Selling Girl Scout Cookies Online
March 12, 2009 by Cherie Burbach
Filed under Home & Living
When I was a Girl Scout (about 30 years ago), I’ll admit that I hated selling cookies. I was extremely shy and hated going door-to-door. My mother hovered behind me in the car, but otherwise it was me standing by myself giving the “sales spiel” at each door I knocked on.
One time, I ended up knocking the door on a dentist who lectured me on reasons why sweets were bad for people. He wouldn’t buy a box of cookies from me, choosing instead to give me a toothbrush. My mother waited in the car the entire time the guy talked to me and even had me stand in his entryway. I kept looking back to the car, scared at the prospect of being in a stranger’s house, while my mother sang along to the car radio, oblivious.
That’s one reason I read this story with interest. One little girl set up a way to advertise and take orders online. This would seem like a great business strategy, but some parents argued about the safety of this approach. Others thought this wasn’t fair to the girls that weren’t selling online.
At the time I sold cookies, there was a big debate about whether kids should allow their parents to take sell sheets into work. I guess there’s always a debate about fairness when it comes to selling.
The other debate about safety is another of interest. I never thought going door-to-door was very safe, but is the Internet any safer?
What are your thoughts?
Image: istockphoto
I have thought about this actually with my kids fundraisers. But it is a big safety concern for me as well. Going door to door in your neighborhood is one thing especially since more parents are there keeping a watchful eye on the kids but fundraising online there is no watchful eye.
If this is something that schools or other organizations want to implement for kids I think each kid should get an id number and use that id number to get sales credited to your name that way no personal information is given about the child.
As a GS leader (with 2 troops), I found this to be quite interesting. Mostly the fact that online selling is against all GS rules that I was given (along with e-bay or craigslist). Even more interesting however is that GSUSA doesn’t do anything about it- I guess if they’re getting the money it doesn’t matter? 2 of my moms were talking about this today- they were not impressed. What does it teach a girl when daddy creates a website for her to sell cookies? I take both of my daughters around the neighborhood, to school and church. Daddy takes the sheet to the office and they deliver there. They may not be setting sales records, but they can take pride in their efforts and have learned to speak confidently. I see that as a positive thing. Our school does what Christie suggested with the online id but we only approach family with that. To me GS cookies are different.
oh and btw- I can empathize with your dentist story- when I was selling many years ago, a neighbor told me that she would never buy GS cookies because the GS supported abortion. I was 8 years old and didn’t have a clue what she was talking about- only that she then slammed the door in my face. There’s always one I guess.
When I was a Brownie leader a few years ago, we were *specifically forbidden* from selling cookies online, or outside of our territory. For some girls, the number of cookies sold determines whether they can go to camp or not, so any sort of outside competition is considered unfair.
Even if it were permitted, I think selling online would have a huge risk of girls being bombarded with the online equivalent of obscene phone calls. It also has the potential to provide too much information about vulnerable kids to strangers, plus whatever might happen when cookies were being delivered.
This is a college town, and some troops of the older girls had an unconventional, but very successful strategy. They would visit fraternities (with some large dads and brothers along), and sell door to door there. They arranged to be paid up front, rather than on delivery, and safely sold LOTS of boxes that way.
Well, this was her idea, not her Dad’s and I think she should be rewarded for her creative use of technology that EVERYONE in today’s world is using. She upped the ante and good for her. She is very enterprising and I would think this is just the kind of thing GS would encourage. My son is in Cub Scouts and the BSA has a system set up to do just this kind of thing. It was great for my family who lives far away because they could support my son and were willing to pay a little extra for shipping.
I wish I had known about this because no GS have tried to sell me cookies for years and I LOVE them.