The Girl Scouts have an unusual problem this year: 15 million boxes of unsold cookies. The 109-year-old organization said the coronavirus pandemic is the main culprit. As the health crisis wore into the spring selling season, troops nixed their traditional cookie booths for safety reasons. “This is unfortunate, but given this is a girl-driven program and the majority of cookies are sold in-person, it was to be expected,” said Kelly Parisi, a Girl Scouts spokeswoman.
The impact will be felt by local councils and troops, who depend on cookie sales to fund programming, travel and camps. The Girl Scouts normally sell around 200 million boxes per year, or around $800 million worth. Parisi said Girl Scouts of the USA did forecast lower sales this year due to the pandemic, but restrictions were constantly shifted and the cookie orders placed by 111 local councils with bakers last fall were still too optimistic.
Of the 15 million unsold boxes, around 12 million remain with the two bakers — Kentucky-based Little Brownie Bakers and Indiana-based ABC Bakers. The remaining 3 million are in the hands of Girl Scout councils, which are scrambling to sell or donate them. The cookies have a 12-month shelf life. It’s unclear how much of a financial hit the Girl Scouts suffered because of the decline in sales since the organization won’t reveal those figures.
In the end, local councils won’t be held financially responsible for the 12 million boxes held with the two bakers. Little Brownie Bakers and ABC Bakers said they are working with the Girl Scouts to sell or donate cookies to places like food banks and the military. The bakers can’t sell directly to grocers because that might diminish the importance of the annual cookie sales. But they may sell to institutional buyers like prisons.
Parisi said bakers and councils have occasionally dealt with excess inventory before because of weather events like ice storms or tornadoes. But this level is unprecedented. “Girl Scout cookie season isn’t just when you get to buy cookies,” she said. “It’s interacting with the girls. It’s Americana.”
—
Photo Credit: Sheila Fitzgerald / Shutterstock.com