• Coreidan@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Meh. Their cookies suck imo. Over priced and the boxes are tiny. The lemon are decent and the chocolate mint are decent too the rest can be tossed into the ocean.

    • ares35@kbin.social
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      9 months ago

      it’s a fundraiser.

      if you just want cookies, get 'em at the grocery store or bake 'em yourself.

      • Coreidan@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        I do which is why I don’t buy them.

        Fundraiser or not their cookies suck. Being a fundraiser isn’t a good excuse for why their cookies blow.

        They could be a fundraiser AND have good cookies but they decided to go the wrong way.

        • Traister101@lemmy.today
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          9 months ago

          The mint ones are pretty good. But they will obviously be overpriced. The whole dealo is that they first buy cookies and then sell those same cookies for the fund raising. Same shit the boy scouts do with popcorn

    • /home/pineapplelover@lemm.ee
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      9 months ago

      I tried selling boy scout popcorn and that shit was a pain in the ass. It was like $10 for some microwave popcorn or something. Wasn’t even good. Honestly, if you see these poor guys, donate money directly to them if you don’t want to try the shit popcorn. (Thank you to the Eagle Scout Vons employee who donated $50 to Troop 1238!)

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldOP
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        9 months ago

        Or don’t donate to the Boy Scouts at all since they don’t accept trans scouts and don’t accept LGBT+ leaders.

        • plantedworld@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          They changed that policy a few years ago. They are behind the times but making changes due to social pressure

          • mxcory@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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            9 months ago

            Pretty sure the social pressure was the Mormon church.

            For those that don’t know Scouts BSA, their new name, accepts girls too.

            • /home/pineapplelover@lemm.ee
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              9 months ago

              Yeah my troop (1238) have girls in it too (1238G). We were the first ones in our area to implement this as soon as the rules allowed us to do so.

              Honestly, I have never experienced anything but good things in scouting. It very well could be regional, maybe in Texas or something they could be really racist and anti lgbt. It’s pretty much dependent upon which people decide to volunteer their time and contribute to making a good troop.

              • plantedworld@lemmy.world
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                9 months ago

                Each troop is pretty self contained, for the most part. The one my son and I are involved with is very open. I was hesitant to let him join when he wanted because of all the issues in the past with the organization but now I’m his den leader with 6 other kids and an assistant leader.

                • /home/pineapplelover@lemm.ee
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                  9 months ago

                  Yeah one troop could be very progressive and nice but the troop over in the next park might be very conservative and close minded. It’s pretty self-contained like you said.

  • medgremlin@lemmy.sdf.org
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    9 months ago

    I always get Girl Scout cookies every year. I was in Girl Scouts as a kid, and back when I was still going to camp in the early 2000’s, the camp had cabins set aside for the gay boys who had been kicked out of the boy scouts. Even back when I originally joined in the 90’s they accepted anyone who wanted to join a troop. Scouting is for everyone!

  • FryHyde@lemmy.zip
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    9 months ago

    “We like whoever is willing to sell our cookies. All cookie slaves welcome.”

  • Aniki 🌱🌿@lemm.ee
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    9 months ago

    Friendly reminder that the girl scouts are a creepy corporate scam that don’t actually teach anything outdoorsy to anyone.

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldOP
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      9 months ago

      Weird, since my wife and daughter were both Girl Scouts and did all sorts of outdoor activities and learned all sorts of outdoor skills.

      Maybe they were in the other Girl Scouts.

      • Aniki 🌱🌿@lemm.ee
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        9 months ago

        When was that? Because from what I’ve read the last decade+ the organization has become a shell of itself.

      • Dkarma@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        In between the slave labor of selling cookies you mean? Crazy how u people justify selling your kids for craft time.

        • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldOP
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          9 months ago

          How is it slave labor? The girls use the revenue generated from cookie sales to pay for troop activities. Are you under some strange misapprehension that cookie sales money all goes to enrich shareholders or something? It’s a nonprofit organization.

          • Dkarma@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            Do they girls get paid? No. Do the nonprofit “leaders” get paid? Yep.

            How is this not slavery or at least child labor?

            You act like non profit means there are no profits.

            • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldOP
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              9 months ago

              My wife was a girl scout leader. She did not get paid.

              Is it slavery when a kid raises money for their school marching band? Is it slave labor when a kid has a lemonade stand and donates all the money to a local charity? Is it only slave labor when kids do it or is it slave labor when an adult raises money for GLAAD with a bake sale?

              • Dkarma@lemmy.world
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                9 months ago

                Leaders of the org definitely get paid. Your wife was a scout mom, not a real leader.

                Pretending the industrial complex that is girl scout cookies just a bake sale is 100% bad faith argument here. I mean c’mon.

                • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldOP
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                  9 months ago

                  Leaders of most nonprofits get paid. Why would Girl Scouts be any different and why would most people even agree to be working for a national nonprofit at the highest level for free? That’s a full-time job.

                  Why are you talking about slavery one minute and expecting people who lead nonprofits to work for free in another. Wouldn’t that be slavery?

                  Also, in Girl Scout terms, she was a leader. She was a troop leader in specific.

  • extant@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    It’s warms my heart to hear that the girl scouts don’t discriminate with their child exploitation to sell their cookies.

    • inb4_FoundTheVegan@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      I see this line used a lot, and it sure does sound snappy but it doesn’t actual make any sense. Exploitation requires an exploiter, and the troops are funding themselves by talking to relatives and maybe standing at a table in a supervised group for a two hours on the weekend. No one is profiting off this fundraiser except the troops themselves.

      There is actual child exploitation problems in the US. I think you are falling in to the qAnon style trap where some people talk about “child sexual abuse” by a secret cabals instead of talking about actual child abuse occurring in their own towns because it sounds Spicer to talk about the first one.

      This isn’t a topic that’s worth much time or energy.

      • extant@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        If you read the comment chain with OP you’ll see my argument present is that the “fundraiser” for the troop nets 22% while taking 78% of while only having 24% cost.

        Please explain to me what value is provided for 54% of the revenue after having already paid the cost to get the cookies made and packaged and already having paid dues to access this program?

        • medgremlin@lemmy.sdf.org
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          9 months ago

          That 54% helps to pay for the camp facilities and subsidize participation in summer camp and troops for low-income kids that otherwise wouldn’t be able to participate.

        • inb4_FoundTheVegan@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          Okay at this point I just have to assume you are a troll who likes to argue without caring about or understanding a topic. If you did care, the infromation is readily available. But your intent is to argue, so here you are sealioning.

          It’s easy to say “100% should go to the cause”, but that’s literally never how these things work. Go check up on any charity you like, none of them donate 100% to one thing. The scouts are running a drive for various causes, and to try and reach for “exploration” because it funds scholarships for under privligaged scouts is bad faith.

          As I said before, this isn’t a topic that is worth time or energy. You can insist on your hard line definition but understand that most people don’t agree it’s exploitation and the girls know they are helping a good cause. I know it sounds spicy to say it’s a consisparcy harming kids, but that doesn’t reflect reality.

          Go argue about actual child labor laws and leave the girl scouts and comet pizza alone.

          • extant@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            Not a troll, I misread the 2023 earnings report where it states fundraising was $4.4 million as revenue instead of an expense, so when you read it like I did originally it would mean they make 97% from dues and other means and 3% from fundraising. Which is why I tried to defend my position that there’s no value in taking that from the children and it’s just a cash grab.

            While I understand that the mistake is entirely my own and I apologize to you, perhaps in the future just point out the flaw in their argument instead of calling them a qanon conspiracy nutjob.

      • extant@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        Your Samoa chart tells me that the cost to produce and drop ship these cookies is slightly less than a quarter of the sales price, yet the troop doing all of the work sees 22% revenue which is exploitation. A fundraiser should see all profits go to the troop that does all the work after expenses, not 22%.

        • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldOP
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          9 months ago

          Sorry, how much should the cookies cost to make and how do you plan to get the bakeries to do it for that cost?

          Also, what do you think “all the work” is? They ask their relatives if they want cookies and stand by a table for a couple of hours on the weekend for a few weeks.

          • extant@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            There seems to be some confusion here so perhaps I didn’t make myself clear, everyone involved in getting the cookies into a box and ready to be sold by a troop are covered under what is known as the cost, we’ve already established the cost is 24%. What’s left over is the profit which would be 76% of the revenue.

            I’m asserting the troop should keep the 76% profit. Currently we are giving the troop 22% and a parent organization 54%, maybe it’s used for good maybe it’s used to keep the parent organization pockets full who knows because neither you or I can make any claim as to where the money goes with any real certainty.

            You are diminishing the work of the troop here, these girls are volunteering not just their time but also the parents and other family members involved and they should be the ones to benefit. “Oh no it was an easy job and they just had to sell to their relatives and it was hardly any effort!”, even from that perspective I still don’t understand why you think it’s acceptable to give away 54% of the revenue to someone who did nothing solely because it was minimal effort on their part.

            Ignoring taxes and other fees for this example, if I wanted to do my own similar fundraiser and went to the grocery store and bought 100 boxes of cookies there for $1 a box and then the troop sold them for $4 a box $100 covers my losses leaving $300 for profit for the troop. Should I pay the grocery store an extra $216 because they facilitated my actions?

            • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldOP
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              9 months ago

              No, because the grocery store isn’t making special branded cookies that you can’t generally get elsewhere. That’s the whole point of Girl Scout cookies. That they’re an unusual kind of cookie, which makes people want them more.

              Also, GSA is a non-profit organization. They are not allowed to make a profit. All revenues must be put back into the organization.

              Also, what is the difference in terms of exploitation between your cookie sales idea and Girl Scout cookies?

              • extant@lemmy.world
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                9 months ago

                Girl scout cookies are not some unique creation, they are specifically licensed and legally cannot be made by anyone else but they aren’t exclusive to girl scouts and can be purchased under their normal brand name if you know it from the official source like these coconut dreams I’ve got in my pantry.

                “They cannot make a profit”, out of curisoity what would you call charging 54% on top of the 24% cost, non-profit profit?

                The difference in my example scenarios were after costs were paid all remaining revenue goes to the troop to be used by the troop for the troop, that’s how a fundraiser should work. In the current business model you seem keen to defend you are giving away more than half of the revenue to the organization which already makes it’s money through dues.

                • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldOP
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                  9 months ago

                  I never said they were unique. I said they were unusual and that you generally can’t get them elsewhere. That makes them desirable. I’m not sure why you think it doesn’t.

                  “They cannot make a profit”, out of curisoity what would you call charging 54% on top of the 24% cost, non-profit profit?

                  Raising funds. That is something any nonprofit can do. How do you think nonprofits stay in operation?

      • Alenalda@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        Let’s say children were sent to the factories to bake and package the cookies instead of going door to door selling them and they were given 22% of a regular workers salary. Would that be exploitation? I’m sure it would be ok if the other 54% were spent on a fun pizza party at the end of the day.

        • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldOP
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          9 months ago

          If I hold a bake sale to raise funds for GLAAD, are all the people who bake goods for it slaves? Seems like the same as your scenario.

          I guess we should stop raising funds for anything because it’s all slave labor.

            • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldOP
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              9 months ago

              I see, so it’s only exploitation if children raise money for a cause. If adults do it, it isn’t exploitation.

              Why?

              • Alenalda@lemmy.world
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                9 months ago

                Both can be exploitation, as an adult you shouldn’t want your children exposed to that kind of exploitation. Just because others are exploited doesn’t make it right for you to exploit others especially if they are children. Capitalism encourages you to sell your labor so others can profit from it, and I don’t just me financially. They will try and skim from the labor of children to benefit the brand or the organization. A kid having a bake sale is a different story if done through their own labor and initiative. They can put up the investment and keep all the profits to do with as they choose instead of several organizations scraping 75% of the rewards.

                • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldOP
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                  9 months ago

                  The girls themselves ‘profit’ from it by funding activities. They aren’t being forced to do it either. No one in my daughter’s troop was forced to be there. No one was forced to sell cookies. No one was shamed if they didn’t sell cookies. Selling cookies is never even suggested to be required in order to be a Girl Scout.

                  If you can show me evidence of a large number of Girl Scouts being forced to sell cookies against their will, go for it. But doing something of their own free will so that they can do things like take a trip to the zoo sure doesn’t sound like exploitation to me.

                  Also… “several organizations” do not scrape 75% of the rewards. That is just false. 76% goes to the Girl Scouts of America and 24% goes to the cookie bakers. I assume you don’t think the cookie bakers should bake cookies for free or that the Girl Scouts shouldn’t be funding themselves, so who is scraping this 75%?

    • Rakonat@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Gonna hard disagree about this being exploitation of the youth.

      Girl Scouts of America is strictly a nonprofit, meaning what excess money they do raise is used to cover running costs of the organization itself and reinvested into various projects within their mission scope, which for the girl scouts, is improving and enable the lives with more opportunities.

      Yes, it’s true, the troop of the individual girlscout only sees 22% of the sales according to recent figures. This doesn’t seem a lot, but really all the girls are doing is going out for 10-20 hours per ‘cookie season’ to gather orders and then another 10-20 hours to deliver said orders when they are done. From a six dollar box of cookies (tax free!) 22% is $1.32. How many boxes the girlscout sells varies considerably by region and the child, not many figures are publicly available though GSA claims on average they sell 200 million boxes per year. Low end estimates figure even novice girls can get 30 per season with experienced scouts averaging 100-200 with some troops often reporting 300 average or more. If a girl spends 40 hours canvasing the neighborhood and delivering them to sell 200 boxes, thats roughly 5 dollars per hour. Not great but certainly better than other fundraisers some youth partake in.

      This gets more difficult to track and balance out now that the girl scouts support and promote online cooking sales, as the above article links, but girls still get credit for these sales despite only posting the url or QR code to attract the sales.

      And the cookie program itself takes 24%, or 1.44 per box. This is absurdly cheap, considering it doesn’t just cover the cost to bake the cookies, but also package and ship them, at no charge to the youth, even for things such as online orders or direct delivery options they offer now. This is charitable work, but that’s still a phenomenally low operating cost.

      And yes, the Girl Scouts of America does take 54% or 3.24 per box. This might seem high at first, though you again have to remember their nonprofit status. And unlike the Boy Scouts who are constantly fraught with controversy after controversy due to how the organization is run as well as political pressure from those who should have no involvement with them, the Girl Scouts have a general good reputation if being the younger sibling of scouting organization when we talk about cultural awareness of their activities and how much time the media gives them on average (effectively none) so I can’t say I’m that worried that millions of dollars are being funneled into some directors pocket tax free when the worst thing people say about them is they are a cookie salesperson masquerading as a scouting organization.

      The GSA invests heavily in programs and facilities used by the Girl Scouts themselves, as well as doing outreach programs for generalized youth to be given opportunities on top of supporting nationwide efforts to support troops in lower income areas that can’t fundraise to the same level as those in richer areas.

      And my own person input here, as a former Boy Scout that made Eagle Scout: GSA does brand recognition so damn well that it’s incredibly easy and low stress to sell those cookies. We as the boy scouts did multiple fundraisers a year, from popcorn (the traditional yet lesser known counterpart to GSA Cookie sales) to pizzas and utensils to even trying to sell camping related gear one year. Everyone knows the Girl Scout cookies, everyone wants to buy them and in most scenarios a girl just has to show up with the ordering brochure and a smile and people interested in buying them will immediately scramble to order what they can. I’m not faulting the GSA or girls in this scenario, I’m envious because as a Boy Scout we were always envious of that simplicity when trying to pitch our own fundraisers to the local community and I can’t count how many times I was told to my face to come back with the cookie sale.

      So TL;DR, yes the GSA takes the largest cut, but they are also doing most of the actual work involved in producing and shipping the cookies at no charge to the girls, something most fundraisers that sell food DO NOT do, and the girls just have to do the legwork to find mostly willing customers and ensure the cookies get delivered. Compare that to any job that pays a commission for selling items and anyone who does those types of jobs would literally kill for 22% of the total cost of each sale.

  • HelixDab2@lemm.ee
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    9 months ago

    FWIW, the Scouts–formerly Boy Scouts–now also have girls and LGBTQ+ kids. They’re a fundamentally more conservative group than the GSA though.

  • Smeagol666@lemm.ee
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    9 months ago

    They’re also partnering up with Raytheon. I wish that was a joke. Wokeness and murder, what a combination; goes together like peanut butter and chocolate.

  • rockSlayer@lemmy.worldM
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    9 months ago

    I didn’t know that about the GSA, that’s awesome! I love that they’re so accepting of LGBT folks