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Boy Scouts Popcorn Fail (1 Viewer)

dickey moe

dickey moe

Fingerpicker
So I'm in Bakersfield for our long-time fantasy football draft, and I drop by Vons to get some cash from the ATM. As I leave, there is a group of Boy Scouts and their moms out front selling bags of popcorn. These are like 18 oz cellophane bags of caramel corn and such. They do their cute little spiel and I decide to get some:

"Ok, I'll take a bag a of salted caramel and a bag of mild cheddar." I pull out a twenty thinking that will be more than enough.

Boy Scout Mom: "That will be $40!"

Me:  :no:

Mom: "75% goes to the Boy Scouts"

Me: "Uhhh, I guess I was more or less expecting Girl Scout pricing."

Mom: "Well, the Girl Scouts have it EASY!"

Me: "I only have this twenty." [this was a lie, but still...]

Mom: "We accept ATM and credit cards!"

Me: "I'm sorry. I just can't pay that much

for popcorn."

Mom [seemingly offended]: "Well you just have a nice day."

Me: [walks away]

I mean, I know it's for a good cause and all, but come on man.

 
dickey moe said:
So I'm in Bakersfield for our long-time fantasy football draft, and I drop by Vons to get some cash from the ATM. As I leave, there is a group of Boy Scouts and their moms out front selling bags of popcorn. These are like 18 oz cellophane bags of caramel corn and such. They do their cute little spiel and I decide to get some:

"Ok, I'll take a bag a of salted caramel and a bag of mild cheddar." I pull out a twenty thinking that will be more than enough.

Boy Scout Mom: "That will be $40!"

Me:  :no:

Mom: "75% goes to the Boy Scouts"

Me: "Uhhh, I guess I was more or less expecting Girl Scout pricing."

Mom: "Well, the Girl Scouts have it EASY!"

Me: "I only have this twenty." [this was a lie, but still...]

Mom: "We accept ATM and credit cards!"

Me: "I'm sorry. I just can't pay that much

for popcorn."

Mom [seemingly offended]: "Well you just have a nice day."

Me: [walks away]

I mean, I know it's for a good cause and all, but come on man.
Click to expand...
To each his own. Everything in this world has a price. (what someone is willing to pay).

The popcorn goes towards a lot of things. My sons sold a bunch of it to pay for their week long Boy Scout trip to Colorado. 

 
What I usually do weather it's Boy Scouts or the local high schools band or athletic team is just throw them $10 without taking the product if it is more than I want to pay.  Now with the Girl Scouts I buy massive amounts of cookies.

 
rustycolts said:
What I usually do weather it's Boy Scouts or the local high schools band or athletic team is just throw them $10 without taking the product if it is more than I want to pay.  Now with the Girl Scouts I buy massive amounts of cookies.
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Same here. Some kid came to the door the other day, selling cookie dough to raise money for band camp. First off, the kid couldn't have been older than 10, which seemed a bit young for camp. I said "How much?" and he said "$20 for one package, which makes 10 cookies."

I said, "That's not very many cookies."

He said, "Well, you can buy an extra large package, which is $40 and makes 20 cookies."

I was like, :mellow:

So I said, "Look, I don't have $20, but here's everything in my wallet. [it was five bucks] Consider it to be a free donation. Good luck with the cookie thing."

 
Andy Dufresne said:
My son is an Eagle Scout. We always thought the popcorn fundraiser was stupid. 

Christmas wreaths are pretty good though.
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We parter with a local ham company and sell ham and kielbasa and stuff at Christmas and Easter.  Not sure how much profit we make exactly but we seem to do pretty good

 
When I was a kid I had to go door to door selling oranges and grapefruit.  After doing it once (getting all the freakin fruit to those who bought it), my dad just covered trip expenses.  I would have rather sold popcorn.  Much lighter.

 
The scouts here sell discount coupon books.  They are ten bucks and you save more than that if you use the coupons.  That does require companies to partner but it is a very good deal.

And they don't weigh much of anything.

 
Same exact thing for me today. Said I would take a bag of the white cheddar and one of the caramel, and they told me it was $40.

Me:$40? Is that for a case?

Boy Scout: No, its $20 a bag. 

Me:  :lmao:

Me: How much is that small bag of caramel corn.

Boy Scout: $10

Me: I'll take that. 

Maybe the Girl Scouts have it easy because their prices are at least semi-reasonable for a package of cookies. 

 
That's ridiculous.  I'd only pay that if it was for a family member or very close friends kid.  If some random kid comes trying to sell me a bag of popcorn for $20 he can kick rocks.

Whoever is in charge of the Boy Scouts fund raising needs to take notes from the Girl Scouts.  

 
I probably shouldn't do this. But I'll try.

You aren't buying popcorn. No one is going to dispute that you can't find cheaper popcorn somewhere else. The point isn't to score some super cheap deal on popcorn that only scouts can magically find. Rather, the popcorn sale is a fund raiser and a large portion of the proceeds go to scouts, like 70+ percent. Some of the money goes to the council for things like the scout reservations and some goes to the unit the scout belongs to. Both things help others scouts who can't pay for these types of things themselves. And the Girl Scout Cookies are a total rip off for the girl scouts that sell them. A minuscule amount of cookie money actually comes back to either the council or the units themselves. Its a truly pitiable amount. Last I saw it was south of 10%. So think of it as a donation and if you like the product you get in return, great. Or just do a straight donation if it suits you better. Or shake your fist at them until they get off your lawn.

Near as I can, every youth organization needs fund raisers, from the scouts, seemingly every HS sports team and countless HS clubs. Folks come to my door all the time.  

 
IrishTwinkie said:
I probably shouldn't do this. But I'll try.

You aren't buying popcorn. No one is going to dispute that you can't find cheaper popcorn somewhere else. The point isn't to score some super cheap deal on popcorn that only scouts can magically find. Rather, the popcorn sale is a fund raiser and a large portion of the proceeds go to scouts, like 70+ percent. Some of the money goes to the council for things like the scout reservations and some goes to the unit the scout belongs to. Both things help others scouts who can't pay for these types of things themselves. And the Girl Scout Cookies are a total rip off for the girl scouts that sell them. A minuscule amount of cookie money actually comes back to either the council or the units themselves. Its a truly pitiable amount. Last I saw it was south of 10%. So think of it as a donation and if you like the product you get in return, great. Or just do a straight donation if it suits you better. Or shake your fist at them until they get off your lawn.

Near as I can, every youth organization needs fund raisers, from the scouts, seemingly every HS sports team and countless HS clubs. Folks come to my door all the time.  
Click to expand...
The problem is they are so weirdly in the middle.  If they want to straight up ask for a donation, then fine. If they want to sell an inexpensive good at twice the cost, then fine.

This catches people off guard. They think they are throwing a few bucks to the kids by buying a few bags outside the grocery store but when the kid says it’s $40, it feels like a kick in the balls.

 
flranger said:
Ill never understand why parents think other people should pay for their children's extracurricular activities. 
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My school has a lot of low income families.  If they can raise $20 and I can raise $100 and it helps them cover the cost of a camping trip then I’m cool with that

i think some of the travel sport fundraising gets excessive though

 
Juxtatarot said:
The problem is they are so weirdly in the middle.  If they want to straight up ask for a donation, then fine. If they want to sell an inexpensive good at twice the cost, then fine.

This catches people off guard. They think they are throwing a few bucks to the kids by buying a few bags outside the grocery store but when the kid says it’s $40, it feels like a kick in the balls.
Click to expand...
Exactly.  I would have been more than happy to toss them a $20 for two bags. I understand how fundraising works, my kids do it all the time for sports. They are pricing themselves out of casual sales, and I guarantee friends and family who reluctantly purchase it at those prices because they feel they have to actually really resent it.

 
IMAX 3D said:
My school has a lot of low income families.  If they can raise $20 and I can raise $100 and it helps them cover the cost of a camping trip then I’m cool with that

i think some of the travel sport fundraising gets excessive though
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Yea, that's what I am referring to.  My daughters prior (thankfully) softball team was wanting to fundraise $30k for a season of travel all over the southeast this year.  Of course with corresponding social media posts, etc.  I just sit and shake my head and think WTF are they doing???  Why should anyone donate so little Katie can go to Nashville?

 
flranger said:
Yea, that's what I am referring to.  My daughters prior (thankfully) softball team was wanting to fundraise $30k for a season of travel all over the southeast this year.  Of course with corresponding social media posts, etc.  I just sit and shake my head and think WTF are they doing???  Why should anyone donate so little Katie can go to Nashville?
Click to expand...
Music and BBQ?

 
dickey moe said:
So I'm in Bakersfield for our long-time fantasy football draft, and I drop by Vons to get some cash from the ATM. As I leave, there is a group of Boy Scouts and their moms out front selling bags of popcorn. These are like 18 oz cellophane bags of caramel corn and such. They do their cute little spiel and I decide to get some:

"Ok, I'll take a bag a of salted caramel and a bag of mild cheddar." I pull out a twenty thinking that will be more than enough.

Boy Scout Mom: "That will be $40!"

Me:  :no:

Mom: "75% goes to the Boy Scouts"

Me: "Uhhh, I guess I was more or less expecting Girl Scout pricing."

Mom: "Well, the Girl Scouts have it EASY!"

Me: "I only have this twenty." [this was a lie, but still...]

Mom: "We accept ATM and credit cards!"

Me: "I'm sorry. I just can't pay that much

for popcorn."

Mom [seemingly offended]: "Well you just have a nice day."

Me: [walks away]

I mean, I know it's for a good cause and all, but come on man.
Click to expand...


Did you get the one bag of popcorn or did she actually turn down the $20 sale out of spite?

 
IrishTwinkie said:
I probably shouldn't do this. But I'll try.

You aren't buying popcorn. No one is going to dispute that you can't find cheaper popcorn somewhere else. The point isn't to score some super cheap deal on popcorn that only scouts can magically find. Rather, the popcorn sale is a fund raiser and a large portion of the proceeds go to scouts, like 70+ percent. Some of the money goes to the council for things like the scout reservations and some goes to the unit the scout belongs to. Both things help others scouts who can't pay for these types of things themselves. And the Girl Scout Cookies are a total rip off for the girl scouts that sell them. A minuscule amount of cookie money actually comes back to either the council or the units themselves. Its a truly pitiable amount. Last I saw it was south of 10%. So think of it as a donation and if you like the product you get in return, great. Or just do a straight donation if it suits you better. Or shake your fist at them until they get off your lawn.

Near as I can, every youth organization needs fund raisers, from the scouts, seemingly every HS sports team and countless HS clubs. Folks come to my door all the time.  
Click to expand...
That's nice.  Mr R, an Eagle Scout, says that is silly.  And we support the scouts, but that is basicaly a rip-off.  It feels like a cheat, and that is not a good representation of Scouting.

 
IrishTwinkie said:
I probably shouldn't do this. But I'll try.

You aren't buying popcorn. No one is going to dispute that you can't find cheaper popcorn somewhere else. The point isn't to score some super cheap deal on popcorn that only scouts can magically find. Rather, the popcorn sale is a fund raiser and a large portion of the proceeds go to scouts, like 70+ percent. Some of the money goes to the council for things like the scout reservations and some goes to the unit the scout belongs to. Both things help others scouts who can't pay for these types of things themselves. And the Girl Scout Cookies are a total rip off for the girl scouts that sell them. A minuscule amount of cookie money actually comes back to either the council or the units themselves. Its a truly pitiable amount. Last I saw it was south of 10%. So think of it as a donation and if you like the product you get in return, great. Or just do a straight donation if it suits you better. Or shake your fist at them until they get off your lawn.

Near as I can, every youth organization needs fund raisers, from the scouts, seemingly every HS sports team and countless HS clubs. Folks come to my door all the time.  
Click to expand...
Yeah the same thing as for Girl Scouts, except the girls do it much better.

 
I got similarly shocked when they set up outside Sam's. Crazy prices. Obviously, it's hard to compete with Girl Scout cookies (I don't even like cookies that much, but I'll always buy a bunch of boxes and just give them away). But surely, there's a better product to sell than wildly overpriced popcorn. 

 
dickey moe said:
So I'm in Bakersfield for our long-time fantasy football draft, and I drop by Vons to get some cash from the ATM. As I leave, there is a group of Boy Scouts and their moms out front selling bags of popcorn. These are like 18 oz cellophane bags of caramel corn and such. They do their cute little spiel and I decide to get some:

"Ok, I'll take a bag a of salted caramel and a bag of mild cheddar." I pull out a twenty thinking that will be more than enough.

Boy Scout Mom: "That will be $40!"

Me:  :no:

Mom: "75% goes to the Boy Scouts"

Me: "Uhhh, I guess I was more or less expecting Girl Scout pricing."

Mom: "Well, the Girl Scouts have it EASY!"

Me: "I only have this twenty." [this was a lie, but still...]

Mom: "We accept ATM and credit cards!"

Me: "I'm sorry. I just can't pay that much

for popcorn."

Mom [seemingly offended]: "Well you just have a nice day."

Me: [walks away]

I mean, I know it's for a good cause and all, but come on man.
Click to expand...
Uh. It’s not supposed to be about the popcorn. 

 
dickey moe said:
I didn't get any bags of popcorn because I refuse to pay $20 for a bag of popcorn on principle.
Click to expand...
If your goal is to shop for popcorn, I recommend the supermarket. 

If your goal is to donate money to the Boy Scouts of America, then have the fake exchange where you give them money and they give you a token gift in exchange. Maybe popcorn. Maybe something else.  It doesn’t really matter. 

You guys can complicate and screw up just about anything. 

 
Nah, it's a ridiculous promotion.  If they are trying to teach these Future Leaders anything, it should be everything has a price.

Would you feel different if it was a hundred dollar per bag?  I bet you would.  And if you do then the principle is the same.

They should just do a hat drop if they are just asking for handouts.  Also the boys should be the ones selling, not mommy.

Otis said:
You guys can complicate and screw up just about anything. 
Click to expand...
 
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Under this pricing structure and thought process, those $1 candy bars the kids sell should be $25.  At that coke at the kids soccer fields concession stand $50. It's all about helping out right?

It's absurd.

They are intentionally taking advantage of people's good nature.  I guarantee you they are not saying would you like to buy a $20 bag of popcorn.  No, little Joey is just asking nice people would you like to buy popcorn and then putting people in uncomfortable spots with the price surprise after they say yes.

It's bull#### really.

 
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In for a dime I guess. I'll try to answer some of the points brought up.

The popcorn sale has immense value, besides just the money earned. It teaches scouts how to interact with adults. My, I am not sure why this matters now Eagle Scout, son sold popcorn when he was a wee little cub. He had a range of interactions, some positive and he made a sale. Some negative where he didn't and some head scratching one where with some people felt it was cool to literally slam the door in the face of a 6 year kid. After a few years of this I watched him a) be able to talk to adults with confidence and aplomb and b) know if he talked to you for more than 3 minutes, he had you hooked. He had a darn good rap by the end. And yes the scouts should be initiating the sale. Younger scouts might not be able to answer all the questions and thus need an adult to help out, but the scout should be initiating.  

Yes there are other fundraisers out there. Wreaths, Trees, tree pickups, candy bars, raffles, what have you. I've noticed that the units who don't sell the popcorn have a tendency to keep the proceeds for themselves and not donate some to the council. The camps and facilities need funding too. Scouts can't offer raffles per rule or simply ask for straight donation, again, per rule. And I am puzzled why someone would think buying a ticket that has zero value is somehow better than getting something tangible in return.   

As far as the talking the mom down to $20... If the item is $40, the unit/council are going to be expecting $40 to come in. In essence you are asking her to chip the other $20. Is it really that hard to imagine why she said no? The scout and parent are't the ones setting the price here. 

I also speak from experience with the Cookie Sale. That is a total waste of time. The scouts need to sell stupid amounts of cookies just to make a dollar. That is why the GirlScouts have a candy/nut sale right after the cookies. They don't make enough on the cookies so they have to waste program time selling more stuff. In every case I know, the popcorn sale is the unit's sole fundraiser for the year. 

I see others responded while I wrote the tome... My son's rap would always begin with "Would you like to support my year in Scouting". Not with "Would you like to buy some popcorn". These are little kids. Some just entering elementary school. The sale attempt is your chance to have a positive influence on a youth. Whether or not you feel inclined to donate you are going to teach the kid something in the next few minutes. What lesson is the scout going to take away?

 
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Insein said:
Probably would sell more if it wasn't $20 a bag. 
Click to expand...
Probably. But, there is a logistics issue with selling more popcorn. The amount of space it takes to store the product can take up an entire garage. (I know, because we were responsible for it one year). It may not be an issue for all troops, but we had over 40 kids in our troop. 

As someone mentioned, this is less about the product and more about he donation. If you don't feel it's a fair trade, then give a $10 donation and move on.

 
IrishTwinkie said:
I also speak from experience with the Cookie Sale. That is a total waste of time. The scouts need to sell stupid amounts of cookies just to make a dollar. 
Click to expand...
Could you back up this this claim?  I've google searched this and articles aren't making this claim.  Wikipedia says this:

Profits[edit]

Each Girl Scout council operates its own cookie sale. Approximately 70% of the proceeds stay in the local Girl Scout council to support Girl Scouting in that area, including a portion, approximately 15%, that goes directly to the group selling the cookies.[6][23] The profits are divided by a formula, with local troops receiving about 10-15% of the retail price, the council more than 50%, and the manufacturer the remainder. In 1992 Girl Scouts sold 175 million boxes of cookies nationwide.[24]

Revenues at all levels are used to pay for events and activities for the Girl Scouts, maintenance of the councils' Girl Scout camps and other properties, cookie sale incentives, and Council administrative costs.[25]
Click to expand...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girl_Scout_Cookies#Profits

 
Last edited by a moderator:
The GirlScouts sells a box for $4, makes 50 cents. How many boxes need to be sold to collect a useful amount? If the cookie sale was effective, why do the scouts follow it right up with the Nuts/Candy? 

I'll say I didn't realize that the GirlScouts kept so much of the proceeds and the scouts themselves saw so little. I digress, but this is another mark against that organization. My understanding was that the baker was taking 50%. I just asked the wife, they take 25%. 

 
IrishTwinkie said:
I also speak from experience with the Cookie Sale. That is a total waste of time. The scouts need to sell stupid amounts of cookies just to make a dollar.
Click to expand...


IrishTwinkie said:
The GirlScouts sells a box for $4, makes 50 cents. How many boxes need to be sold to collect a useful amount? If the cookie sale was effective, why do the scouts follow it right up with the Nuts/Candy? 

I'll say I didn't realize that the GirlScouts kept so much of the proceeds and the scouts themselves saw so little. I digress, but this is another mark against that organization. My understanding was that the baker was taking 50%. I just asked the wife, they take 25%. 
Click to expand...
Big difference here. 

Also, I've read that pricing is not fixed, the local council decides.  Some areas charge up to $6 a box.  I recall I paid $5 the last time I bought some.  Honestly, I don't think you have a good handle on the economics of Girl Scout Cookies. (Not that I'm an expert either after only 15 minutes of research.)

 
I was never a big fan of the “show and sells” for the popcorn because for many of the reasons people have given here. Like noted above, a key point is to get the scouts comfortable and used to interacting with adults ( the boards of review that they have prior to advancing in rank increasingly look like job interviews as the boys progress for the same reason).

When they go door-to-door, it is much easier for them to present the order form, which explains where the money goes. It might be out there, but I have never seen that for the cookie sales. A scout might get 20 “no’s” for every “yes”, but he’s going to have like 1 bag of popcorn to deliver for probably every 40 boxes of cookies a Girl Scout has to truck around.

Our troop leaves it as optional for the boys and prefers to let the Cub Scout pack use that as their main fundraiser, but the ones that  do participate can easily cover their camping costs and dues for a whole year. We are fortunate that many of our scouts have families that can self-fund our activities, we have a few fundraisers (water stations at running events, clearing trash in a stretch of road for the county) that help cover most of the troop equipment needs, and we work very hard to keep our event costs low.

For other troops, those not fortunate enough to have a large sponsoring organization or those with lower income families, the popcorn sale is the only way they can provide the scouting program, period. 

I’m no official spokesman or anything, just a volunteer dad with a hopefully soon-to-be Eagle, but I’m sorry the OP had a bad experience. The popcorn sale is not supposed to be a “gotcha” kind of thing.

 
Juxtatarot said:
Big difference here. 

Also, I've read that pricing is not fixed, the local council decides.  Some areas charge up to $6 a box.  I recall I paid $5 the last time I bought some.  Honestly, I don't think you have a good handle on the economics of Girl Scout Cookies. (Not that I'm an expert either after only 15 minutes of research.)
Click to expand...
Sadly, I do. First hand experience. I can't count the number of times I've had cookies stacked to the ceiling in my kitchen.

 
Otis said:
If your goal is to shop for popcorn, I recommend the supermarket. 

If your goal is to donate money to the Boy Scouts of America, then have the fake exchange where you give them money and they give you a token gift in exchange. Maybe popcorn. Maybe something else.  It doesn’t really matter. 

You guys can complicate and screw up just about anything. 
Click to expand...
I have a solution. Pretend the Boy Scouts are your new popcorn contractor, plop down $4k and buy 200 bags for the FFA and cover our donation for the year. Then, you can come in and act all indignant that we don't want to spend $20 on a bag of popcorn, for a "donation." 

Everybody gets $5'ed and $10'ed to death with this crap. Every organization from Scouts to sports teams to Lil LARPers Civil War Reenactors holds fundraisers, dinners, candle sales, etc. This particular fundraiser just has a bad look/feel to it. If you want donations, then ask for them. Teach the kids to hawk the inherent value of the Scouts and be polite and cheerful and grateful for every donation. If you're going to sell something, then sell something. Of course, it's going to be overpriced, but don't kick me in the nuts for $20 then act incredulous when I don't particularly want to make a $20 donation to an organization I'm only ambivalent about.

the problem here isn't cheap people wanting to yell at Scouts to get off their lawn. The problem is the tone deaf approach of the Scouts that they're so awesome, you should be honored to pay $20 for a $1 item. Oh, and if you're too cheap to spend $20, then why don't you just throw some cash on the table and walk away quietly. 

 
Juxtatarot said:
Could you back up this this claim?  I've google searched this and articles aren't making this claim.  Wikipedia says this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girl_Scout_Cookies#Profits
Click to expand...
I think the key word there is “proceeds”. I may have this totally wrong, but I think the Girl Scouts report those percentages but don’t directly state how much they clear on each box (which might only be a quarter a box), while the popcorn is reported as per sale or purchase. So, if communicated properly, the buyer should know right away that $10, $15, whatever, of their $20 is going into scouting at some level.

 
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