Girl Scout Cookies
January 26, 2006 3:58 PM   Subscribe

The Girl Scout Cookie Equivalency Chart sorts out the products from the official suppliers - ABC Bakers and Little Brownie Bakers. gimonca says they'll be out sometime soon. I'll take two boxes of each please. Oh! no you don't... you're not in the USA.
posted by tellurian (31 comments total)
 
Are they finally made with real Girl Scouts?
posted by loquacious at 4:15 PM on January 26, 2006


So that's why I can't get any fucking lemon cremes in Louisiana. Oh, well. Double up on the Thin Mints, I guess.
posted by ColdChef at 4:18 PM on January 26, 2006


Q: Why can't Girl Scout Cookies be sold on the Internet?

A: ....Girl Scout Cookie Activities are designed to be face-to-face learning experiences for girls. In an online setting, there is no guarantee that the seller is indeed a girl member of Girl Scouts. "

So what's a boy gotta do to join?
posted by ericb at 4:29 PM on January 26, 2006


Does this mean I have to enable cookies?
posted by mickeyz at 4:33 PM on January 26, 2006


Girl Scout Cookie Activities are designed to be face-to-face learning experiences for girls.

Which kind of invalidates the whole parents selling at work thing, but hey... maybe the parents will learn something too!
posted by idontlikewords at 4:34 PM on January 26, 2006


Okay ColdChef, rub it in. Why just double up on the Thin Mints? Get some Tagalongs too and make this. I'm salivating here.
posted by tellurian at 4:36 PM on January 26, 2006


No boys allowed! You have your own scouts to join, dammit.
posted by Hildegarde at 4:38 PM on January 26, 2006


Meh. My Girl Scout stepdaughter has informed me that they no longer offer Double Dutch cookies. With the previous demise of Chocolate Chunk, there are no longer any chocolate chip based Girl Scout cookies. The terrorists have won. Or something.
posted by Cookiebastard at 4:39 PM on January 26, 2006


No boys allowed! You have your own scouts to join, dammit.

I tried to join the "beavers" when I was a kid. This was a juniour scout troup in Canada. Ironically, they don't let girls join beavers. I was told to go be a brownie... which I did only to learn that there were no knots and campfires to enjoy like the boys... just a multitude of housekeeping badges to earn. F#ck that noise. Those paramilitary pine cone collectors can kiss my cookies.
posted by missbossy at 4:52 PM on January 26, 2006


They used to have reduced fat cookies? What's the point of that?
posted by mathowie at 4:59 PM on January 26, 2006


which I did only to learn that there were no knots and campfires to enjoy like the boys...

Bad Brownie leader, that's all. I used to teach brownies to light fires and pee in the woods.
posted by Hildegarde at 5:09 PM on January 26, 2006


odinsdream: Was there ever a time when each scout troop actually, you know, made their own cookies to fill the orders?
Yes - but not after 1936.
posted by tellurian at 5:28 PM on January 26, 2006


When I first saw the "mandatory" list I immediately thought these were the cookies the author just HAD to get, and I agreed completely. So it's amusing (and fortunate) that those are actually the cookies the licensed bakers are required to make.
posted by Toecutter at 5:29 PM on January 26, 2006


Here in Canada, we've enjoyed our Girl Guide Cookies for years...but...they've gone downhill recently. The Vanilla Classic sure ain't what it used to be.
posted by davebush at 5:42 PM on January 26, 2006


I think you get 12 Samoas in a box and it costs $4. That's crazy.

(Yet I still bought a box.)
posted by smackfu at 5:46 PM on January 26, 2006


You know a place to get 12 Samoans in a box? Sign me up.
posted by todbot at 6:25 PM on January 26, 2006


Tagalongs and Thin Mints are chocolate.

smackfu, and you'd be surprised how little of that $4 actually goes toward the girl scout troup. When I was still in it, I saw a chart...it was scandalously small. Most of it went to the beaurocracy.

I generally boycott the scouts now, anyway. Thank god Keebler makes Grasshopper cookies.
posted by lampoil at 6:38 PM on January 26, 2006


I think you get 12 Samoas in a box and it costs $4. That's crazy.

It's actually fifteen Samoas a box (or Caramel deLights, as they so asininely call them 'round these parts).

Thin Mints used to have 40 cookies a box, but last year's batch had 36 per box. And for a higher price too. Sacrilege!

(used to sell the damned things as a kid and still love 'em)
posted by May Kasahara at 6:41 PM on January 26, 2006


lampoil writes "smackfu, and you'd be surprised how little of that $4 actually goes toward the girl scout troup. When I was still in it, I saw a chart...it was scandalously small. Most of it went to the beaurocracy."

How small is scandalous? 10%? 1%? How much profit margin do you think there is in a box of cookies at the grocery store? Certainly less than 10%. And by bureaucracy, do you mean the ingredients, the bakeries and all its employees (who probably wouldn't have jobs if it weren't for this inefficient but traditional sales channel)?
posted by mullacc at 7:15 PM on January 26, 2006


davebush, that's cos they changed supplier from Mr Christie (owned by evil cigarette company) to Dare (a family owned Canadian company) back in 2003. I think I prefer the new ones.
posted by scruss at 7:31 PM on January 26, 2006


I was a girl scout a few years ago, and I think we (our troop) got 25 cents a box. Also, thin mints are the greatest cookie in the world. Mullacc, I believe that lampoil was referring to the local girl scout council, who got more money than we did IIRC.
posted by MadamM at 9:30 PM on January 26, 2006


I was wondering why would you want four Samoans in a box, let alone twelve or fifteen? Then I found a picture, and if you're a woman, well, I can understand why you might want a box of Samoans. Very studly.


posted by nlindstrom at 12:36 AM on January 27, 2006


"Nationwide, an individual troop/group receives from 12-17% of the purchase price of each box sold. "

"Q: When I buy Girl Scout Cookies, where does the money go?

A: With every purchase, approximately 70% of the proceeds stays in the local Girl Scout council to provide a portion of the resources needed to support Girl Scouting in that area, including a portion that goes directly to the troop/group selling the cookies. The balance goes directly to the baker to pay for the cookies."

from: Girl Scouts dot org

I was curious as I remembered it being about 50 cents a box back when I was in Girl Scouts.
posted by SuzySmith at 4:31 AM on January 27, 2006


scruss - I grew up loving Dare products too, but there's no way the current versions of Girl Guide Cookies compare to the ones I ate 20 years ago.
posted by davebush at 5:36 AM on January 27, 2006


some GS troops are selling cookies for $3.50 (USD) per box. Be a smart shopper. Gotta have my thin mint fix.
posted by Gungho at 7:12 AM on January 27, 2006


...is there some sort of online thing where it'll find me a girl-scout to purchase from? Because I don't know any.
C'mon, internet friends! If any of you live in New York City and have a girl-scout who's selling, I'm buyin'!!!
posted by 235w103 at 7:35 AM on January 27, 2006


Are they finally made with real Girl Scouts?

No, loq - but the Girl Scouts are descended from Anasazi culture. While some girls are ritually sacrificed, it's the Den Mothers, not the general public, which get to feast upon the remains.
posted by Smart Dalek at 7:54 AM on January 27, 2006


I have two nieces selling cookies. Email me if you want me to send you some. Of course, once you add in shipping, it may cost over $6 a box, but if you need it like heroin, let me know.
posted by ColdChef at 9:25 AM on January 27, 2006


That's what I remember, too, Suzy, though I can't be sure of numbers. And by beaurocracy I meant the upper workings of the GSUSA--not sure specifically (it was quite a while ago) whether it was the local council or what. (As opposed to "hey! the bakers got most of it!"...I do understand the basics of cost and markup. Non-GS cookies don't cost $4 for a box of 12. With a few exceptions). We saw a pie chart of where the profits went--our sliver was slim. And while supposedly the money the council got trickled down to help the scouts, I just didn't get the sense we were getting much of that money. We still had to raise money to pay for our campsites at GS campgrounds...and so on. But who knows? I was a kid. I just didn't care for how the scouts were run in my area...and money wasn't really a big part of it. Of course, I'm sure it's different everywhere. I know I never even heard of half the cookies mentioned here.

Just some googling came up with a number of articles about price-gauging with GS cookies. But I'm no economist. Basically, I'm not a huge fan of either Scouts org, so I don't buy their cookies or popcorn.
posted by lampoil at 9:43 AM on January 27, 2006


I was wondering why would you want four Samoans in a box, let alone twelve or fifteen? Then I found a picture, and if you're a woman, well, I can understand why you might want a box of Samoans.

Four, no six, no, twelve -- baker's dozen!
You know I'm crazy for that beefcake, cousin!

nlindstrom, you've made me a very happy girl this morning. Very happy.
posted by likorish at 9:53 AM on January 27, 2006


If winter in most of the mainland US isn't enough reason for most of us to trek to the island state of Hawaii, catch this:

My fiancee was able to score (Little Brownie) Girl Scout Cookies when we were there mid-January. One would hope that they weren't hold-outs from last year but some sort of climate+shipping induced early sales window.

Nonetheless, Maui plus Girl Scout cookies plus Home plus MORE Girl Scout cookies makes for a fairly tolerable life...
posted by Ogre Lawless at 3:11 PM on January 27, 2006


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