Be on the lookout. They’ll be out hawking their wares this week. You
can’t avoid them, and you can’t resist them.
It’s time for the Girl Scout Cookie Drive, when troops of uniformed little
girls wave boxes of Thin Mints and Do-si-dos under your nose as you try to slip
into Harris Teeter for something low carb.
The Scouts have been selling baked goodies annually since about 1917. The only break in the schedule was during WWII, when the shortage of butter, eggs and flour caused the Scouts to sell Girl Scout calendars instead.
In the early days of this fund-raising activity, Girl Scouts and their moms baked cookies at home and sold them door-to-door for 25 to 35 cents a dozen. The first commercial license to make Girl Scout Cookies was granted in 1936.
In the 1950s, Shortbread, Sandwich, and Chocolate Mints were the only available varieties; 10 years later, the selection grew to include Peanut Butter Sandwich cookies, among others. Thanks to baby boomers, Girl Scout membership had expanded greatly by this time, and so had cookie sales volumes — 14 licensed bakers were turning out thousands and thousands of cookies.
Today, there are two licensed bakers, making a maximum of eight varieties of Girl Scout Cookies. Three of these are mandatory — Shortbread/Trefoils, Peanut Butter Sandwich/Do-si-dos, and, of course, Thin Mints — the Scouts’ best seller, accounting for 25 percent of all Girl Scout Cookies sold. This bigger variety of cookies also carries a bigger price tag. Expect to pay between $2.50 and $4 for a box of cookies this year. Despite the price, you know you will.
Nothing could be more wholesome than a box of Girl Scout Cookies, but they’re not without their own scandals. In New Mexico, a woman was sued by a local Girl Scout Council for allegedly embezzling over $1,400 worth of Girl Scout Cookies — roughly 500 boxes. She evidently “received the cookies in trust” and was expected to send sales proceeds to the Scouts, but refused to pay.
Years ago, I was the victim of a Girl Scout Cookie scam when a cherubic-looking scout came to my apartment complex, taking orders for cookies. I ordered a few boxes and was asked to pay up front rather than upon delivery. Weeks went by, and the cookies never showed up. My smarmy lawyer neighbor actually took the kid to court for fraud, and I had to testify against her. I never did see my money or my Thin Mints, but I took pleasure in knowing my neighbor had made a fool of himself over 6 bucks.
There’s no risk of fraud when you buy your Girl Scout cookies right outside your local supermarket. The only risk is Thin Mint withdrawal when you eat the whole box in an hour and have to wait another year to get more.
This article appears in Feb 16-22, 2005.
