Girl Scout Leaders to Parents: Stop Selling Cookies
20.05.12
Who sold you your last batch of Thin Mints? Judging by the response to my frustrated tweet, I’m not the only one buying cookies from colleagues and friends who are distinctly not girls. We’ve restocked our annual supply of crispy, chocolate-coated, Girl Scout-branded disks annually for years now — and I can’t remember the last time either I or my husband was asked to buy a box of cookies by an actual Girl Scout.
You already know exactly how this happens. You’re sitting at your desk, or pushing your cart through the grocery store, thinking about spring, when a sheepish parent sidles up — and he’s not even wearing a Girl Scout uniform. The next thing you know, you’ve agreed to take delivery of three boxes of Trefoils. Which brings me to the important question: What percentage of Girl Scout cookies are actually sold by girls?
The Girl Scout cookie Web site’s FAQs isn’t specific on that point, but it’s clear girls are meant to sell 100 percent. This delegating of the cookie sales is not precisely kosher. “Girl Scout Cookies,” it declares, “can only be purchased from girls during cookie season. … Although parents and Girl Scout adults may assist girls, it is the girl who makes the sale … and learns the entrepreneurial skills that are part of the program.”
Source: New York Times (blog)