The
The 109-year-old organization says the coronavirus — not thinner demand for Thin Mints — is the main culprit. As the pandemic wore into the spring selling season, many troops nixed their traditional cookie booths for safety reasons.
“This is unfortunate, but given this is a girl-driven program and the majority of cookies are sold in-person, it was to be expected,” said
The impact will be felt by local councils and troops, who depend on the cookie sales to fund programming, travel, camps and other activities. The
Latham said troops in her area sold 805,000 boxes of cookies last year; this year, they sold just under 600,000. That shortfall means the council may not be able to invest in infrastructure improvements at its camps or fill some staff positions, she said.
The council is now encouraging people to buy boxes online through its Hometown Heroes program, which distributes cookies to health care workers, firefighters and others. It also organized one-day sales with organizations like the New Mexico United soccer team, to whittle the total down further.
Parisi said
By early spring, when troops usually set up booths to sell cookies in person,
As a result, around 15 million boxes of cookies were left over as the cookie season wound down. Most — around 12 million boxes — remain with the two bakers,
It’s unclear how much of a financial hit the
But the glut of cookies has laid bare some simmering issues within the Girl Scouts’ ranks. Some local leaders say this year’s slower sales should have been better predicted because falling membership was threatening cookie sales even before the pandemic began. Around 1.7 million girls were enrolled in
“Without girls, there is no cookie program. Unfortunately, it took a global pandemic to bring all the problems to the surface,” said
Clark and some other local leaders were able to avert a cookie stockpile because they calculated their own sales projections instead of relying on guidance from the national office. Clark believes a new technology platform adopted by the
Parisi acknowledged that membership fell during the pandemic as troops struggled to figure out ways to meet safely. But those numbers are already rebounding, she said.
There were other reasons for the declining sales. Some local leaders say they might have sold cookies this year but chose not to because of an
“We want to sell cookies. It’s part of our thing. But this is putting kind of a damper on it,” said Verdibello, whose troop has continued to fund activities with donations from people who heard about their boycott.
Parisi said such boycotts weren’t widespread. But she said the
In the end, local councils won’t be held financially responsible for the 12 million boxes that remain at the two bakers. Little Brownie Bakers and ABC Bakers said they are working with the
Parisi said bakers and councils have occasionally dealt with excess inventory before because of weather events like ice storms or tornadoes. But this level is unprecedented.
She said some pivots, like the partnership with
“Girl Scout cookie season isn’t just when you get to buy cookies,” she said. “It’s interacting with the girls. It's Americana.”
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