I ordered mine online and paid a $6 shipping fee.

Oh man. I LOVE the Samoa cookies! SO is a Do-si-do man. I hate to mention this, but keebler makes cookies that are as good if not better than the samoas. But I always buy them from whatever girl scout group i stumble across to support the little ones. They usually set up outside the grocery store that is closest to my house. I'll get the do si does to put in the freezer for SO, and a bunch of different ones and set them out for the truck drivers that come through at work.

I received my Do-si-do's from the girl scout down the street yesterday. I have a standing order every year; I have loved them since I sold them.

As a former GS leader for both my DD’s I can never refuse a scout selling cookies.

We always had to take orders first then go back and deliver.

Nowadays I am lucky if I happen to be at the Stop and Shop when they are selling outside.

My son in law gave me a box of Tre Foils and a box of Tag A Longs. I still have Savannah Smiles in my freezer!

Sue

They don't go door to door much anymore as far as I know. I always bought them from an acquaintance's daughter, but since she's no longer in Scouts, I haven't gotten any as I don't know where they are available.

Thin Mints for me! I don’t dare have them around, though. I bought four boxes for the troops online from my niece. Helped the Scouts, helped the troops, helped my hips.

I don't know about how the cookie campaign is run but there are two neighborhood girls who in recent years have come to our door. They know we'll buy cookies from them. They come at different times, not together and typically in late afternoon or on a weekend day. And typically with a parent (whom we know) waiting at the end of the driveway. Perhaps they're in the same local group, no matter.

We bought a box of the peanut butter cookies last weekend outside a sporting goods store. There was one little girl with, I assume, her mother. Tried to ration them but that didn’t work out too well.

PASS on the GSA cookies. Just not that into them.

DH buys a case of GS cookies from each of our 2 grands in scouts. But with the caveat that that he will never see them! They get donated.

When I see them selling them at the store I all ways buy a box and tell them to donate the cookies.

Way back in the dinosaur ages when I was a Girl Scout, we took orders and then delivered a few weeks later. I happened to call on a neighbor when she was drunk, and she bought 48 boxes of cookies. I was so worried that she wouldn't remember, but whether or not she did, she accepted them. I sold the most cookies in my troop that year.

I love the Caramel Delights and the Peanut Butter Patties! I purchased from a colleagues child.

If a Girl Scout showed up at my door right now, she would hit the jackpot! I'm having a huge sweet tooth. The last time one did come to my door was about five years ago.

My neighbor kid showed up yesterday and we bought four boxes. Dd bought one too. While we were buying them, another two little girls started coming up the street. The younger one looked like she was about to start crying so after my girl scout left, we intercepted the other two and I bought a box from each. I put most of the boxes in the freezer because I had already started baking a batch of cookies before they had come to the door.

Jupidup, your story reminds me when when my DD’s took orders from the teenagers that answered. The moms would be surprised when we came back with the order and for the money.

This is why each customer signs the order sheet.

Really, not sure what they cost now but even when they were $3 a box you were a big sport if you bought more than two boxes.

We have neighbors that are Boy Scouts and we get two items and it’s $50, but the profits also go to soldiers.

I buy mine from my Grand -- but she's in Minnesota so we send those boxes to the troops. If anyone comes to my door, I will buy from them and generously. I don't buy from the scouts outside of Wal Mart because I've spent my "wad" with my Grand.

Our girl scouts set up in front of the local grocery store to sell their cookies. When I worked at an elementary school, I used to buy the from the girls who attended my school, but now that I'm retired I no longer do. I honestly don't think the cookies are that good and definitely not worth the calories especially when there are other foods that I love and could eat instead.

Rather than buy cookies, I always give a $5 donation when I go into the store and sometimes another $5 when I come out. Those girls get me coming and going!

I agree with Dawn. The cookies aren't that good but we do make a donation. The GS set up in front of stores and go door to door here.

Back in the dawn of time when I was a Brownie and later a Girl Scout, we only sold them door to door. They had cardboard cartons with handles for easy transport, although I do remember using a wagon :-) And I only remember a single flavor - a trefoil shaped shortbread, the trefoil being the GS symbol. According to the GS website and their history of the cookies, they also had a vanilla filled sandwich type and a chocolate mint but for the life of me, I do not remember them at all!!

And the shortbread was more of a butter cookie - quite moist and melt in your mouth good. Not the same recipe now.

I don't buy them. There are very few store-bought or not homemade cookies I consider worth eating or spending money on. But I do often offer a cash donation to the program.

We still will buy the Samoas or Carmel Delights.

And the shortbread was more of a butter cookie - quite moist and melt in your mouth good. Not the same recipe now.

I agree, I still buy the shortbreads to support the Girl Scouts but they are ordinary, not the delicious cookie I remember which is sad.

Not surprising that the boxes have gotten much smaller, too.

It's a fund raiser. If they kept the box the same price and size, they'd make less money. If they kept the same size and raised the price, they'd sell fewer boxes. If it's true the boxes are smaller, they did that to keep the price down.

If you were in charge of the Girl Scout cookie program, which of the three choices would you pick?

I was told by a leader that because of safety reasons, they discourage the girls from going from door to door anymore . It is so sad that our country has come to this.

phoggie, I suspect they disseminate that suggestion as a blanket precaution to avoid blow-back (and liability) should anything unfortunate happen.

I believe back when I was a Cub Scout (I think) selling something that it was obvious even to me as a little kid what neighborhoods to go to and which to avoid. An easy cut to make - which streets felt more normal and safe to walk down and which ones seemed better to avoid.

And we did so accompanied by a parent who kept us in sight. I'm not sure much has changed, common sense is common sense. If anything, what has changed is the proliferation of injury lawyers willing to sue anyone for anything (for a contingent fee that can add up to a lot of money, for the lawyers).

Sales are wrapping up here this week. I ordered from our 7 year old grand who is brand new to scouting this year - did it all online. They will deliver our cookies so we didn't have to pay the shipping fee. Paid by cc too. Very high tech from back in the 90's when I was a scout leader. We had a very vibrant mall back then and it was a challenge to get to set up a booth there on the weekend. I think we were only allowed one 2 or 3 hour shift. But it was well worth it.

A co-worker took his daughter out over the weekend to sell door to door in their neighborhood. So it is still allowed in this area apparently. And of course, common sense goes a long way!

"If you were in charge of the Girl Scout cookie program, which of the three choices would you pick?

As I said, the smaller boxes aren't surprising. I get the fund raiser issue. I'd likely focus on improving the cookies. We're still happy to make a donation each year and give the cookies away.

Which of the three would you choose?

They need to keep the price at $5.

One year I told the Girl Scouts that I didn’t want to eat the cookies for health reasons, so they told me I could buy a box or more and leave them with the girls to deliver to the local homeless center. I thought that was a great idea and did it.

Not enough interest to choose. I'll leave it to the GS.

I don't eat the cookies, either. But I consider it very important to support the kids in my neighborhood in their fund-raising efforts.

Because you expressed criticism of what you thought to be a smaller box, I asked what alternative you might have liked better. Personally I agree with socks, the $5 price point is important to keep. Having a smaller box is the best choice in my opinion and I think those who like to support the Girl Scouts by buying cookies understand why.

It's not a $5 box of cookies. It's a $5 (gross) donation and donors are thanked by getting some cookies. It's like a PTA bake sale at a school to raise money, except that the recipient needs to pay for the thank you gift.

Yeah, the price point is important. The boy scouts sell a variety of foods, and I wouldn't mind helping, but $20 for popcorn is a bit much.

Don't the boy scouts still have a $10-15 item? If I don't want the bigger ticket items, I buy a couple of those. You can also donate x amount of cash to be used towards popcorn to be donated to the military.

The boxes are half the size of when I was a girl scout and 3 times more expensive. I do buy them if I see them selling, haven't yet. I do like the thin mints and the new lemon ones. Even though I don't eat a lot of sweets these days I would get a few boxes and share with my daughter.

I won't support Boy Scouts or Cub Scouts because of the organization's past and current practices concerning religion and gender orientation. The Girl Scouts have had much more modern and open policies in these two regards for many years. Boy Scouts seems to have lost its way, trying to cling to past unenlightened times.

Both orgs have had steadily declining membership numbers. I remember when I was in high school (late 60s), there were very few boys actually in Boy Scouts, it was an unpopular thing to do. I can't imagine it's any different today although maybe that's regional. My sons weren't Boy Scouts and I don't remember hearing of any of their friends who were.

My two sons were in Boy Scouts in the mid to late 70's when it was very popular. They were introduced to alot of activities that many would never have experienced. The fund raising did us in at the end as it seemed that every week there was a bottle drive or such. I know they needed that to exist but it became all consuming. At that time, I don't remember hearing about any problems concerning genders.

Elmer...the boys you are NOT supporting didn’t make those rules nor did their troop leaders.

That's true, socks. But that doesn't change anything for me.

Let's assume your views mostly align with and you're registered as a voter under one of the two major political parties. That's true for most people, though not for me. A neighbor you're friendly with knocks on your door, says Hi and asks if you could contribute $5 or $10 to his party, the other one.

You'd likely say something like "No, I don't agree with many of your party's views and practices and I don't want to give them money. "

I wouldn't say that to kids, "No" would be enough. I might say that to their parents though if asked and the kids weren't around.

Support or not... as you wish. I was a girl scout and don't necessarily like the direction they've taken. I support the girls who are in it because there are some learning experiences. I also don't care for the boy scouts as much as I did at one time because I don't like some of their changes. I'm seen some of the boys. The scouts have done wonders for them and greatly improved their lives. If a boy or girl scout comes to my house and asks for me to buy something I will.

"I don't like some of their changes. "

The most significant change the Boy Scouts org made in the last 20 years was to abandon its medieval views about gay rights. Is that a change you don't like?