It's always easier to figure out later what you could have said. But if you had realised what was going on you might have kindly interrupted her with a joke about how many badges she has or -- I don't know -- said, I was going to donate 2 dollars but if one of these boys can give me a sales pitch I'll donate 5. These boys were probably shy and the lady didn't understand her role. Maybe she was pinch hitting for somebody.

I hear you Kitty. i was a Girl Scout leader for both my DD's. I handled many of the volunteer roles for the community, which included Community Cookie Chair.

My scouts went door to door (with supervision of course) and had to be able to explain each cookie, when they would be delivered etc. and we hand delivered all of the boxes. The one thing I didn't like was not we did not take money up front.

Before sale day, we role played being a customer and being a seller.

Fast forward, a few girls have come to my door, always with the mom staying down by the curb.

But, one year I gave a scout my order and when it was time to pick them up I got a telephone message stating that I would have to go into town to the shop that the mom owned and get my cookies. One of the sales people handled it!

We have a Boy Scout in the neighborhood and I bought popcorn many times. Much more expensive than buying GS cookies. The dad lets his son do the talking.

Nowadays, door to door is discouraged. Troops set up stands in front of supermarkets and train stations. (We did this too, but in addition to door to door.) I think they also encourage selling online. New world. Popularity of GS is fading.

I’ve also noticed in my area kids not being active in the selling process and mom’s, flipping thru iPhone, waiting for questions from prospects. BTW, didn’t like the popcorn, plan to just give them the $$ in the future.

bossy I am wondering if they will accept the $$. With GS cookie sellers in front of stores I gave up trying to donate because the girls would only accept money for the cookies. Probably there was some contest that the girls in that group wanted to win but the concept of money was apparently something they had not thought about.

If it had been me, I would have declined to buy anything.

I haven't had any kids come to my door for popcorn in several years. I sometimes see a Facebook post. I don't buy from those. If the kid asks, I will buy. My only exception to saying yes to the child was when my children were expected to sell the same items. I said no to those and explained that my child also had those to sell. Some people will go ahead and buy one anyway.

Curious??? in the OP there was a mention of asking for a military donation??? For what? Request just seems strange rather than a donation to the unit.

I still remember the excellent sales pitch we got from a neighbor's son shortly after we'd moved to this house. He was selling Christmas wreaths and poinsettia for the youth center here, so he was probably in 8th Grade. He was amazing! His parents had to have coached him!

The reason I remember him is because he was the ONLY good young 'salesman' I've ever had come to our door here in 18 years. I'm thinking about that song from West Side Story, about "What's the Matter with Kids Today?" (Doesn't anyone have *time* for them today?)

maifleur01 not sure just what a military donation was either. Guess I should of asked.

Why do they need to learn something from it? They were directed to spend their own time to raise money for their organization. If they were standing there, they were doing that. If I were there with them and they were Boy not Cub Scouts, I might make it a learning experience by suggesting they observe what each individual's reaction is to the request and then reflect about what that may or may not mean about the individual themself.

Selling boxes of popcorn isn't going to be a life changing experience.

IIRC a percentage is donated to the military, which is why it is so expensive. I don't recall being asked to just donate.

In my years, the cookie sales went directly to GS and the troops got their percentage.

GS do help other organizations, but it had to be vague. For example we volunteered for Guiding Eyes for the Blind, but when mentioned it was that we helped the blind population get a guide dog, We were not supposed to advertise other organizations per se.

Be impressed the boys are making the rounds. For the most part these days parents take their kids junk to work and peddle it there. Kids get prizes for selling the most so parents put a lot of effort into getting their forms filled up. LOL. My son sold pop corn back in the day. No military donation then, and it sounds odd now. I can only say the the raw pop corn is CRAP. Expensive and poor at popping. I am very glad I don't have to buy any any more. Now if the troop that sells Christmas wreaths wants to come by I would appreciate it!!!

My neighbor's son was a regional sales manager for the company that provides the popcorn to the scouts. I was astounded at how much money the company makes from these sales.

This clip is from the Atlanta BSA program and they seem to consider it a learning experience.

http://www.atlantabsa.org/support-bsa/product-sales/popcorn/56707

Why Sell Popcorn?

•
Scouts gain confidence, salesmanship and communication skills, and a
sense of accomplishment. The popcorn sale is not about selling popcorn,
it’s about promoting Scouting and the Scouting ideals!

•
Units have the ability to fund their entire year’s program through the
popcorn sale alone (45% of selling Units last year achieved this). We
have also changed the ordering guidelines and Units are allowed to order
by container and not by the full case (Take Order only). This reduces
the risk of having left over product at the end of the sale.

•
The popcorn sale helps the Council raise money for improving the summer
camp facilities/building new camp locations, offering more extensive
training for our volunteer leaders and members, and helping us get to
know and serve the needs of our volunteers and Units better.

How to Sell Popcorn

There
are three different ways to sell Popcorn as a unit. Show and sell is a
direct sale that takes place outside of a local business, where Scouts
interact directly with community members and encourage them to buy
popcorn. Take order is an order and fulfilment process that takes place
in your neighborhood, where Scouts go door-to-door and ask for popcorn
orders that are fulfilled at a later date. Online sales are also
available and can be used to raise funds for your unit no matter where
the customer is located.

The military donation is used to buy popcorn to members of the military. I'm not sure how they did it with our cub scouts. For girl scouts, we took the boxes of cookies to the local national guard base and left them to be distributed. The girls got a tour and were shown the F-16's. Some of the cookies and popcorn were probably sent overseas too.

Selling boxes of popcorn isn't going to be a life changing experience. - elmer j fudd

You can't and don't know that. Perhaps not for your own children but for others, who knows. Small steps of learning build onto larger experiences. I seldom publicly disagree with you elmer but in this case I will.

ETA - to add a word to make more sense

No problem, we can disagree.

The Scouts, Boys and Girls, are in decline membership and funding wise. They've never been particularly popular in my area. Many kids give it a try and then quit. In today's era of peer pressure, it's often viewed as not a cool thing to do for kids older than elementary school age. If the starting age is preteen and kids drop out in numbers (which I know they do, I and my friends did after a year when in 7th grade), that means little of the experience is ultimately positive or influential, popcorn sales included.

When my kids were growing up, none of their friends were in scouts. I've mentioned before some little girls and a parent who've knocked at my door over the years. I'm generous with them for their effort but they're a rarity.

My view and my own experiences, of course.

I enjoy chatting to the kids selling their cookies and popcorn. I always ask them "tell me about your products," "which one is your favorite?" "which one do you recommend I buy?"

Sometimes the kids are shy, but asking them to tell me about their cookies, popcorn, etc, they always tend to get excited. A grown-up wants to know their opinion, and is actively listening to them.

Sometimes after they tell me which one I should buy, I hand them the money and take the box. Sometimes I hand back the box and tell them they can sell it to someone else, and make twice as much $$.

You can just donate directly to tha clubs...they get to keep 100% instead of the 50% that they have to give to popcorn distributors...,that is what I do for all fundraisers because I rarely need what they sell.

If the military benefits from those donations, that is wonderful.

it kinda bothered me when patents brought products to work to sell them for their kids.

"it kinda bothered me when patents brought products to work to sell them for their kids."

Me too, I agree depending on who and what. Being that I was one of the "bosses", I felt it would be very wrong for me to do so, to avoid anyone feeling obligated to contribute because it was me. My kids' fund raisers were usually school related but that didn't matter , I wanted to avoid anything that resembled an imposition or arm-twisting. But when lower level people in the organization did so, or came to me directly to ask me for a contribution, I always gave generously.

For Girl Scouts, Elmer, yes it was SUPPPOSED to be. Badges were earned from the various components. But yes, there were troops that only had the mom and or dad bring the list to the office. Of course they sold more and for those girls going door to door it became an issue. Badges reflected how much you sold. But, when I explained that we all benefited from the profits it helped ease the tension. (A learning experience here too!)

With my scouts all parts of the selling became a learning experience. As the girls grew older they were able to handle more and more responsibilities, again skill s and learning building on each other.

The scout just standing there with the mom speaking was doing the minimum.

You, also can learn by observation. I don't remember ever starting a job where I didn't have to observe some task. I don't get any kids selling stuff where I live now, but at my last house I did. Even if my kids were selling the same stuff, as long as it was reasonable like candy bars, etc I would buy it. I had a table by the front door with a stack of dollar bills in it for that and for the kids lunch money. Most of that stuff though I bought from coworkers selling it for their kids. I remember years ago my husband came home from work fuming. He bought several boxes of girl scout cookies for years and years from a older coworker when the coworkers girls were in scouts. When our daughter came of age for girl scouts he took in the order form and the same coworker said "no don't want any. We don't eat that stuff". Sure he didn't. He was as wide as he was tall. Just cheap.

Great way to handle it, Sephia!

We have also had a kid at the door this week, and there were boys selling popcorn in front of a coffee shop this morning.

In my mind, it might not be a life changing experience, but what a great way to learn! As parents, we never looked forward to this kind of thing, but it really is a great way for kids to learn important life skills. They can learn to organize their thoughts and figure out what they're going to say, tell who they are and what their mission/goal is, gain experience speaking with adults they don't know, and be gracious whether someone buys something or not. All great life skills we want our kids to have.

Well, the one thing they might learn is how to make change. That is the only take-away for me from my years of selling GS cookies, but it's an important one. When I see store clerks trying to make change without a clue how to count it back, I'm pretty sure they never sold cookies or popcorn as a child. Not sure if all is handled in cash these days. Maybe making change is going to be a lost/unneeded skill before long, when no one carries cash anymore.

Anyone else sell packs of flower seeds when you were a kid? I think I did that for a couple years, taking my little brother around the neighborhood and down the country roads with me. I don't even remember what company it was, but you got this small box and inside packs of flower seeds. Somehow you earned points for gifts, not very expensive ones if I remember right.

My brother and I also went door to door selling acorn squash - $.10 per squash. What I remember most is the people who would come to the door, say "No thank you!" and shut the door in our faces.

Actually the whole selling things door to door has fond memories for me. Today would I let my kids do it? Probably not. If they insisted I'd walk with them.

If the Den Mother was there, that was a Cub Scout, not a Boy Scout: different age group.

To me, the bigger problem is how horrible that popcorn tastes!

I think it's very important for the kids (whether it's Girl Scouts or Boy Scouts) do the "selling" - it DOES certainly teach them important things, not the least of which is to speak confidently and nicely and to SMILE. Yesterday I complimented a Scout on his cheerful approach.

But I also fully agree with ratherbesewing - that popcorn is terrible! I buy it to support the kids (and to reward their efforts) but I don't eat it.

Schoolhouse, I sold seeds! I had forgotten all about that.

Schoolhouse, I find it difficult to say no to a child. Even when I was immersed in GS cookies, I still bought a box or two if someone came to the door.

Same with the kids trying to sell candy outside of the supermarket.

I am starting to just donate money instead of food items for the drives that seem to be almost weekly in the fall and the winter at the entrance of the markets.

Bluebell, do you remember the company that we sold seeds for? I really can't remember much about the money either. I think we collected it and sent it to the company but how were we rewarded? Wasn't there a brochure with cheesy gifts we could choose depending upon how many packs we sold. Then the remainder packs you had to send back.

For some reason I mostly recall the pretty pictures on the zinnia packs and the forget-me-nots. : )

ETA: I think I recall something else now. They weren't all cheesy gifts like I mentioned. Seems to me that is how I got my first little reel-to-reel tape recorder! lol

It would have been better for the scouts to present the popcorn. Kids need these experiences, even though they seem small. It’s hard to grow when parents run interference too much. But at least they had a parent active and interested to support their membership in scouting.

One more comment and then I'm done. It was just so much fun remembering. I Googled and found this image on a discussion board where others were talking about selling seeds and greeting cards in the 1960's too.

Pre-seeds there was Grit and some other things that kids sold to earn prizes. My dad could never pass up the tube guns at auctions that was one of the prizes. They were 22 caliber and the body was made by a series of tubes. Some welded others had connectors that joined the parts. Several people must have worked really hard to earn those guns. Not something that would be allowed now but at that time started 1882 a boy with a gun could supply a family with food.

The military donation is to send popcorn to troops overseas. The girl scouts do the same thing with cookies.

I have a bit of a different story. As I was entering a store yesterday the two boy scouts selling popcorn greeted me and opened the door for me to enter the store. As I left they again opened the door and politely asked if I would like to buy popcorn. I was so impressed with their manners I donated money but declined to buy popcorn.

Yes, the popcorn isn't that good. Our overseas military deserves better than that popcorn.

I like the popcorn-- the kind you pop anyway.

My son was a Boy Scout, and yes he sold popcorn. Now my grandson, 7 yrs, just completed Cub Scouts and has moved to a Wolf Cub. His den sells at the mall. DGS and his best friend have been the only 2 that have been selling this weekend. They also open doors and and have been taught to ask, politely, about purchasing popcorn. Many decline. I have to say, my grandson never loses heart or his smile. He thanks the person and also adds "I hope you have a good day!"

Several people have commented how polite he is as well as his den mates.

He may not be able to count change, but he IS learning how to interact with people in a mannerly fashion.

I never buy the cookies anymore because they are always hydrogenated. And not that great. Probably both are true of the popcorn as well.

If some shark companies are who they buy from they should find some other way to raise money. For instance it seems the involved companies might be able to donate the products and then write them off, that they instead are using the scouts as a cash cow is not impressive.

What I encounter at supermarket entrances here also is little kids that seem too young or inexperienced for it attended by parents that are there to make sure transactions are completed. As in attempting to converse with a child calling out to me as I walk up is likely to quickly lead to speaking with the adult instead. Sometimes the children shrink or recoil when answered as though no preparation for them carrying through on their own has been made at all.

Schoolhouse, I can’t remember. It was probably 1975ish and I may have learned about the sales opportunity from comic books. I don’t remember if there were prizes or what I did with the money. I’ll have to ask my parents what they recall about it.

I won't buy products from adults that kids are meant to be selling. Yes, it can be hard and some kids are shy and very nervous about speaking to adults.

Here's the thing though, learning to ASK for something (support, donation, a raise at work, etc) is a very good skill to learn.

Learning to handle rejection and still try again is also a very useful skill.

A child whose parent is doing all the selling is learning that they can sit back and let someone else do the work and then they get the credit. They are learning that if something is hard, mom and dad will just do it for me.

It doesn't teach them a good work ethic, it doesn't teach them personal responsibility and it doesn't teach them good interpersonal skills, all things that they SHOULD know in order to go out and be productive members of society.

I never buy the cookies anymore because they are always hydrogenated.

Actually the reason most cookies today taste stale right out of the box is because trans fats have been mostly removed due to over regulating by the nanny state government has become. Trans fats (the hydrogenated you reference) were what gave baked goods that tender crumb and buttery taste and mouth feel. Now most may as well be dog biscuits. Ditto for pastries, crackers and the like. Manufacturers are trying to come up with alternatives but so far they hasn't been all that successful.

DH and I were heavily involved in both Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts. I mean we wore a lot of hats. Invested a lot of time and energy and personal funds. Toward the end of our service we saw the dark side creeping in. Popcorn sales weren't a thing yet back then, thank goodness. But it doesn't surprise me. For these overpaid paid administration top heavy organizations to call themselves non profit is a joke. These kids are being used to make money for the organization. Little benefit gets back to them. Zero benefit goes to the kids who worker harder than others. Socialism at work. LOL

Watchme, I agree. It seems ridiculous that a cookie should be healthy. It's a dessert for crying out loud. A treat!

I have to agree about the idea that treats should always be healthful. If you eat a healthy diet something fat and sugary occasionally will not harm you. With all of the do's and don't of what you should be eating it is hard to know what is or is not "healthy". I used to bake things and collected many cookbooks of all kinds. One of the things I started noticing was that in many of the recipes cookies of all kinds had notations that they would only keep for a couple of days. I remember cookies that would be better after they had set for a month to mellow.

I used to be involved with several social service groups for young adults not kids. We did enjoy ourselves too much after the activities but part of doing the activities was having a sense of accomplishment. Of perhaps doing some good. Most of the groups for younger than we were have always seemed not to be that way but were to establish who was better than everyone and were seldom to do good for others. Then the idea of giving everyone a trophy started. We sort of had trophies. If you worked every day or night on a project you received a t-shirt.

I agree Maifleur.

I have a lot of old recipes that called for shortening that are useless today. Cookies today have to be eaten right away or frozen.

Cake decorators who aren't into fondant (ugh) are going crazy trying to come up with a tasty buttercream icing that doesn't slip in the mildest heat. A friend recently had the catastrophe of a lovely wedding cake he had properly supported and stacked slipping into a facsimile of the leaning tower of Pisa shortly after being set on the outdoor table on a mild summer day. Fortunately the bride was a friend with a good sense of humor.