The Virginian-Pilot
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Samoa sales are slipping. Demand for Do-Si-Dos is dropping.
Even American icons aren't recession-proof, it seems.
With about a month of selling to go, Girl Scout officials are hoping to make up for sagging door-to-door sales of their colorful boxes of cookies.
"We're trying to do twice as many booths this year," said Mary Tromba, who heads a troop in North Suffolk. "We're really pushing hard."
Initial door-to-door sales for Girl Scout cookies are down about 4 percent in Hampton Roads from last year, said Marcy Germanotta, spokeswoman for the Girl Scout Council of Colonial Coast, which serves southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina. Last year, pre-orders made up about 65 percent of total sales.
Along with the recession, the girls face extra hurdles this year: They're peddling smaller boxes - Girl Scouts of the USA reduced the number of cookies per box in some cookies because of rising production costs - and fending off fears about contaminated peanut butter.
Don't worry - the peanut butter used in Tagalongs and Do-Si-Dos is safe, Girl Scout officials say.
The council hopes to make up the difference with booth sales in front of grocery stores and other locations, Germanotta said.
"We have had a decline, but our hopes are up," she said.
The council also is encouraging some stepped-up sales techniques this year. The girls have been told to leave notes with contact information both for customers who haven't bought cookies yet and those who have, but who may not have ordered enough Thin Mints and Tagalongs the first time around, for example.
The council also is planning a "walkabout" this year for the second-to-last day of sales, in which girls will take one last trip around their neighborhoods, boxes in hand.
Tromba said her "cookie cupboard" is a little barer this year - last year, she was given 800 cookies to hold onto in case the girls needed extra, and this year, she's only holding onto 650.
But her daughter Sara, who's 10, actually sold about 50 more boxes this year in pre-orders, Tromba said.
That's because Sara and the rest of her troop canvassed a larger area this year, knowing that even indulgences for a good cause aren't safe from the bad economy.
Alicia Wittmeyer, (757) 222-5216, alicia.wittmeyer@pilotonline.com
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Better Than Boy Scout Pop Corn
I think they are better than Boy Scout pop corn
No one knocked on my door
Have not seen a booth
BTW one of my daughters was ripped off by her leader a few years ago
Recommend they quit whinning and hit the bricks in their uniforms with their little red wagons loaded with cookies... tough times call for harder work. Hate when people make themselves sound like victums.
LAST YEAR
My daughter was in a troop. The cookie mother decided to get way more cookies than anyone could use in a lifetime. My daughter spent weekends and school nights doing booth sales in the cold..Then the cookie mother wanted us to help pay for the extras. Then it turns out troop leader stole a lot of the money. GSCC did not put my daughter in a troop this year, nor did she receive her rewards for selling the most cookies. That experience has left us never wanting to be near a cookie..This particular troop leader would tell people to buy an extra box for the troops. Did they go to the troops? No..People would out of the goodness of their hearts give the troop tips or just donations in general and this woman would pocket them. Not all troop leaders are like this, but it was enough to keep us away from booth sales in general.
Catholics
Maybe they would sell more cookies to Catholics if they would sell and deliver them BEFORE or AFTER Lent!
The cookies are great!
And I will buy three or four boxes when I see them.
However, I am not into the "guilt us into a sale" crowd who say the Girl Scouts keep these kids off the streets.
If I believed that, I would also buy from the kids who come to my house with marked up junk and a card that says they are working in sales in order to stay off of drugs.
Not every argument for making a sale flies with me!!!
Cookieeeees
I don't care if the price went up or there is less cookies in the box. I love those girl scout cookies and look forward to buying them every year.
Cookie is food and for is very necessary.
Cookies
First, the cookies are good and we usually buy 4-6 boxes, but....it's a lot like the stuff that the children sell throughout the school year, overpriced Va Diner products, wrapping paper, etc. With the small profit to the organizations, it got to the point that I was tired of pestering people to buy this stuff, so I just figured up a good profit margin on what our son would sale and wrote a check directly to the PTA. That way they got the whole amount and not some small percentage.
In these sad times, cookies
In these sad times, cookies are necessary!
Jeesh people. Lighten up. Help those who help our community to build strong women who will be the future leaders of tomorrow.
Find out how much the girl
Find out how much the girl scout troup gets to keep from each sale, then go to guidestar.org (you will need to register) and look up Girl Scout Commonwealth Council of VA and take a look at their 990 tax form for 2007 the latest posted. You might be surprised how much the troops raise and where the money goes. If you really want to help a troop just make a cash donation to the troop, but check with troop leaders to make sure it will all stay with that troop.
milufo
Actually, your comments regarding "The Chosen One" and "The Messiah" weren't funny the first time I heard them - on Rush Limbaugh. Only original thoughts here, please.
SELLING COOKIES!!
My daughter is a brownie and is selling cookies. We haven't really seen a drop in sales. The way I see it, the cookies are sold once a year. You might as well splurge a little!
If anyone is interested drop me a line at rbn2u@yahoo.com