Girl Scout Cookie Sales Are Down, And Some Jerk Is Paying With Fake Money
Delicious though they may be, Girl Scout Cookies are not recession-proof. Sales are down by as much as half according to one troop leader.
"The Girl Scouts are not immune to the economy," said Sharon Bellinger, spokeswoman for the Girl Scouts of Connecticut.
As if that weren't enough to deal with, some jerk in Washington state is buying Girl Scout cookies with fake $20 bills. One troop is out $100.
"I went to the bank, right inside Safeway, and she told me two of the $20s were fake," said Gettings.
Gettings quickly left, returning with a counterfeit detecting pen. Its mark shows yellow on real U.S. currency, but the mark turns black on fake money. She discovered an additional $60 in fake bills.
That brought the total to $100 Troop 40411 may make up themselves. Two of the bills even had the same serial number. Troop 40411 isn't alone; others around Bremerton invested in the pen.
"Another troop has come to buy them because they noticed they were getting fake money," said Gettings. She said they're being told to stop accepting $20 bills unless they use the pen.
So evil!
Fake money used to buy Girl Scout cookies [MSNBC]
This is How the Cookie Crumbles [MSNBC]
(Photo:DeJay!)
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Comments:
I make my own cookies. Sorry ladies.
From what I have heard from several troop leaders, in a lot of cases the parents are pushing the cookies, not the kids. It's the same dynamic as the giftwrap-selling shills that they seem to put out for school "fundraising" during the fall and winter. The school or program sets a minimum that each child must sell. In rural areas like the one I grew up in, this has a major impact on the economy when there are 100 kids pushing overpriced wrapping paper and 3/4 of the households are on government assistance. I don't think GS has a minimum (do they? I dunno, I got booted out after 2 months for bringing in snakes to the meetings) but it's a shame they're getting hit. With a limited number of people to sell to and many scouts/multiple troops in the same territory, it makes sense.
I did my duty though. 2 boxes of Samoas, 1 of those peanut butter whatever thingies, and a box donated to the troops. I will hoard the emergency Samoas until they are stale and chewy, but will eat them anyway in 9 months when I'm craving Girl Scouty goodness.
Did anyone eat any Girl Scout cookies last year? They were horrible. Thin Mints were horrible and my once favorite food in the work Samoas were mediocre at best. I didn't buy any this year because of that. I think the eliminated the yummy yummy trans-fats or something like that. That's why sales are down.
I love Thin Mints just as much as anyone, but this season it seems like they are selling them EVERYWHERE just waiting to pounce - the gas stations, grocery stores, movie theaters. Enough already!
At least no one tried paying with a drawing of a spider.
@ezmobee: I noticed that too. I think you're right, the website now says they eliminated trans fats.
She said they're being told to stop accepting $20 bills unless they use the pen.
The pen is of limited value - google and youtube searches will tell you why.
Sorry Girl Scouts, I haven't bought any cookies since you got rid of the sugar cookies (Tea Lights or something, was that the name?). I bought those by the case and froze them so I had them all year. A lesson in business for you - if you discontinue a product, you will lose some customers.
Those pens don't detect every counterfeit. For instance, if a criminal washes a $1 bill and prints a $20 bill over it the pen still thinks it's legit. It might be a good idea for troop leaders to teach the girls about watermarks and other security devices. Not only would it be useful in cookie sales, but it's a good life lesson in general.
@h3llc4t: If a kid comes up to me, I will buy it. If Mom or Dad comes at me in the office, I won't. I always sold them myself as much and as I begged my dad to take the flyer to work, he wouldn't.
$3.50 is expensive, but those caramel delights are so worth it.
@am84: I hate it when they sell them in the office. So now I have 3 women all trying get me to buy cookies from their girls. At the very least they could have divided up who they would ask.
I'm one of the parents "pushing" cookies :) although I am low key about it. I just leave the sheet on a table and who ever wants them buys them, and I won't ask anyone other than family. Just this week we got another gertrude hawk pamphlet from school. They want us to sell overpriced candy and junk. I didn't read it to see if there is a minimum that we have to sell, but if there is, to bad. I don't push it on anyone, and won't lose any sleep when we don't sell what they want. What are they going to do if we don't?
I think people are having a hard time paying 3.00 or 3.50 a box, the price keeps going up but the size of the box of cookies keeps shrinking. Those boxes are incredibly small for the price. The grocery shrink ray has hit girl scout cookies as well.
Girl scout cookies used to be a good value, they cost the same as a box of cookies in a store, and you got the same amount of cookies, so there was an incentive to buy them, now since they aren't such a good value, people are cutting back on them.
60% of the people in my county are on government assistance, with numbers steadily rising. Most people here can barely afford to feed their families and put clothes on their child's back. These people likely don't even have $3.50 of cash in their pockets since they are living off EBT cards.
I would prefer to just make a donation to the girl scouts instead of buy the cookies, they get more money that way, instead of giving some of it to the people who produce the cookies and some of it to the girl scouts.
I'd buy some cookies if they'd come to my freakin' house. Jeez. Where have all the Girl Scouts gone?
@calquist:
That seems kind of silly. I have tons of friends at college who aren't Girl Scouts but people BEG them to sell cookies here for their older brothers and sisters. Otherwise we wouldn't get any.
If you would rather put the money directly into the hands of the kids, then do so. But don't treat the situation like a bunch of soul sucking parents doing all the work for their kids or something.
Anyway, I think having mom take the flyer to work (if the kid asks) teaches the value of networkings kills! ;)
Anyone who rips off organizations like the girls and boys scouts is a complete scum. These are the same people that rip off the elderly as well. Sad.
@Canino:
I just did a Google search on the counterfeit pen. I could swear I've seen black marks atop reams of paper. I wonder...
Anyway, the pen is better than nothing. Even better would be an anti-fraud Girl Scout badge where they FBI train the girl scout to detect fraudulent bills and thieves!
@am84: i drove by walmart on my way to the grocery store, and noticed girl scouts out front selling cookies. when i drove by again on my way out of the shopping center, there was a police car there, and they were packing up.
methinks walmart caled the cops on them for loitering or solicitation
@Fujikopez: A while back they decided it wasn't safe sending them door to door anymore, so now they send home the sign up sheet, but they also set up cash and carry outside of stores and occasionally in office lobbies.
I haven't bought any this year because I just can't afford overpriced cookies. I know the point's to raise money for them and not to sell cookies, but over the year's it's become less of a value for the money. I don't recall those ridiculous paper poppies the other groups sell getting any smaller.
@biikman: that isn't really pushing.
pushing is when my neighbor comes to my door, sans girl scout, to ask me to buy cookies.
@am84: Yes they ARE everywhere. Outside Starbucks was the most annoying. I go there for peace and instead I have to watch little girls dancing and staring into the store, and had to plot my escape when they weren't looking.
My favorites were the chocolate covered peanut butter cookies.
Girl Scout Cookies are great, but what I don't like is that there are two different bakers for the cookies, one is better than the other and they have some different cookies. For the record Little Brownie's Tagalongs are better than ABC Bakeries Peanut Butter Patties.
Even sociopaths like Thin Mints.
$4 a box where I live. Very hard to justify, recession or no recession.
@Gstein: Wow. They're inside the grocery store here, so it's pretty clear it's a permitted use. I wonder if somebody just forgot the all-important "asking" step.
I love the Samoas and Thin Mints. But I don't like having to sneak in and out of Safeway by skirting long the propane tanks and firewood in order to avoid being accosted by screaming kids.
That stinks that the troops got stuck with counterfeit bills.
The person who paid them might not even realize they were counterfeit, though. It's not unheard of to get phony bills passed to you as change in stores & restaurants. The recipient would just pass it along without ever knowing.
The Girl Scouts aren't allowed to sell door-to-door any more. Safety issues - too many weirdos out there.
So now they only sell to friends & family (people they know) plus Moms and Dads can take orders at work, if it's allowed by their companies.
Because of these restrictions many troops can't meet their quota, so they sell cookies in groups at the malls and shopping centers. When you buy a $3.50 box of cookies, you are supporting both the local and national Girl Scout organizations. AND you get to eat some great cookies. :-)
Well the price keeps going up while the quantity is reduced, so I don't feel too bad for them when I spend my hard-earned dollars elsewhere.
It is annoying how these moms and their kids seem to be EVERYWHERE though. It kind of reminds me of being deployed in Africa. While on patrol mothers would come up to us and beg for food or money while gesturing toward their children, trying their damndest to guilt-trip us into giving them something.
Now whenever I go to the grocery store and see their table set up, I just take my phone out and hold it up to my ear like I'm in a conversation - they'll never bother you if it appears you're busy. I do this because I do feel like an ass for not buying their cookies, even though I know I shouldn't.
@lalaland13: so instead of going inside to save a dollar they are stealing a box of cookies and $16.50 for each transaction. Quite a brilliant way to launder fake bills if you ask me.
@biikman: @Gstein: Yeah. Big difference as well between bringing in a signup sheet and circulating guilt trip emails in an office setting. One of the cafe workers in my office just puts the sheet out once a year and I buy from her. The super mommies three rows over who urge me to "help out and buy just one box, because isn't making sure these great kids can go along with the rest of their troop and be a part of the fun worth the same amount you pay for your lunch each day?". Sure it is, but it's not worth encouraging that crap. HATE.
@lalaland13: As a former GS troop leader, I can tell you the money does get put to good use. Our troop was able to pay for many of the outings we used to take the girls on without having to ask parents to pony up extra money. Given that the girls and their families already have to pay uniform costs, dues, and whatnot, being able to ease that financial burden even just a bit was a big help, particularly in the rural area I live in.
I'd like to think that most people who shell out the extra money for a box of GS cookies do so because they know that anything they buy does actually help the troops. OTOH, they might be like me and just have a serious Thin Mint addiction they can't get over.
Isn't LEGAL U.S. currency pretty close to being "fake money" at this point?
Yeah but we're all still "guilted" in to buying them - to the point of pretending to be distracted.
When I hear them coming down the hall at WORK I do the same thing, or run and hide.
I bought some boxes from co-workers I know - because I like the cookies and like to help. But I draw the line and random co-workers I don't know.
too bad my office doesn't have a secret trap door exit...
@h3llc4t:
Interesting, since my Thin Mints and Do-Si-Dos (Peanut butter sandwich cookies) have partially hydrogenated palm kernel, cottonseed, and soy oil in them.
@h3llc4t: They freeze amazingly well. I was a Girl Scout for ten years. My parents always refused to take the order form in to work, and going door-to-door never worked out because someone had always just bought some from their niece. So my parents started ordering large amounts and storing them in the freezer we had out in the garage, to sell them later in the year when people were jonesing.
In my day, the money went to the troop. There was no minimum selling limit. These days the girls apparently get prizes for different selling tiers. I think that's a pretty crappy incentive, but then again I'm not sure if troops still charge dues or not.
Maybe the GS should take a course on basic pricing models (or get a copy of Managerial Econ from the local library) - at a certain point your customer base is not going to be willing to pay more money for fewer cookies. I don't care that you season your cookie sheets with crack (that HAS to be why they're so addictive). When I was in Girl Scouts the boxes were $1.50 and you got far more cookies to a box (and they were larger cookies). I could sell 400 boxes easy. Now, as much as I crave the darn things year round I just can't justify $3.50 for 10 tiny cookies. Maybe if they make "cookie pricing" a patch they could get the girls to help them figure out a better system...
@Boulderite: They cover this under their FAQ (I was confused as well):
[www.girlscouts.org]
"Girl Scouts of the USA is proud to announce that all Girl Scout cookies are now "zero trans fat per serving" with the same great taste that has made them one of America's favorite treats over the years."
So I'm not sure what's up with the partial hydrogenation action.
@scoobydoo:
They are $3.50 or $3.75 here in Colorado, my Mom is in Ohio and they are $3.00 a box! WTH!
I guess I don't understand the animosity. If they were trying to hawk overpriced cookies all year round, and it was a constant nuisance, then okay. But it's once a year. They don't try to sell anything else. And they're pretty transparent about where the money goes: part to pay for the cost of making the cookies, part to the local Girl Scout Council, the rest to the troop. They also were up front this year about admitting the size of the box has shrunk due to costs. There's no scam involved here.
My sisters were in GS, and the best year was the one when my mom was the "cookie mom." Every couple of days I'd toss the $1.50 in the big box and polish off a box of TMs. Like everybody else is talking about, the GSR has put me off of them. I'm sure costs have risen, but I don't think they have more than doubled (tripled when you count the smaller box).
Another way to make more? A troop needs to give the finger to GS HQ and start accepting credit cards. Supposedly HQ won't let them do it. But, the first one near me to accept them will get my theoretical business. Too many panhandlers + too much crime = I keep no cash in my wallet.
I certainly hope that the bank did some other due diligence on the "fake" money than just use the pen. Experience bank officers don't use the pen to detect fake notes. The pen is filled with iodine which turns black in the presence of starch. Most paper has starch in it so when a fake note is printed on regular paper, the pen will make a mark that will turn black. However you can take regular notes and spray them with starch or dip them in starch (or even rub them with a cut potato) and they will come up as fake, but the bills are actually real.
-Matt
I usually just say, "Not today girls, sorry" and walk along. Although, as a mid-twenties guy, the girls are afraid of me or something, so I only get asked about 1/3 of the time. Yesterday, when I said, "Not today, sorry." one of the girls replied, "have a nice day!"
I think the main thing I pulled from working retail for a while is that if you are nice, most people will be nice back, even if there's rejection afoot.
The cookies are amazing, but maybe people have trouble justifying spending $3.50 when they can go to the grocery store and get cookies for a dollar less. I would kill for some Tagalongs right now, though.