantee you there is another cookie mom willing to take the OP’s place. It’s hard to turn these things over, but once you create the vaccumn, someone will decide to fill it. And if they don’t, then it’s time for the fundraiser to die a natural death. So box up the paperwork and write a “things you should know” document, and hand it over to the troop when you are done.
Shadowing, or having a co-chair who is “in training” is excellent, but sometimes that just can’t happen. Just as we all followed someone who had done events for years, so will someone follow us.
It’s always the ones who aren’t willing to volunteer themselves that complain. Just reading this thread is giving me “cookie mom” flashbacks. I might have to go lie down. And have some thin mints.
ok, I just have to say it’s nice to see all you retired (and active) cookie parents on here. nice to know someone else is out there that understands…
advice on leaving the position? tell the service unit manager right now! and the council person! you don’t need to find a substitute yet…resign first. then if you want to help with finding someone, you can do that later…hubby learned these lessons the hard way.
thin mints for all!
Hhhhmmmm. Somoas…(I had to give them up. I’m helpless around them.)
Another cookie mom here. I bet there’s a correlation between volunteering at schools, with scouts, etc and being on CC 
I was a cookie mom for 9 years, with a couple years covering for two dd’s troops. I had to attend a training for all 9 years and, yes, there were very detailed and specific instructions. Perhaps a rebel but they required us to collect the girls’ hard copy forms for way too long – we were then to transcribe the girls’ numbers into our own form. I created an excel spreadsheet and had the moms (daughters were too young) email me their daughter’s numbers. So there could never be a question about numbers nor did I have to take responsibility for their order forms. Worked beautifully although, I must say, we had the nicest moms in the troop.
To the OP, I’m glad the original situation resolved itself. I know that, the few times I’ve lost my temper and spoke angrily to someone outside my immediate family, I feel uncomfortable about it and have a need to apologize even if it’s just for losing my temper. And, I know when I’ve been the recipient, it feels bad too and an apology, again, even if it’s just for HOW the message was delivered and not the message itself, has made me feel much better.
And, I agree with the other posters: finding your replacement really isn’t your job. I understand how we become vested and want to know and see how things will continue so, if you want to work to find your replacement, go for it but, if you don’t, yes, let it go.
Not that it matters now, but if you had it to do over again, the initial instructions/ email (group text??) should have had the procedures clearly spelled out: That all communication will be by email, please check for updated info in emails, that no orders will be taken by text, and that any questions or changes should be directed to you. Why does this lady have your daughter’s cell @ anyway? Was it from the group texts? Agree that your dau should have responded that she (the late) needed to contact you directly with any issues related to the cookie sales. I’d be frustrated too. Your dau is not the cookie lady, you are.
CC posting and editing is really wonky tonight!!
Just a bit of info: inside my house, we have very poor cell phone reception. We can text just fine (only to other iPhones, I think) because that goes over the wifi. But if you call my cell when I’m inside the house, it won’t ring. I’ll get a “missed call” ping as soon as I take 5 steps out the door. For my “leave a message” message, I actually say, “if you think I’m home, please call the landline 555-1234.” I’m not excusing the woman who ignored your instructions, just explaining what might have happened.
I just got the heebee geebees thinking about this mom you had to deal with. I dealt with her twin, right down to her habit of not answering her cell phone after she texted me. And no, not because she was driving. Even her response to your apology is annoying to me. You should be thanked up and down for doing this. She should have apologized to you. She purposefully ignored your request to communicate vie email because she is a special snowflake.
I am surprised by the responses here saying you should be open to doing this via text. Not only is it your choice as you are the volunteer of a huge undertaking, but email is a much easier way to manage this. I am an avid texter. But where ordering and money is involved, I definitely rely on email.
When the time comes, resign the position and be done with it. You are generous to give your free time to this giant headache. I always appreciated our cookie mom.
And good luck to your daughter in the audition process. I went though it with my son. It’s a stressful process, but, also a very exciting time.
Best piece of advice I’ve read here–RESIGN FIRST (make it clear and in writing) before even offering to help find a replacement (if the muse moves you).
Hey, so it’s cookie time right now in AZ in case anyone needs cookies…
Is it true that it is better to make a charitable donation to the Girl Scout troupe since they only get a portion of the proceeds from the cookie sales. If I write a check do the troupe get to keep 100% of it? I am also told that you can buy cookies to be donated to the troops.
Personally OP, I don’t think your over reacted.
Maybe my memory is playing tricks on me, but I could swear that a couple of years ago I got an email from our local Girl Scout, pointing us to a website where we could order from her online. May be the wave of the future for ordering, but you still need that low-tech distribution system!
Cookie Mom is a huge job and few are willing to take it on. My mother did it for years, even after I stopped participating in Girl Scouts, and I remember well what a PITA it was. You should be able to specify the form of communication that is most effective and reliable for you, and it was out of line for anyone to bug your daughter with their cookie communication texts meant for you. No need to apologize, IMO. And definitely you don’t need to feel responsible for finding your own replacement for the Cookie Mom job. You’ve more than contributed your fair share.
I just wanted to say – thanks for being a cookie mom. It is a really hard job, and as far as I am concerned, you can set whatever boundaries seem reasonable to you.
I continue to be astonished at the number of parents who think nothing of inconveniencing the adult volunteers – picking kids up late, failing to send permission slips, last minute cancelations for chaperoning or carpools, and worst, sending kids on camping trips without the specified gear.