<p>That information means very little without context. Are they also instructed to state that the content of this year’s box is, on average, XYZ less than last year’s?</p>
<p>Folks, you are making it sound like Girl Scout cookies are the only food commodity that is shrinking. When was the last time you got a half gallon of ice cream, or a pound of coffee? Cans of tuna are smaller. Almost EVERYTHING is smaller.</p>
<p>^ except my waistline.</p>
<p>I have indeed noticed the shrinkage in other food commodities, and it drives me nuts. It just seemed to me that the GS cookie shrinkage has been more accelerated than that of most other food items. It could be an entirely false perception, though. I’ll acknowledge that. The fact that there’s no such thing as a gallon of ice cream anymore really tees me off. It’s a wonder we can still buy milk in a gallon size.</p>
<p>Four dollars for a small box of cookies is a lot, and DH and I certainly don’t need more sweets in the house. But if the girl across the street comes by, of course I’ll buy some. Can’t say no to a kid!</p>
<p>My D was a Girl Scout. Cookie sale monies (percentage) went towards trips (the big one was always Hershey). Anyway, the little girl my D babysits is selling and they are now $4 a box. We bought 7 boxes. She was so happy, their money is going towards a trip to the Liberty Science Center. And my D said I have to buy cookies for her next year and send them to her in college.</p>
<p>Here, if troops do not sell cookies, they are not allowed to do any other fundraisers. I was a leader for several years and am a lifetime member of the scouts. However, cookie sales have always been a sore spot for me. The kids earned so little per box for their troops. When they knock on my door, I buy from the first one, and write the rest a check for about $5. They would have to sell more than 10 boxes to get that much money for their troop.</p>
<p>A bag of Pepperidge Farm Milanos is 6 oz. How much do you pay for them? If more than $2.75, a 9 oz box of GS cookies is cheaper per ounce if you are looking at value/ounce.</p>
<p>Please buy store brand cookies if you are just looking for cheap cookies!</p>
<p>Store brand cookies aren’t cheap—at least not the big national brands. I don’t buy them either. I’m baking a box of Ghirardelli Triple Fudge Brownies (purchased in a multi-box package) this very minute. Like MD Mom, I’ll continue to give the girls cash for their individual troops (at least, I’ve always assumed it goes to their individual troops. Perhaps it doesn’t?).</p>
<p>Comparing the cost of GS cookies to cookies on store shelves is sort of an unfair comparision. The GS cookies will often (not always) cost more, because it is a fundraiser. The wrapping paper, fruits, other things the other kids clubs sell are all also more through the fundraiser than they are in stores.</p>
<p>People buy the GS cookies to help the girls learn life skills, not necessarily for the cookies.</p>
<p>My D is a Gold Award Girl Scout. She is a sophomore at Tulane right now. For several years she individually sold enough cookies to go to camp for a week free. We were a low low low income family when she was younger. There is no way I could have paid for her to go to camp. She earned it herself because she wanted to go. How else can a 8 or 10 year old kid raise enough money to pay for a week long camp? Our council gave weeks for free based on how many boxes a girl sold.</p>
<p>One year she sold enough to go to camp for a week and to go to Chicago for a weekend.</p>
<p>She has paid it forward to younger girls by working at our local Girl Scout camp for two summers and by buying several boxes of cookies last year and this year from a young 6 yo girl at our church, so she can experience going to camp, too.</p>
<p>One year, my troop sold tulip bulbs as a fundraiser. The bulbs were the same price whether people ordered them through the scouts or through the company, so it was a win-win. The girls earned half of what they sold. It was a GREAT fundraiser, which provided many more dollars with the same life lessons as the cookie sale. I worked very hard to make things affordable for all of the girls in my troop.</p>
<p>As a former troop leader, I don’t see a GS cookie purchase as a cookie purchase. I see it as supporting the girls. If I want value for my cookie dollar, I go into the store and buy a bag of Oreos. But when it comes to GS cookies, even if there were one lone Thin Mint inside, I would still pay the $3 and consider it money well spent.</p>
<p>BTW, thank you to those of you who simply donate cash as you walk by the table. Troops leaders love you.</p>
<p>My problem is not with the fact that there are fewer cookies (welcome to inflation, and the fact that they’re trying to keep the price around $4/box), but that the Thin Mints we got last year were horrifically bad. They tasted overwhelmingly of chemicals. I realize that most manufacturers have changed their recipes over the last four years or so to save money with some pretty poor results, but this was IMO inedible. It didn’t seem to be a “bad batch,” as I didn’t read about similar complaints.</p>
<p>*
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<p>Local PTA units only get to keep a tiny percentage of the dues money they collect. The rest goes to higher levels in the organization, to help support political advocacy in support of children.</p>
<p>Apparently this is why some schools choose to have PTOs instead of PTAs.</p>
<p>I haven’t noticed that they ever reveal this in membership drives. I only became aware of it when became a PTA officer.</p>
<p>Sop14’s Mom - Is it possible that the thin mints you bought had been stored at a location that allowed them to absorb a chemical odor (before or after purchase)? One of my kids received a Hershey’s candy bar for Valentine’s Day a few years ago which had a strong chemical taste. I called Hershey cust svc who used the barcode to trace the purchase to a local big box store which, at that time, was undergoing renovations. We concluded that the odor from the glue used to retile (linoleum tile) likely drew in through the packaging to cause the foul chemical taste. CS rep explained that chocolate must be stored very carefully so as not to draw odors even through tight packaging.</p>
<p>It is for a good cause, that is the point! Whether you buy stuff you don’t need at a church yard sale, have your car washed by some youth organization (when your car is not dirty) and so on. You could buy GS cookies in front of your grocery store, then go back in and drop them into a Food Bank bin. You do not have to eat the cookies, give them away…</p>
<p>I don’t think buying boxes of cookies is much support when the troop only gets 50 cents at most from the sale especially based on the amount of time is spent promoting, taking orders and delivering a product that is decreasing in value. As for business skills–no self-respecting business would sell a product at such a small return. They can’t afford to.
As MD mom points out, there are better fundraisers out there. Perhaps if you want to instill some business sense in young minds you would encourage them to pick their OWN fundraiser and work on it from planning to final execution.</p>
<p>I haven’t been a leader for 5 years, but in our council we were not allowed to sell other products (only the cookies and the official magazine/nut sale). We could have bake sales, car washes, etc, that involved us making things or doing services, but not sell items from other companies.</p>
<p>I should have footnoted my thin mint moan. </p>
<p>As a former Girl Scout myself…I will ALWAYS buy a dozen boxes at least.
It’s all about the girls!
But please…add another .50 to the price and get the quality back The cookies have been a success for so many years because people love the Girl Scouts AND the cookies.</p>
<p>I remember years ago actually looking forward to cookie time because the cookies were so good. Now I buy because I want to support the girls, but not because I want the cookies. Luckily, I have teenage boys who will eat anything. I’ve had three different Girl Scouts come to my door from three different troops so far this year. We bought from each of them - mostly peanut butter patties and thin mints. My son and his friends have not mentioned the quality…can’t imagine they would notice, but they can plow through several boxes in minutes.</p>