Selling Girl Scout Cookies at Church

[low-key]

let there be cookies

 

[John VN]

No, see, that's why I'm asking. We haven't yet. I was asked my opinion by the chair of the committee that deals with this stuff on whether we should. I was polling the Community Board

You polled. You received replies. Policy of GS is that it is OK. I'm thinking that you should make a decision based on how you feel and not that of others.

 

[ronandannette]

For troops around here, everything is done online now and you have to practically promise your first born child to the Girl Scouts before they'll let you order the damn cookies. "It's all about safety for the girls." Bull crap. How else would people know to type in a very specific link given to you by the Girl Scout for the express purpose of ordering cookies? The only people trying to order cookies are the ones given the link! It has really put us off from ordering cookies in the future.

Anything booths are selling here are leftovers or extras.

No, I would not be in favor of any outside group selling in our church. Luckily, our Church Council only allows church groups to sell before/after service, not outside groups.

Who would bother? Nobody needs a cookie that badly. I've bought quite a few over the years; mostly sold door to door or at my office by parents of Guides. It's an "in the moment" thing, no way would I bother to go on-line and then wait for delivery.

 

[Searc]

Who would bother? Nobody needs a cookie that badly. I've bought quite a few over the years; mostly sold door to door or at my office by parents of Guides. It's an "in the moment" thing, no way would I bother to go on-line and then wait for delivery.

We've always had to wait for delivery. You order what you want and it is delivered a few weeks later. That part hasn't changed, just how you order has changed.

 

[ronandannette]

We've always had to wait for delivery. You order what you want and it is delivered a few weeks later. That part hasn't changed, just how you order has changed.

Maybe it's different in these parts. When the Guides go door-to-door they have the cookies with them and when buying from friends in the office, they'd have pre-purchased a quantity of cookies and then were basically re-selling them to recoup the costs. I have also seen the odd table set up here and there for sales; always with the cookies right there - cash and carry.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

We've always had to wait for delivery. You order what you want and it is delivered a few weeks later. That part hasn't changed, just how you order has changed.

Yup this was how it was done when I was in girl scouts. Going door to door was just to get the orders. They would come in weeks later and we would separate them out by orders and then deliver.

We just ordered some a few weeks ago from a friend of my sister-in-law and they're due to come in here really soon.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Maybe it's different in these parts. When the Guides go door-to-door they have the cookies with them and when buying from friends in the office, they'd have pre-purchased a quantity of cookies and then were basically re-selling them to recoup the costs. I have also seen the odd table set up here and there for sales; always with the cookies right there - cash and carry.

Troops around my area back in the day would use the cookies for fundraising for the troop so pre-ordering could have meant losing money.

However I see it both ways these days with Walmart. Some troops have where you just ordering and some have had mostly thin mints available to purchase right there. I'm guessing thin mints is a good bet on pre-ordering but you could still lose money if not enough are sold.

 

[Skippy918]

Maybe it's different in these parts. When the Guides go door-to-door they have the cookies with them and when buying from friends in the office, they'd have pre-purchased a quantity of cookies and then were basically re-selling them to recoup the costs. I have also seen the odd table set up here and there for sales; always with the cookies right there - cash and carry.

It varies by council I think. We preorder cookies in November. We get cookies mid January and start selling right away. We can place reorders with the cookie mom each week. Booth sales start up the first weekend after the sales start. We have all the cookies on hand by then. We live in the south so the weather is nice for booth sales and not too hot where the chocolate will melt, Other areas especially up north have their initial ordering now but their booths are later cause it’s still cold.

 

[John VN]

Maybe it's different in these parts. When the Guides go door-to-door they have the cookies with them and when buying from friends in the office, they'd have pre-purchased a quantity of cookies and then were basically re-selling them to recoup the costs. I have also seen the odd table set up here and there for sales; always with the cookies right there - cash and carry.

My bold ---- Just curious where "these parts" would be ???

 

[SaintsManiac]

Who would bother? Nobody needs a cookie that badly. I've bought quite a few over the years; mostly sold door to door or at my office by parents of Guides. It's an "in the moment" thing, no way would I bother to go on-line and then wait for delivery.

The online orders are delivered before the pre-orders. Our online customers have already received cookies, but I don't pick our troop order up for 2 more weeks.

 

[ronandannette]

My bold ---- Just curious where "these parts" would be ???

Alberta, Canada.

 

[FreeTime]

In our area you are not permitted to set up an unapproved booth. If you do, council can withhold your profits. Cookies are ordered the old fashioned way and then those cookies that were ordered are sold at booths and the customers orders are replaced by going to the cookie warehouse. This way, you don’t get stuck with cookies.

I would not want a cookie booth set up at
my church or any other type of fundraiser.

 

[design_mom]

It would not bother me if the girl scouts had a table set up at church. I can remember some other fundraiser stuff happening (jewelry to fund mission work in another country, etc), but I don't remember a cookie booth.

It sounds like this is the first time your church is considering this kind of offer. I think, if they decide to accept it, they need to come up with some formal guidelines for what kind of offers they'll accept and/won't accept. For instance, must be a designated charity and must have a current/previously-established association with the church (like the girl scouts holding meetings in their space), etc. I don't know what the "right" rules would be, but something that the church can use to guide which future offers are granted and which are denied, rather than just saying "But it was cute little girl scouts... and it was cookies."

 

[Boardwalk Jedi]

Does your church allow other organizations to use the facility such as AA, boy scouts, ethnic heritage support groups? Otherwise I don't see the problem with them being there rent free. As for sales, well as long as your church is consistent about outside groups being able to sell stuff after services (provided they are not in your face style selling). I've heard enough about evangelical churches and MLM pushing to think the girl scouts are harmless.

 

[leebee]

I think that if the group is affiliated with or regularly meets at the church that it should be OK. That stipulation (you are OUR group, or you regularly meet at OUR church) would prevent outside groups from asking about doing sales after services.

I DO like the troop that volunteers to help with the food pantry of the church where they meet. Community service is a big part of scouting, and this is a direct "thank you" to the facility that provides them a meeting place. LOVE THIS.

 

[John VN]

Alberta, Canada.

Thanks.

 

[lovesmurfs]

Who would bother? Nobody needs a cookie that badly. I've bought quite a few over the years; mostly sold door to door or at my office by parents of Guides. It's an "in the moment" thing, no way would I bother to go on-line and then wait for delivery.

I do, and it's a support-the-cause thing, not an in-the-moment thing. My great-nieces sell cookies and post their websites online. I buy from them and I'm able to support them from a distance (they're in Louisville and we're in Chicagoland).

 

[TipsyTraveler]

Who would bother? Nobody needs a cookie that badly. I've bought quite a few over the years; mostly sold door to door or at my office by parents of Guides. It's an "in the moment" thing, no way would I bother to go on-line and then wait for delivery.

That’s so funny, I feel the complete opposite. Reading this thread I was thinking, why can’t I just go to the website to buy cookies year round and have them delivered to my house? I used to be a scout, yet haven’t bought a box of Girl Scout cookies *ever* in my adult life because there’s no easy way to acquire them. 1) I don’t know any Girl Scouts. 2) I’m not going to buy from the one I-kinda-sorta-knew-you-in-elementary-school Facebook acquaintance that sells them on behalf of her daughter because she lives an hour and a half away. 3) I have occasionally seen them selling in front of stores but I don’t want to deal with buying from strangers and then having to coordinate a cookie pickup weeks later, or they might have the cookies on hand but I’m never carrying cash.

Something that overpriced and bad for my waistline needs to be an impulse purchase, and there’s no impulsive way for me to get my hands on Girl Scout cookies. Curses!

 

[JodyLynC]

If the church has an objection to them setting up a table outside after worship services, then perhaps they will allow them to be in the fellowship hall for an hour. Anyone who is interested can go to the Girl Scouts rather than have the girls sitting outside as they are coming out.

If the church feels that is too much, perhaps they will allow them to post an order form up on the bulletin board.

 

[DisneyOma]

It’s a moot point - that teaching is about abuse of authority, corruption and exploitation of the poor, NOT about whether commerce can be conducted on church property.

So, does it follow that all other teachings from the bible are also adhered to? There's a lot of stuff in the bible that isn't followed, including keeping women having their periods away from everyone else. Or does each church pick and choose what to follow? That would be the question I'd ask the board when deciding this issue.