Why can't people just follow the rules!

[Stitchfans]

DD11 is a Girl Scout. Suprised her leader hasn't given out the cookie sheets yet. This is her last year as a Jr. I doubt the troop will go on after this. Shame cause she had so much fun all these years.

Can't believe though that some people would go so far as to try to sell the cookies on Ebay. How low can you get? Although I shouldn't talk, I was looking for the Disney shortbread cookies on Ebay. Those sellers are really gouging buyers for those.

 

[JESW]

My DD is 6 and this is her first year as a Brownie. Cookie sales around here started on january 6th. On december 27th there were two girl scouts from the neighborhood out taking orders. On january 4th one of the Brownies mom sent out an e-mail to the neighborhood - over 50 families - telling them that her dd was selling cookies. Surprisingly, I didn't get the e-mail since my dd is in the same troop. Both groups were VERY sneaky in my opinion. I am not going to go that route. Dd wil probably sell about 10 boxes to our family, my parents and my neighbor - we will also volunteer one afternoon at the local grocery store. I had been warned about how competitive these sales get. If you only sell ONE box you get the patch - you need to sell 75 to go on to the next level which also includes a lip gloss. Big whoop.

And both kids also came home with yet another fundraiser on friday...I think this marks the 4th or 5th one since school started.

Jill

 

[Teacher03]

I love GS cookies! Last year I bought about 20 boxes from the students at my school. Since I am on a budget ( and a diet!) this year, I am only buying from the first person who asks me!

I do remember going door to door as a Brownie, but I guess those days are gone! Everything seems to be a competition for kids these days, but it does help pay for camp.

 

[Sleepy]

anyone who remotly believes that the girls sell these cookies has questionable sanity. the bulk of the orders are done in offices and workplaces the girl's parents work at.

To me, this is like the yearly science fair at school. It's a contest to see who's parents have the most creativity, time and money to sink into the project. The saddest part is it will be the child who gets the credit and false self satisfaction. Sort of teaches them at an early age to let someone else do your work for you and take the credit for it.

 

[Tiffann4k]

When I was a girl scout I was the top cookie seller and my prize was I got to go to the girl scout camp free it was pretty fun, I still remember it, especially the polar bear swims

 

[SleepyMom]

I am the cookie Mom for DD12's troop, we cannot start sales until 1/27. I am planning on holding onto the order forms until just before then. We have a meeting on the 17th, but I am afraid it might be a big temptation to sell early if they get it then. Although, there are only 6 girls left in the troop this year and I think most will be good about not selling early. In years past though I knew of a few that would sell early no matter how many times it was stressed not to.

As for buying them on e-bay , I think they are expensive enough without adding on the shipping!

Our prizes this year are much better than in the past, you automatically get a patch for selling just one box. From there the council goal for each girl is 125 boxes, at that point they would each get the patch, another monkey iron on patch, a wrist band and a 12 inch stuffed animal monkey. At 250 boxes they get a monkey pillow and all listed before, 350 boxes adds a 18 inch stuffed monkey and all the above, 500 is a yoga/dance outfit with all the above and over 600 boxes gets you invited to a mystery event.

In years past, the girls would get the patch and then a meeting their goal patch at 125 boxes... for every 100 boxes after that they had their name put in a drawing for a large stuffed animal.

Also our council is trying something new this year, asking people when they buy if they would be interested in donating a box to a local children's home. If they want to all they have to do is circle the box they are ordering they want donated and when the cookies come in the girls will collect those and donate them all at one time.

 

[va32h]

Our start date was Jan 6, no specific time. Dd has been a top seller in the past (500 or more boxes) but that was when I was working - no, I didn't take the order form to work with me! - my awesome boss allowed dd to set up a booth in the lobby after school.

We are allowed to email past customers and family/friends for orders. I prefer having dd email to the phone because you can list the cookie flavors and even send pictures. We always include a picture of dd in her uniform as well, for a more personal touch.

In the past, dd has earned some pretty good prizes: a sleeping bag (which she still uses), a fancy pillowcase, a "doorbell" for her bedroom, stuffed animals, a Build A Bear Workshop gift certificate, and gift certificates for the Girl Scout store.

 

[Mom2Ashli]

To be honest they are JUNK..just little crap that they give for selling so many cookes....for 140 boxes she is getting this "spa kit"...some empty bottles in a bag to put shampoo in and a brush and comb...nothing great...they can keep their crap as far as I am concerned...I would rather the troop got some extra money than getting those junk prizes..

My DD has to sell 225 boxes to get that same "Spa Kit" .

 

[liamsaunt]

To me, this is like the yearly science fair at school. It's a contest to see who's parents have the most creativity, time and money to sink into the project. The saddest part is it will be the child who gets the credit and false self satisfaction. Sort of teaches them at an early age to let someone else do your work for you and take the credit for it.

If this is the case, that is too bad. I remember going from door to door selling cookies--my sister and I were in different troops, but we sold together, each choosing one side of the street to sell to. We both got the top seller "cookie badges" for our girl scount uniforms.

We also each won the science fair in our respective grades..the year we won first place together she did arteriosclerosis, I did plate tectonics. Believe me, we did these projects alone. I actually thought that we won the award because our parents helped us with the "speech" you give to the judges--they asked us questions and we had to answer--as opposed to the quality of the exhibits. That, of course, was a long time ago...

 

[eclectics]

If selling on ebay is against GS rules, I think that if the higher 'powers that be' at the Girl Scouts informed ebay of their displeasure, ebay would probably pull all the cookie auctions and forbid sellers from posting new cookie listings. The request would, of course, have to come from the top people over at the GS.

 

[barkley]

ah the school science fair-i remember a "big stink" about this in jr. high. the rules were that the student had to take a concept or something learned in that years course to select and do their presentation on. the grand prize winner's project was something that NONE of the other students could even conceive what it delt with. when some of the judges commented that they had never seen even their college level students achieve such success with that concept (our school used judges from the local colleges) it was discovered that the concept was not something that would have remotely been introduced in even the high school honors science program in our district. the winning student had in no way cheated, but she had put allot of effort in researching the science projects she had seen at a sibling's college the prior year.

she retained her winning status but the next year it was stressed that the projects had to be in line with the curriculum being taught-and because of problems with parents doing the majority of the work all projects had to be completed within the confines of the classroom.

the projects may not have been as spectacular as in previous years, but at least they were grade level and done by the kids.

on cookie sales-my former employer ended up banning all types of fund raising sales in the workplace. said it took up too much time from work passing the things around, delivering (noone ever thought to deliver on their day off ). so about the only thing that got sold was girl scout cookies cuz someone would just let people know they were on the market and could be bought via a phone call at home, picked up before/after work from their trunk.

 

[Partridge4ever]

Cookie sales started for us yesterday. I should've have DD going door to door in our neighborhood today I guess. Last year we didn't and several neighbors commented later that they missed their cookies. What bothers me is the piddling little amount the troop gets for their sales...something like 15 cents a box! I'd rather make a donation to the troop than spend several afternoon sselling and then delivering. And yes the prizes are junk. We have them cluttering DD's bedroom from the 3 previous years. She's never used any of it, but she won't part w/them because she "earned" them. She did manage to get a nice shirt last year by selling at lots of booth sales.

 

[va32h]

If selling on ebay is against GS rules, I think that if the higher 'powers that be' at the Girl Scouts informed ebay of their displeasure, ebay would probably pull all the cookie auctions and forbid sellers from posting new cookie listings. The request would, of course, have to come from the top people over at the GS.

I don't know if GSUSA is a VeRO member (VeRO is the Verified Rights Owner program, which allows companies to establish rules about what can and can't be sold on ebay).

However, Ebay does not monitor listings themselves. They rely on other members to self-police. Any listing that is in violation of any of ebay's policies has to be reported by another member before ebay will act.

That is why you often see sellers violating all sorts of rules and still selling - no one has reported them yet.

 

[arminnie]

I love Girl Scout cookies, but we live at the top of a very steep hill so no one comes to the door.

When I try to buy them outside of one of the stores - they always are out of the good stuff and just have the yucky kinds that no one wanted.

 

[mickeyminnie]

I understand about wanting to donate money instead of having to sell cookies, I am a troop leader and I hate fundraising. I hate it for any organization and would much rather send a check to the troop. However if you sent a check to the troop then the council doesn't get their cut, which is important because that money is needed as well as on the troop level. Our council has properties that they own that the girls use for camps and so forth, scholarships, awards, salaries, etc. I wish the troop cut was bigger, trust me I spend a lot of my own money for the troop, I really wish the troop cut was bigger, but guess I understand why the council needs their cut too. If you sent a check to council and the troop that would be more fair, but well it does teach them something to fund raise and to realize that they need to raise funds to do certain activities.


ETA: The cheaters however, that makes my blood boil, really message does that send?

 

[eclectics]

I don't know if GSUSA is a VeRO member (VeRO is the Verified Rights Owner program, which allows companies to establish rules about what can and can't be sold on ebay).

However, Ebay does not monitor listings themselves. They rely on other members to self-police. Any listing that is in violation of any of ebay's policies has to be reported by another member before ebay will act.

That is why you often see sellers violating all sorts of rules and still selling - no one has reported them yet.

I've been selling on ebay for 6 years and was under the impression ebay had their own "police" force, as it where. Didn't know it was just other members on a hit or miss fashion. I once, unwittingly, had a auction that violated a copyright. It was pulled and the email I recieved was worded that made it quite clear it was ebay "staff" that noticed and pulled the auction.

 

[aprilgail2]

Last year we didn't and several neighbors commented later that they missed their cookies. What bothers me is the piddling little amount the troop gets for their sales...something like 15 cents a box! I'd rather make a donation to the troop than spend several afternoon sselling and then delivering. And yes the prizes are junk. We have them cluttering DD's bedroom from the 3 previous years. She's never used any of it, but she won't part w/them because she "earned" them. She did manage to get a nice shirt last year by selling at lots of booth sales.

Wow, our troop gets 50 cents a box for selling ours! So so far my daughter has earned 75.00 for the troop...I am already paying 60.00 dues for the year plus all the money for trips so I would rather sell the cookies than pay another 75-100 dollars for the year.
What bothers me is the members of the troop that sell 3 boxes while others sell 100 and yet they reap the same benefits as the kids/parents that tried to actually sell some. I don't think there is anything that is easier to sell than girl scout cookies...people ask all year when are we going to start because they want them...now those nuts were a pain in the butt to do since no one wanted them but we did manage to sell 75 of those.

 

[pyrxtc]

My DD is in her last year as a Brownie and I ahve brought it into my workplace and my Dh is brining it in tomorrow. We can really go door to door around here cuz those doors are miles away at some points and a lot are not great for traveling in the snowy months. We have booths at some local places and we sell boxes at the local small stores and we do great. if we did not bring it to work then our troop would not get to see anyone. We work with all of our neighbors so that helps. I would not sell on E-bay but e-mailing and phone cals are a wonderful way to get sales.

My DD get anywhere from 25-35 cents a box in the form of "cookie dough" which can only be used to buy things at the girls scout store which really means they spend the $50 they earn in "cookie dough" for $3 worht of stuff and the troop and council get to keep more money.

 

[Pop Daddy]

I dont know what this thread is about but I dont follow the rules

 

[georgina]

DD and I were out walking the neighborhood knocking on doors yesterday and today. She has over 150 boxes ordered. I have been going with her and my other DD before her for 10 years, and it is a great chance to catch up with the neighbors, meet new people who have moved in, pet all their dogs and cats. It wasn't too cold this year. Our troops get 60¢ a box profit, as well as the prizes. She is always the highest seller in her troop because she likes to sell them. I think the other kids' parents don't have the time or interest in chaperoning their kids through the neighborhood. We live in an older neighborhood without many kids; in some of the newer plans it is very competitive and a real problem if someone sells early. I haven't heard about selling on ebay, but I'm not surprised. Kids think it is OK to break the rules if that's what their parents teach them.