Tips for selling cub scout popcorn???

[buzz5985]

My DS sold close to $1500 in under 2 hours going door to door in our neighborhood. It' s not hard to do. He was also required to sell in front of the PO for several 2 hour shifts also. It teaches them to work together for a common goal. Our pack gave out ipods to top sellers. It did a lot to boost kids self-esteem. It was even better for mom and dad when the pack was able to pick up the cost of camping trips etc.

You may not realize it, but you use your "salesmanship" skills every day in the business world, whether you are selling yourself during a job interview, pitching an idea for a project, the skills come in handy.

[irishsharon]

Originally Posted by buzz5985

My DS sold close to $1500 in under 2 hours going door to door in our neighborhood. It' s not hard to do. He was also required to sell in front of the PO for several 2 hour shifts also. It teaches them to work together for a common goal. Our pack gave out ipods to top sellers. It did a lot to boost kids self-esteem. It was even better for mom and dad when the pack was able to pick up the cost of camping trips etc.

You may not realize it, but you use your "salesmanship" skills every day in the business world, whether you are selling yourself during a job interview, pitching an idea for a project, the skills come in handy.

If it was just the child selling like your ds they deserve the credit of being a top seller but in all honesty MOST children are not selling it themselves so do they learn anything,yet they get the prize when maybe another child actually did sell on his own, but not enough so this child does not get rewarded.Part of my frustration is the popcorn is really not good and overpriced.

[buzz5985]

Originally Posted by irishsharon

If it was just the child selling like your ds they deserve the credit of being a top seller but in all honesty MOST children are not selling it themselves so do they learn anything,yet they get the prize when maybe another child actually did sell on his own, but not enough so this child does not get rewarded.Part of my frustration is the popcorn is really not good and overpriced.

I hate to disagree - but we love the popcorn. Another thing we did - was have a large box at the show and sell - if someone didn't want to buy for themselves they could buy a box or can and donate it to the troops. At the end of the popcorn challenge - we would drive the popcorn over to Hascom Airforce Base and they would send it overseas. I believe now you can donate right through the order forms. I haven't been visited by a selling scout yet. My DS troop sells wreaths at Christmas - now you want to talk about a pain in the neck sell. Then the boys have to decorate the wreaths, bows need to be made, for 2000 wreaths!!!!! How I wish for the popcorn sales again!!!

Janis

[buzz5985]

Couldn't resist - picture of DS with all his popcorn he sold. He was so proud of himself. (Don't mind the missing woodwork around the doors - we were under construction at the time)

[buzz5985]

Originally Posted by Mickeypooh99

I would love to read this article, but it says you have to subscribe to read it. I'm wondering if it is something our troop could to also.

Here it is.

While gay-rights advocates and their supporters criticized last week's announcement that the Boy Scouts of America would continue to exclude gays, some troops have ignored the ban for years.

Every year when it comes time to renew its charter, Troop 729 in New York City crosses out a promise to abide by the Boy Scouts' policies because it doesn't agree with the long-standing prohibition on openly gay members and leaders.







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Associated Press
Jennifer Tyrrell takes petitions to Boy Scouts headquarters last week in Irving, Texas. She was ousted as a den leader because she is a lesbian.
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"We just don't practice discrimination in our group," said Scoutmaster Antonio Camacho. He said the troop's stance was backed by its sponsor, the Fort Washington Collegiate Church.

Mr. Camacho said the practice, which it has maintained for more than a decade, has resulted in an unexpected benefit: increased fundraising.

BSA spokesman Deron Smith said he wasn't aware of Troop 729's policies. "However, Scouting has one policy that applies to all troops and councils. Any time we're aware of any inconsistency in the administration of a Scouting policy we work with the local council to reiterate the policy and ensure its compliance with the local leaders," he said by email.

Mr. Smith said the BSA has revoked council charters in the past but very rarely. He confirmed that the national group declined to renew the charters of a number of Cub Scout packs in Oak Park, Ill., in 2001 because their nondiscrimination policy, which included sexual orientation, clashed with the BSA one.

Since the organization includes 2.7 million youth and 1.1 million adults, Mr. Smith said it recognizes that its sexual-orientation policy doesn't accommodate everyone's views. "Most of our youth members are under the age of 12, and the majority of the parents we serve do not believe Scouting is the right forum for same-sex attraction to be introduced, discussed or demonstrated in any way," he wrote.

Peter Crowley, a scoutmaster in the liberal college town of Amherst, Mass., said that for at least the past eight years during which he has been involved in scouting the ad hoc rule has been nondiscrimination based on sexual orientation.

But after learning about the national group's reaffirmation of its ban, Mr. Crowley decided it was time to publicly spell out his troop's policy. So last week the troop's parents wrote a letter to local papers avowing their acceptance of gays and lesbians.

Mr. Crowley said he was concerned that by not making a public statement the troop could be turning away potential gay and straight participants. "The policy is out of line with our community standards," he said. "It actually would make it more difficult for us to have access to things in the community that are important to us."

"We want to reassure you, our friends, neighbors and colleagues, that the local Boy Scouts, Troop 500 in Amherst, does not support BSA's policy prohibiting the participation of gay adults or youths," says the letter, which is expected to appear this week. "We do not and never will discriminate on the basis of race, religion, or sexual orientation."

A backlash against the BSA policy reaffirmation resulted in some Eagle Scouts returning their medals this week. Meanwhile, Jennifer Tyrrell, a den leader in Ohio who says she was dismissed because she is a lesbian, submitted a petition last week to the BSA calling for her reinstatement. Her petition on Change.org has more than 325,800 signatures.

The Boys Scouts Boston Minuteman Council adopted a nondiscrimination policy 10 years ago that includes sexual orientation, said Sean Martin, a council spokesman. Mr. Martin said he didn't know of any gay or lesbian leaders or scout members in the council.

Mr. Martin said the BSA has long been aware of Boston's policy and there have been no repercussions. Mr. Smith, the BSA spokesman, said he had no information about the Boston group's practice.

Many troops are reluctant to talk about their policies on gays to avoid potential conflict with the national organization. "We've had gay leaders," though they weren't scoutmasters, said an assistant scoutmaster of another New York City troop who didn't want to be identified.

The Northern Star Council, representing more than 75,000 youth in Minnesota and western Wisconsin, according to its website, came out publicly last week saying it will continue its "inclusive leadership selection."

Kent York, the council's director of marketing and communications, declined to comment further, referring to its website, which states that the council doesn't discriminate "with regard to ethnicity, religion, gender, disability, and/or sexual orientation…."

The BSA said it currently is working with the Northern Star Council to "clarify" its policy.

Louis Hoffman, a committee chairman of Troop 1 in Minnesota, said that "whether a person is a gay person or a lesbian person isn't relevant to their ability to be a good scout or a good scout leader." He said a former pack in which he was involved had an open lesbian serve as a liaison between the Lutheran church that sponsored the pack and the pack itself.

[DawnM]

We are a scout family. I have 2 boyscouts and 1 cubscout.

I cannot in good conscious push popcorn. I hate sales. (I can't emphasis that enough!) We are not a sales-man type family. I won't participate in MLMs and we tend to do things frugally to save $$.

I have a real problem with pushing unhealthy, overpriced popcorn.

We do sell it. We stand in front of stores and if people want it, they come to us. Our family tends to do better in donations than in sales!

HOWEVER, our troop does yard sales at least 2-3 times per year. It is a LOT of work. We have a huge warehouse where we keep the stuff to sell. We do go to friends and neighbors and ask them if they have goods to donate. Then we sort and organize the goods, and work the yard sale, hauling things out, etc....

We tend to work about 25-30 hours PER yard sale per person in our family. The boys are learning work ethic and working hard.

I MUCH prefer to make our money that way than selling popcorn.

Dawn

[torinsmom]

Originally Posted by DawnM

We are a scout family. I have 2 boyscouts and 1 cubscout.

I cannot in good conscious push popcorn. I hate sales. (I can't emphasis that enough!) We are not a sales-man type family. I won't participate in MLMs and we tend to do things frugally to save $$.

I have a real problem with pushing unhealthy, overpriced popcorn.

We do sell it. We stand in front of stores and if people want it, they come to us. Our family tends to do better in donations than in sales!

HOWEVER, our troop does yard sales at least 2-3 times per year. It is a LOT of work. We have a huge warehouse where we keep the stuff to sell. We do go to friends and neighbors and ask them if they have goods to donate. Then we sort and organize the goods, and work the yard sale, hauling things out, etc....

We tend to work about 25-30 hours PER yard sale per person in our family. The boys are learning work ethic and working hard.

I MUCH prefer to make our money that way than selling popcorn.

Dawn

My nephews sell popcorn and I was asking my sister if I could just donate money. She said she thinks the money from direct donations goes to the general troop fund, while popcorn sales(or 1/3) goes to each boy's fund toward camping costs.

[Jedana]

Originally Posted by torinsmom

My nephews sell popcorn and I was asking my sister if I could just donate money. She said she thinks the money from direct donations goes to the general troop fund, while popcorn sales(or 1/3) goes to each boy's fund toward camping costs.

All our donations go directly to the Pack fund. Also, all popcorn sale profit goes to the pack fund. We have over 108 active scouts this year, and less than half will work a show n sell, and about a third will actually sell popcorn. I wish more would work for it, but we arent' forcing the issue. Our funds have dropped significantly this year (replacing a dining fly, purchasing a storage shed to store the gear at the charter location).


In the spring, we have camp card sales, where the boys earn half the profit for their camping fund. It can be applied retroactively, if they wish--so we have a big campout in May on the USS Yorktown...at $125 per person. It must be paid for by March 1st--we have to give a hard count by March 15th. But camp card sales dont' start until March 1st. So, if a boy earns $200 in his camp fund, we will cut his parents a check for that. Or they want to go to aquatics camp, and they have enough in the account for that--we can cut a check directly to the camp. Whatever works for the parents.

[Darcy03231]

Originally Posted by thelionqueen

Not trying to "stir the pot" as my son was in Boy Scouts briefly before I was educations about BSOA. There were several GREAT kids trying to sell popcorn and I admire their bravery and enthusiasm. But until the BSOA accepts diversity and equality for ALL boys, I will not be buying anything at all. It's time to welcome the BSOA into the turn of the Century. Just my .02

Several of our local business no longer allow the boy scouts (or any other organization that discriminates) to set up and sell anything outside their stores for this reason. The grocery store where my kids work is one of them, and its one of the busiest ones in the city. My daughter, who is an Assistant Manager, said the store just got way too many complaints and threats to shop elsewhere so they no longer will let the boy scouts set up there. Our neighbors were very disappointed because they made a lot of money there in previous years and this year they're having a hard time finding places to set up.

[sk!mom]

Originally Posted by irishsharon

If it was just the child selling like your ds they deserve the credit of being a top seller but in all honesty MOST children are not selling it themselves so do they learn anything,yet they get the prize when maybe another child actually did sell on his own, but not enough so this child does not get rewarded.Part of my frustration is the popcorn is really not good and overpriced.

Agreed!

The popcorn is terrible and sooooo overpriced.

I'm not a fan of most Fundraising of this type anyway. My DD is involved in a very costly extracurricular- classical ballet. They do not do any fundraising of this type. The parents bear the cost of participation and then there are ticket sales to the various performances that support the nonprofit studio and company.

[bellebud]

Originally Posted by JamesMom

Pack committee chair here with 2 Cub Scouts. The reason the popcorn is so "expensive" is because 70% of the sale goes to Boy Scouts, generally split between the Pack/Troop and Council/National. It says this in BIG print next to each item on the sales sheet. So, yeah you are paying over 3 times the price you would get in the store because it is a fundraiser. If you contribute to the troops then you are also donating the popcorn itself to hardworking soilders or sailers.
My oldest is rather competitve and has already sold $500 this year in the first 10 days of the sale. Last night we went door to door between 7-8pm and with only 1 saying "no thanks" sold $192 worth. His goal is $1,400.
In our pack we don't charge dues when a Scout sells $300, and pay for day camp at $600 and larger prizes at higher levels (son wants the nintendo 3DS, lol). This finances about 80% of our activities including our Blue & Gold catered banquet for over 200 attendees, an overnighter at a museum, a private pool party, 2 campouts, pinewood derby & rocket launch supplies, and orienteering event not to mention all the badges, pins, beltloops and patches the kids earn. The rest of the funds come from dues from those who chose not to sell popcorn.

Originally Posted by zoemurr

My son's troop sells overpriced wreaths ($30 each I believe) instead of popcorn. We have stated numerous times that he will not be going door to door and asking neighbors to supplement his activities when we are capable of paying for it ourselves. We have been told that there is no buyout option and he has to sell 30.

We have no problem with him helping at a fundraiser where people go to him: spaghetti dinner, car wash etc. but they don't do any of that. Huge incentives (a great deal of the fund-raising money is used for them) for boys that sell a lot.

Originally Posted by nchulka

I have a DD who sells Girl Scout cookies and a DS who sells Boy Scout popcorn. I MUCH prefer the popcorn! It may be expensive, but the vast majority of the money goes directly to the scouts. Very unlike the Girl Scouts where the troop get 55 cents per box, and the boxes cost 3.50! The Cub Scouts have much better incentives also. One year my DD sold 900 boxes of cookies, and the prizes were trinkets! The ONLY decent thing she got was an ipod shuffle , for 900 boxes!!! DS on the other hand sold 1800.00 of popcorn last year (in about a third of the time DD and I spent selling cookies). For that he got vouchers to go to 2 summer camps for free (one day camp, one overnight), a voucher for 130.00 to use towards whatever cub scout expenses we would come across (we used it for the blue/gold banquet tickets for our family, registration for this year, a subscription to Boy's Life, and the packs' annual 2night/3day family camp in the summer), and he got 155.00 in Amazon gift cards (which he used to buy himself an ipod touch) He was beyond excited!!!

And for those who are saying that some are not buying popcorn because of Boy Scouts conservative stance, we have also run across those who want nothing to do with Girl Scout cookies because of their liberal stance! It's really too bad, the kids don't know anything about these issues, they're just trying to sell some food and earn some prizes

Originally Posted by NemoMOm

I came in here looking for help for my little scout.

You know, its a shame that people come into this thread JUST to express their dislike of the organization.

But just FYI,, ,you are not hurting the organization, it's the child. Boy Scouts is a NON PROFIT organization. EVERYTHING those boys make, goes back to the boys. Its for the BOYS! NOT the adults!

Summer camps, badges, belt loops, camps, etc is funded by POPCORN

They keep their policies among themselves not the boys, they teach those boys valuable life skills. AND, my troop has volunteers from ALL walks of life.

For those that posted ABOUT popcorn, thanks! My son appreciates all the help. He has been working really hard for summer camp.

Ans I'm done with this thread

Originally Posted by North of Mouse

Wow, the poster with only 4 posts dug deep to find this thread. For what?

Anyhow, now I will throw in my 2 cents. I also will not buy the expensive popcorn that is not near as good as the brand name we buy - why should we eat that stuff? And no, I cannot buy it and throw it away.

I think it is so rude of parents to hound their neighbors and co workers to buy things that their children are selling (no matter what it is). They also had to ban it at my DH's workplace also. If you didn't buy, it caused hard feelings and interfered with working relationships - same thing with neighbors. We just cannot buy everything.

I would not let my children sell *anything* (the parents usually ended up doing the selling anyway) and went straight to the source, told them so, and why. They never took it out on my children either. I think it's ridiculous and sad to *dangle* a trip in front of a child's eyes, then say but you have to sell X amount of stuff to earn it. No way, and I will tell them so.

We have only so much to give to charities, and it will definitely go to a better cause that fun activities that parents won't pay for their child. There are lots of causes that mean sometimes *life or death*.

to all the bolded posts!!

For the other posts I quoted... am I missing something?? I honestly cannot believe people are ok w/ asking others (friends, family, neighbors, co-workers, strangers) to buy OVERPRICED (as admitted by the parents) popcorn so their boys activity that they chose to do is funded. What about karate??? What about gymnastics??? What about dance classes??? These activities can be just as worthwhile to a young person. I don't ask my neighbors to help me pay for my kids dance classes.

I've read all the pages, hoping to come across a post that says "our troop used the money our boys earned by selling overpriced popcorn to buy and distribute items to dying kids in our local children's hospital (insert humane society, veterans hospital, senior citizen home, etc). Yes, I see that they send some to the troops, when someone they're soliciting donates the money for that. So the scouts themselves are not paying for the popcorn for the troops, they're simply asking others to pay for it.

All I've read is "my kid got an iPad". Wow... seriously??? How about the private pool party?? The overnight at a museum... I could go on and on.

And camping trips, and badges, and other things the parents of the child should be paying for. I'd rather see the scouts take that camping money and send underpriviledged kids to summer camps, not themselves. And if they themselves fall into that category, they can apply to go to that camp too, that they helped to support.

If the scouts want to earn money to buy themselves goodies, let them rake lawns to earn money. Do the pancake breakfasts, dinners, whatever. Let people come to you.

I'm SOOOO against fundraising this way. It's teaching kids to be little beggars for their own benefit, not to support a worthwhile cause. Yuck!

[sk!mom]

Originally Posted by bellebud

to all the bolded posts!!

For the other posts I quoted... am I missing something?? I honestly cannot believe people are ok w/ asking others (friends, family, neighbors, co-workers, strangers) to buy OVERPRICED (as admitted by the parents) popcorn so their boys activity that they chose to do is funded. What about karate??? What about gymnastics??? What about dance classes??? These activities can be just as worthwhile to a young person. I don't ask my neighbors to help me pay for my kids dance classes.

I've read all the pages, hoping to come across a post that says "our troop used the money our boys earned by selling overpriced popcorn to buy and distribute items to dying kids in our local children's hospital (insert humane society, veterans hospital, senior citizen home, etc). Yes, I see that they send some to the troops, when someone they're soliciting donates the money for that. So the scouts themselves are not paying for the popcorn for the troops, they're simply asking others to pay for it.

All I've read is "my kid got an iPad". Wow... seriously??? How about the private pool party?? The overnight at a museum... I could go on and on.

And camping trips, and badges, and other things the parents of the child should be paying for. I'd rather see the scouts take that camping money and send underpriviledged kids to summer camps, not themselves. And if they themselves fall into that category, they can apply to go to that camp too, that they helped to support.

If the scouts want to earn money to buy themselves goodies, let them rake lawns to earn money. Do the pancake breakfasts, dinners, whatever. Let people come to you.

I'm SOOOO against fundraising this way. It's teaching kids to be little beggars for their own benefit, not to support a worthwhile cause. Yuck!

My feelings exactly and you said it so well!

We are a family that believes strongly in donating time and money to the greater good but we are so against these sales that are just help ME go camping, to Disneyworld, or whatever!

If your child wants to go camping, to Disney , or wherever...pay for it yourself or get your kid busy mowing lawns, raking leaves, or shoveling snow. don't pressure friends and family to pay their way.

[Sadie22]

For those complaining about the price of the popcorn, you can go to the Trail's End website and see how much goes to Trail's End. The rest is split between council and selling unit (pack or troop). I recently bought some delicious, high quality popcorn in a quality keepsake can with a farm scene that reminds me of my childhood.

My sons were never required to sell popcorn, but we have bought some through the years. Their troops held annual fundraisers that were a service to the community and a means to help fund camping trips and maintain troop equipment. Funds also went to pay for uniforms and equipment for those families who could not afford these items.

[zoemurr]

Originally Posted by sk!mom

My feelings exactly and you said it so well!

We are a family that believes strongly in donating time and money to the greater good but we are so against these sales that are just help ME go camping, to Disneyworld, or whatever!

If your child wants to go camping, to Disney , or wherever...pay for it yourself or get your kid busy mowing lawns, raking leaves, or shoveling snow. don't pressure friends and family to pay their way.

DS's scout master keeps saying, "It's their fun, so it's their fundraiser. They need to learn to sell themselves." No.. this is just begging and making neighbors feel guilty.

I was just talking about this with my co-GS leader. Last year girls voted to use their cookie money to go to a concert. Do you think this is what people are expecting when they donate $? I constantly wonder what people would say if we asked them, "what do you think we are using this money for?" I imagine most would say, "to help others" and this is really not (usually) the case at all, although our girls did do their Silver Awards which were great. I don't believe any of them used troop funds for this though.

As a leader we give the girls the forms and that's it. All the parents are fine with paying for what we need instead of dealing with this madness. If there is something they really needed to do that needed more $ we would find a better way.

One of DDs friends is on the student council at school. She told me the other day that if each 9th grader sold 2 tubs of cookie dough they would make 4k for the class. I asked her, "can't I just throw in $20?" I made her promise to see if they can make this an option. I don't want 2 big tubs of cookie dough. Why aren't people getting this?? Glad at least some Dis friends understand.

[DawnM]

This is not how we do it.

We sell $300 per scout ($100 to the popcorn company, $100 to the local counsel, and $100 to our troop for various items like awards, tents, etc....)

OR we can just donate the $100 and it goes directly to our troop.

Yes, you can donate.

Dawn

Originally Posted by torinsmom

My nephews sell popcorn and I was asking my sister if I could just donate money. She said she thinks the money from direct donations goes to the general troop fund, while popcorn sales(or 1/3) goes to each boy's fund toward camping costs.