Girl Scout cookies smaller, less in box, same price

[ensho]

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/KB10Dj04.html


Fortune-telling cookies


-long snip-


For an example of the horrors to come, The 5-Minute Forecast notes, "For the first time in their history, the Girl Scouts of the USA this week announced they will be making smaller cookies and putting less in each box ... but still charging the same price."

Lest one think that the Girl Scouts are a bunch of greedy, inflationary pigs like bankers and the Federal Reserve, Girl Scout spokesperson Michelle Tompkins explains that they are just another victim of the inflation in prices caused by the Federal Reserve creating all that excess money and credit (inflation in the money supply), and that the by-laws of the Girl Scouts of America forbids their being armed with AK-47 assault rifles with which to take Washington, DC by storm, which was my suggestion, as I figured, "Who would shoot a cute little Girl Scout?"

Well, she did not say that officially, of course, but her meaning was clear when she said that putting fewer cookies in each box, but charging the same old price "was the only alternative".

Reflect again on gold, silver and oil, and now Girl Scout cookies, and be instructed!
--------------------

[mzteris]

1. nothing new -

when I was a Girl Scout - the cookies were bigger, the boxes were bigger - and they were only $0.50 a box. (I always sold them two for a dollar!)

[Ichingcarpenter]

2. Most of the cookies are made with Palm oil

that is environmentally unsound

I loved their mint cookies years ago.

[louis-t]

3. Also not very healthy. Hydrogenated.

Goes right to your arteries and turns to concrete.

[Jane Austin]

36. So . . . only eat them once a year!

I sold hundreds of cartons when I was a Girl Scout, which I was for 12 years!

My mother was our leader. Just another thing she did right.

[louis-t]

38. I LOVE Peanut Butter Patties.

Sigh

[TahitiNut]

5. Yup ...

[Adsos Letter]

29. ...Samoas...?

:cry:

[TahitiNut]

31. They only have one cookie (the shortbread Trefoil) that I recall from my youth.

They don't have the vanilla and chocolate filled cookies anymore. :cry:

[rvablue]

6. Why is palm oil "environmentally unsound"?

I'm not disputing this, just curious because I've never heard about this.

I know it's horribly unhealthy, though.

[Ichingcarpenter]

10. Palm growers are taking away natural habitats for Orangutans.

By stripping the rain forests.



Girl Scouts Protest Palm Oil, Refuse to Sell Cookies
Thursday, April 17, 2008
E-MailPrint
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Girl Scouts may be best known for their cookies, but two Ann Arbor, Mich., middle school students sold magazines this year instead of the organization’s trademark product because they found out an endangered species is threatened by an ingredient in Girl Scout cookies, The Grand Rapids Press reports.

Madison Vorva and Rhiannon Tomtishen, both 12, were doing research to earn a Girl Scout Bronze Award when they discovered the habitat of orangutans in Indonesia is being threatened by the production of palm oil, the newspaper writes.

Palm oil is produced from a fern-like plant called the oil palm tree. This plant can be grown only after the rain forest has been cleared -- most often through administering the slash-and-burn technique, a process that contributes greatly to deforestation. Thousands of orangutans -- now an endangered species -- have been killed in this process and as the demand for palm oil grows, their numbers will continue to dwindle.

"We've seen pictures of orangutans set afire and beaten. You really just want to reach out and do all that you can to help save them," Madison said.

“Just doing the Bronze Award wouldn’t be enough,” Madison said.

"We have stopped selling (the cookies)," Rhiannon said.


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,351583,00.html

[earth mom]

4. Girl Scout cookies taste like cardboard these days.

:puke:

[Auggie]

7. It's not about cookies. It's about supporting activities for girls.

Unless the Girl Scouts are as homophobic as the Boy Scouts.

[ColbertWatcher]

8. I don't think they are "as homophobic as the Boy Scouts."

And you're right, it is about what the cookies provide, not the cookies themselves.

Although, I do love thin mints.

[Sisaruus]

32. Girl Scout policy is very different from the Boy Scouts

I used to work for the Girl Scouts. We offered domestic partner benefits for our lgbt staff.

[Sal Minella]

12. But such a tiny part of the price you pay actually goes to support the scouts --

When I worked at a newspaper years ago, a couple of us tried to investigate why the scouts were getting only 35 cents a box (something like that) on a $2.00 box of cookies -- the Scout leaders we talked to insisted this was the best-and-only way they had to make money, but it's actually just a bonanza for the big bakeries who have the contracts.

I wish someone who knows would post how much of the price of each box actually goes to the Scouts -- I believe the kids now are awarded quite attractive "prizes" for selling high numbers of boxes, and it looks to me like a lot more money goes into the "prizes" for individual sellers than goes to the troops -- ??? somebody with current information ???

[AlCzervik]

14. they aren't at all, former troop leader here and i would have never let my daughter

join any group that was homophobic. The Girl scouts are a good org and the troops do a lot of community service.

[Auggie]

34. Thank you. I'll just give them the donation and skip the cookies.

Who needs the calories?

[MajorChode]

9. Very little of the cookie sales goes to the GS troops

Only 60 cents (out of a $3.50 box) goes to the local troop. The GS council does very little for the local troops anyway (at least in my area). I believe that GS are a very worthwhile organization, but I just make a cash donation each year to the local troop which means 100% stays in the local community.

[gollygee]

13. Our council does a lot for the girls

70% stays in the council or troop, and I think that's pretty good.

[Sisaruus]

33. There were many ways that cookie sales helped girls.

I used to work for the Girl Scouts. Our cookie sale would underwrite the cost of the camps (camper fees would have been 4x higher without cookie proceeds) which were used for summer programs and for year-round activities by the troops. It also helped pay for Girl Scout programs in the extremely-poor urban neighborhoods and in places like the youth detention center. And it allowed us to develop initiatives like a dating violence prevention program that we offered in local public schools.

Girls could use their cookie-credits for camp or activity programs, for week-long school vacation college bus tours, for program materials in our shops, etc.

When we ran calculations, the net was split almost evenly between the girls, the troops and the council.

[Sal Minella]

15. Still 17% of the price per box!!!

Last time, when I tried to make a cash donation to the kids selling, they were palpably disappointed, and the father of the kids said they were trying to win prizes for selling the most boxes.

Good way to teach the Scouts how capitalism works, I guess -- misrepresent what you're selling, and be in it chiefly for personal gain.......

[Xithras]

17. The overhead is generally legit.

Most people don't realize this, but the troop leaders and kids are covered by insurance provided by the council and national organizations. When people talk about "council overhead", a massive chunk of that money is going to cover things like leader training costs, that insurance, and even advertising to bring in new scouts. Without those funds, Girl Scouting would simply die. Those council expenditures are essential to keep the troops operating.

[MajorChode]

24. Compare BS to GS

The BS popcorn sale proceeds are split evenly between the troops and council. I don't mind helping out the council, but in the case of the GS the council takes the lion's share of the profits and the troop gets very little in return.

Our local council does almost nothing. The troop leader training is conducted by volunteers from other troops and cost the council next to nothing. The insurance does more to protect the GS organization than the girls.

My wife and I were heavily involved in cookie sales for years. We just got tired of doing so much for so little return, but none of the other parents were helping out and some were even writing hot checks for their daughters' inventory. We just got completely fed up with the hassle.

[gollygee]

11. My daughter will be selling them in another week

and I hope they still sell well.

I wish I could remember how much they cost back in the 70s when I was selling them.

[Ichingcarpenter]

18. Recently, Rhiannon and Madison met with Jane Goodall,

Girl Scouts may be best known for their cookies, but two Ann Arbor, Mich., middle school students sold magazines this year instead of the organization’s trademark product because they found out an endangered species is threatened by an ingredient in Girl Scout cookies, The Grand Rapids Press reports.

Madison Vorva and Rhiannon Tomtishen, both 12, were doing research to earn a Girl Scout Bronze Award when they discovered the habitat of orangutans in Indonesia is being threatened by the production of palm oil, the newspaper writes.

Palm oil is produced from a fern-like plant called the oil palm tree. This plant can be grown only after the rain forest has been cleared -- most often through administering the slash-and-burn technique, a process that contributes greatly to deforestation. Thousands of orangutans -- now an endangered species -- have been killed in this process and as the demand for palm oil grows, their numbers will continue to dwindle.

"We've seen pictures of orangutans set afire and beaten. You really just want to reach out and do all that you can to help save them," Madison said.

“Just doing the Bronze Award wouldn’t be enough,” Madison said.

"We have stopped selling (the cookies)," Rhiannon said.

In their research, the girls said they found the demand for palm oil has risen in the past few years because it is free of trans-fat. However, it is relatively high in saturated fat.

They said they now avoid any snacks and candies that palm oil is found in.

Recently, Rhiannon and Madison met with Jane Goodall, known for her efforts to protect primates, at a youth conference in Chicago. Goodall signed the girls’ petition against the production of palm oil.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,351583,00.html


The Boys Scouts have been even worse.

By LEWIS KAMB
SEATTLE P-I INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER

For nearly a century, the Boy Scouts have worn a self-adorned badge as campsite conservationists and good stewards of the land.

"The Boy Scouts were green before it was cool to be green," said the organization's national spokesman, Deron Smith.

But for decades, local Boy Scouts of America administrations across the country have clearcut or otherwise conducted high-impact logging on tens of thousands of acres of forestland, often for the love of a different kind of green: cash.

A Hearst Newspapers investigation has found dozens of cases over the past 20 years of local Boy Scout councils logging or selling prime woodlands to big timber interests, developers or others, turning quick money and often doing so instead of seeking ways to preserve such lands.

"In public, they say they want to teach kids about saving the environment," said Jane Childers, a longtime Scouting volunteer in Washington who has fought against Scouts' logging. "But in reality, it's all about the money."

Scouting councils nationwide have carried out clearcuts, salvage harvests and other commercial logging in and around sensitive forests, streams and ecosystems that provide habitat for a host of protected species, including salmon, timber wolves, bald eagles and spotted owls.

Boy Scout councils have logged and sold for development properties bequeathed to them by donors who gave the lands with intentions they be used for camping and other outdoor recreation.

In some cases, councils have sought to use revenues from logging or land sales to make up for funding lost because of the organization's controversial bans on gays and atheists from membership and employment rolls.

"The Boy Scouts had to suffer the consequences for sticking by their moral values," said Eugene Grant, president of the Portland-based Cascade Pacific Council's board of directors.

"There's no question they lost membership and funding because of it. I think every council has looked at ways to generate funds ... and logging is one of them."

The investigation -- a nationwide review by five Hearst newspapers of more than 400 timber harvests, court papers, property records, tax filings and other documents since 1990 -- also found:

Scouting councils have logged across at least 34,000 acres -- a figure that vastly undercounts the actual number of harvests conducted and acreage cut, as forestry records nationwide are incomplete or nonexistent.

More than 100 Scouting councils have conducted timber harvests -- one-third of all Boy Scout councils nationwide.

At least 26 councils have logged in areas with or near protected wildlife habitat at least 53 times, a number also underrepresented.
Councils have conducted at least 60 clearcuts and 35 salvage harvests -- logging that some scholars and ecologists say can hurt the environment and primarily aims to make money.

Several councils submitted logging plans with inaccurate and incomplete information, and in some cases, disregarded rules or conditions established to protect wildlife, streams or other resources.

In some cases nationwide, Scout logging and land deals have involved cozy relationships in which Scouting councils have conducted business with current or former Scouting volunteers, their private companies, employers or in one case, a state regulator.


http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/specials/scoutslogging/397864_loggingmain29.html?source=mypi

[GentryDixon]

19. I sold them for 50 cents in the late 50's, early 60's.

We carried them door to door for instant delivery.

[Xithras]

16. Why not just raise the stupid prices?

I look forward to my Tagalogs and Samoas every year, and I'd be more than willing to pay a buck or two more to help out. It's a good cause, and the cookies are delish.

[Sal Minella]

20. But if you pay "a buck or two" more, the troop gets only 17 cents or 34 cents more.

A lot of us out here would like to support scouting, but can't afford paying $3.50 a box to donate 60 cents.

[TwilightGardener]

21. Well, then--when they knock, guess I'll have to say, "Beat it, kid".

Besides, Keebler makes pretty good facsimiles of the peanut-butter and thin mint cookies.

[Sal Minella]

22. Just make a cash donation -- but be prepared for disappointment on the faces of the kids,

who are hoping to win the prizes for selling the most boxes.

[TwilightGardener]

23. Nah, I don't donate to Girl Scouts, although I did buy a canister of

caramel corn from the Cub Scouts this year (my son was a Cub Scout)--total ripoff, I paid $9 for a tiny coffee-sized can of the cheapest two commodities America produces: corn, and corn syrup. Never again.

[Sal Minella]

26. And I bet the Cubs didn't get more than $1.53 of that, either. (17%)

I will just stick with cash donations for these drives, and deal with the disappointment of the kids.....

[TwilightGardener]

28. Yep, I'll bet their cut was low. As far as disappointing the kids...

they'll get over it, LOL! Life is full of disappointment--a good lesson to learn early on. Along with the economic lesson: businesses have to offer VALUE if they want repeat customers. I'm mean, aren't I? :D

[old mark]

25. So is everything else - made tuna salad yesterday and noticed that

the former 6 oz cans of tuna are now 5 oz, and price is higher.
There was a thread on this last week about spaghetti sauce, maccaroni products, etc. It seems to be universal now.


mark

[Sal Minella]

27. They used to be 7 oz. -- I could make sandwiches for 2 adults & 2 kids from one can.

[vaberella]

30. The GS is one of the oldest bastions of Capitalist machinery. It moves with the times.

Children have been learning forever how to enterprise and rip people off....God bless them.

[Vinca]

35. For the first time in history I will live without thin mints and Samoas. nt

[Toasterlad]

37. Those Rat-Bastard Girl Scouts Are Worse Than All the Wall St Execs Combined!

Meanwhile, I am halfway through a sleeve of frozen Thin Mints as I speak. Holy shit, they're good.