Okay folks, it's that time of year again where you're about to be assaulted by the local drug connections to buy boxes of Girl Scout cookies. I'm all for helping our young women go to camp and enrich their lives and knowledge base. However, after looking at the flyer for this year's sales drive, I'm certain I'd fare better paying out of pocket to send my daughter to summer camp.
GS cookies yield "Cookie Dough" which is credit towards the fee for camp. There's also Council Program Events, Destinations, and the usual grey area stuff.
Now, year after year I watch the girls camp out at stores, malls, etc. I watch the costs grow larger while the boxes grow smaller. Braving weather, exposure to all sort of human elements, and so forth just to hock something they're getting NOWHERE NEAR WHAT THEY SHOULD BE as funds raised. Here's why:
(KEEP IN MIND THE GIRLS GET NOTHING MORE THAN A PATCH OR TWO UNLESS THEY SELL A MINIMUM OF 100 BOXES)
Cost of 1 box of cookies: $4
100-150 BOXES - $.20/box earned ($20-30)
151-225 BOXES - $.25/box ($37.75-56.25)
226+ BOXES - $.30/box ($67.80+)
Camp fees are usually $120 a week or more. This would mean one girl could go for free for a week if she and her parents unload over 400 boxes ($1200 Gross going to the pockets of Little Brownie Bakers)
Don't get me started on the almost completely shit perks the girls get as consolation prizes (a patch for 30 boxes, a junk jewelry necklace for 150+ boxes, etc.). The really useful ones like a kindle fire or windows tablet require 1000+ boxes to be sold ($4000+ gross vs a $150-$500 item).
This is not a fund raiser. This is not positive enrichment.
What happens when a girl wises up and realizes the time she spent standing in the cold hocking mass-produced baked goods wasn't as worth it as the adults pushed them to believe? They do the leg work, they promote the organization, and what have they to show for it? Not a lot, in my opinion.
Please don't let my viewpoint sway you from finding the good in this part of the program, but I believe the old-fashioned notion of a bake sale (where the cost of two boxes can produce the quantity of twelve) would earn not just one girl, but entire Troops the chance to get out and get some sun.
-M-
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GS cookies yield "Cookie Dough" which is credit towards the fee for camp. There's also Council Program Events, Destinations, and the usual grey area stuff.
Now, year after year I watch the girls camp out at stores, malls, etc. I watch the costs grow larger while the boxes grow smaller. Braving weather, exposure to all sort of human elements, and so forth just to hock something they're getting NOWHERE NEAR WHAT THEY SHOULD BE as funds raised. Here's why:
(KEEP IN MIND THE GIRLS GET NOTHING MORE THAN A PATCH OR TWO UNLESS THEY SELL A MINIMUM OF 100 BOXES)
Cost of 1 box of cookies: $4
100-150 BOXES - $.20/box earned ($20-30)
151-225 BOXES - $.25/box ($37.75-56.25)
226+ BOXES - $.30/box ($67.80+)
Camp fees are usually $120 a week or more. This would mean one girl could go for free for a week if she and her parents unload over 400 boxes ($1200 Gross going to the pockets of Little Brownie Bakers)
Don't get me started on the almost completely shit perks the girls get as consolation prizes (a patch for 30 boxes, a junk jewelry necklace for 150+ boxes, etc.). The really useful ones like a kindle fire or windows tablet require 1000+ boxes to be sold ($4000+ gross vs a $150-$500 item).
This is not a fund raiser. This is not positive enrichment.
What happens when a girl wises up and realizes the time she spent standing in the cold hocking mass-produced baked goods wasn't as worth it as the adults pushed them to believe? They do the leg work, they promote the organization, and what have they to show for it? Not a lot, in my opinion.
Please don't let my viewpoint sway you from finding the good in this part of the program, but I believe the old-fashioned notion of a bake sale (where the cost of two boxes can produce the quantity of twelve) would earn not just one girl, but entire Troops the chance to get out and get some sun.
-M-
§