Does your Pack sell popcorn?

[PackCC]

As fall is upon us, for around here, this brings the annual council wide popcorn sales. Our Pack participates each year. Participation is marginal at best. Last year I took over as CC and our CM was new too. The outgoing CC and CM from the previous year didn't really enforce/encourage selling and the forms were just something that ended up in being handed out along with the calendar without any explanation. As both the CM and I were new in our postions last year, after the fact we acknowleged that it definitely takes more than assuming that folks understand the importance of this fundraiser and we wanted to make some changes this year.

 

We have decided, along with our newly founded popcorn commitee (there hasn't been one in years past) to offer a prize from the Pack (in addition to any trailsend prizes) to our top seller as well as having a pizza party for the den that sells the most popcorn. Does your pack offer prizes? What kind of selling incentive does your Pack have?

 

There are quite a few parents in the Pack that have the frame of mind that they don't need to bother selling, as there are other parents/boys in the Pack that 'sell enough for the rest of us." I personally think that not only is this a bad attitude, but a bad one to pass onto our child, the fact that you're in an organization, but you'll let everyone else pay your way.

 

Because of this, the committe, CM and I have decided that we need to set a minimum sale requirement, so that everyone is pulling their own weight in the Pack.

 

Does your Pack have a minimum sales requirement? If so, what is it? Do you offere the option of an opt-out fee? What is your opt-out fee? If the sales requirement isn't met, do they owe any part of the opt-out fee?

 

Our Pack fees are low, we think, at $7/year. They've been kept low in order to allow familes of all economic backgrounds to join. If the $7 is a hardship for anyone, our chartered organization arranges for this fee to be paid on their behalf. For our Pack to go, fundraisers are extremely important. We'd hate to have to raise the Pack fees.

 

I look forward to hearing how different Packs around the country handle popcorn sales.

[Pack378]

We do not overly push popcorn. The only incentives we offer are the ones that trailsend offers. We have other fundraisers to support the pack. One of the only real reasons we do it is for quality unit. We have don't push it with the tigers because we don't like signing up a boy and then handing them a form to sell popcorn.

 

On a personnel note: Trailsend makes a good product but it is too expensive. It's hard to sit out in front of a store and sell a box of popcorn for 7 bucks when they can buy an almost identical product for 3 bucks in the store. I think if the prices were reduced sales would go up. I know it is more of a donation to the bsa but I don't think a pack should have to sell it for quality unit.

[Greg Nelson]

I hate hate HATE the popcorn sale. That ---- activity has been the cause of more bad blood and hard feelings than any disputed Pinewood Derby finish could ever generate.

 

My pack is no different from any other - we have a group of parents who are willing to help out as den leaders, campout organizers, special event coordinators, etc. Then we have a group of parents for whom Scouting is not a priority. Now I understand not everyone will have the same passion for Scouting, but...

 

During the popcorn sale, the "sideline" families, with a few exceptions, make little or no effort to sell popcorn and fund the pack. So these folks get a free ride in both time and money, on the backs of our pack leaders. That's the simplistic view.

 

Then there are those parents who are in a position to sell a bunch of product at work, vs. those who aren't. Those who have rich relatives willing to pony up, vs. those who don't. Those who have moms at home in the afternoon to go out selling with them, vs. those who have working moms. Brand-new Tiger parents who get blind-sided in their first month of Scouting by a demand to turn their kids into peddlers, vs. Webelos with a long list of previous customers. And on and on.

 

In the past, our Pack has run a reward trip (costing about $50/boy) for those selling $500 of popcorn, as well as giving prizes to the top 3 sellers. That's on top of the Trail's End prizes. At least in my time as CM, that's just been another source of hard feelings. The sideline crew sees the boys of the "in crowd" getting all this free stuff, and feels as if their boys are getting shortchanged.

 

So this year, we're trying something different. We split the dues into two parts - spring and fall. Everyone pays the spring dues. For fall, you can either pay the dues or work them off by selling popcorn. Will it work? Who knows? But at least we won't have anyone riding anyone else's coattails. You can choose to have your boy pitch in towards his cost of Scouting. Or you can just write a check for your son's full cost and be done with it. But Scout "A" won't be funding Scout "B".

 

Don't even get me started on the ethical issues of having young boys sell highly-overpriced, unwanted items under the guise of "selling Scouting". I went to the Trail's End seminar last year and felt like I was in the movie "Glengarry Glen Ross".

 

[scoutldr]

From a Troop perspective, it's even harder to sell...dressing up a 6 year old in a blue suit and have him sit outside the supermarket begging is hare to turn down...

 

The council pushes popcorn, because they get a cut of every unit sold...that's why a $4.99 three way tin sells for $30.

 

In our troop, any profit made from popcorn is credited to the "Scout account" of the scout who sold it. They can then apply that money to any scout function...summer camp, ski trips, dues, whatever. Don't sell popcorn, then write a check for the full amount (which some parents prefer). That may work to some extent for the Pack...come up with a Pack Budget to cover all expenses for the year and establish a per capita cost...which can be paid either by check or by popcorn sales. I see no problem with small prizes...maybe a pizza party for the high-selling den? Make sure and take lots of party pictures and show them at the following pack meeting. Nothing like peer pressure to increase sales! Cubs won't care that they saved Mom $100 in day camp fees...they will care about a new football or a pizza party.

[ScoutNut]

We fund our entire year thru popcorn.

 

We have a goal of $350 in sales per scout. No penalty if they do not make goal.

 

We do both Show & Sell and Take Order. All sales count toward goal.

 

Scouts making goal receive a free Estes rocket kit to use at our summer rocket launch.

 

The top 10 sellers all have the opportunity to throw a pie (whipped cream on paper plate) at the leader of their choice at our Dec Pack meeting.

 

 

[JeffD]

our pack is jumping into the popcorn business this year.

 

last year was our first year and we sold $1 candy bars - with 1/2 proceeds going to the pack. each scout had to sell 2 boxes ($100 of candy) or opt out of selling and give the pack $50 for yearly dues. it was nice b/c many would give $1 "just because" and not care about what candy it was.

 

i am all for the scout working their way to 'help the pack go' - i just wonder what sort of luck we will have with a much higher priced product... and the competition with school fund raising, soccer-baseball-football fund raising (yes, in Florida we can have year round youth fundraising - err i mean sports )

[PackCC]

Greg Nelson, do you mind me asking how much your Pack dues are? I like the idea of splitting it into two payments at two different times of the year.

 

ScoutNut...how big is your Pack? Is there a penalty or opt out fee for those who decide to not participate at all? I also love the idea of getting to throw a pie in someone's face (as long as it's not mine! LOL! J/K, I'd be game as a victim if it got people fired up to sell!)

[ScoutNut]

"how big is your Pack" - 40 currently (pre-Tigers)

 

"Is there a penalty or opt out fee for those who decide to not participate at all?" - Nope. We have discussed it a few times and each time we have decided that since we make enough to cover our budget there is no need to set a penalty. Usually we have everyone sell something, or participate in at least 1 booth sale.

 

"I also love the idea of getting to throw a pie in someone's face (as long as it's not mine! LOL! J/K, I'd be game as a victim if it got people fired up to sell!)" - The boys really get a kick out of it. I usually try to hide so they forget about me and pick on the Cubmaster, but I am not always sucessful, LOL! I let my Tigers stand close so they don't miss. Gotta love that whipped cream in the ears! BTW - the tubs of Cool Whip type cream are much stiffer and not as watery as the squirt cans & a foam plate stands up better than paper!

 

The rocket kit is a good incentive too. Families will watch their totals and put the family order on last to make the goal.

 

[Beagle Scout]

This is a subject that I am passionate about!

 

I understand that different communities have different demographics, so the products may be too expensive for some people. However, I would highly encourage everyone to give the sale a chance. I truly believe it can work, and work well, if it is done the right way. Yes, the popcorn is too expensive to sell in front of a store. However, research has shown that it sells very well door-to-door. If you provide the right incentives to the boys and their families, they will participate in the sale and do great. Here's our pack's success story:

 

When my older son was a Tiger, our pack sold $2900 in popcorn with approximately 25-30 boys participating in the sale. Due to confusion on how the sale was to be run, my son and I got a late start in the sale. We had heard that the pack had ordered some popcorn in advance and thought the pack was going to arrange times to sit in front of a store to sell it, but it turned out all that popcorn was given to the Webelos because the popcorn kernel did not believe that any other Scouts could get it sold. My son and I ended up taking orders for about $350 of popcorn in the last two weeks of the sale.

 

The next year, I volunteered to be the pack popcorn kernel. I figured if my son and I could sell $350 of popcorn in two weeks, we could do at least $700 during a full month of sales, and if the other families were motivated they would participate more, too. We implemented a simple incentive program in addition to the Trail's End prizes. The pack paid $50 toward summer camp for any boy who sold over $500 in popcorn, and the top seller in each den got to throw a whipped cream pie in the Cubmaster's face. Five boys qualified for the summer camp discount that year, and the pack sold $6900 in popcorn. With about 30 boys participating in the sale, the average sales per boy were approximately $250, which is right about the national average. It was a good sale, but I knew we could do better.

 

Last year, we set a higher goal for the pack. We decided to focus on Show and Deliver (door-to-door sales with immediate delivery), so we pre-ordered $10,000 of popcorn. We started with a sales blitz from 9:00 to noon the first day of the sale followed by an after-blitz party with pizza and pop for everyone who participated. I bought about $200 in prizes ranging from $20 value down to $5, and the boys picked what they wanted in order of their blitz sales, highest to lowest. Every boy got a prize, regardless of how much or how little he sold during the blitz. We had excellent turnout for the event (nearly 100%), and our total for just the first three hours of the sale was over $4500.

 

We again offered $50 toward camp for any boy who sold over $500 in popcorn, plus we gave any boy who sold over $1000 a gift card to the Scout Shop for the full amount of the pack's commission on the amount sold over $1000. We added additional prizes for the top three sellers at the midpoint of the sale, and we offered prizes at the end of the sale to the two boys who sold to the most customers and to the two boys who made the largest single sales. We also awarded a $100 den party to the den with the highest average sales per boy, and the top seller in each den got to throw a whipped cream pie in the Cubmaster's face. All of this was in addition to the Trail's End prizes. We had 100% participation in the sale, and even though we had the same number of boys participate as the previous year, with the added incentives the average sales per boy rose to about $430. The pack's final sales total was just under $14,000.

 

We do not let families opt out of the sale. It is not just about the money. Sales is an important thing for everyone to learn. All professions have some aspect of sales to them, whether it is actually taking money for a product or representing yourself or your ideas for acceptance by others (job interviews, anyone?).

 

We have never had a minimum sales quota, nor do we have pack dues beyond the yearly registration fee. Even when our sales were not that good, we had enough money to run the pack. We just scaled back the program to match our funds. I must say, we had an incredible program last year due to the extra money we had from the popcorn sale. The pack paid for Boy's Life, pinewood derby cars, and pack T-shirts for all the boys, plus we had a private party for all the pack families at our local waterslide park and we're doing a pack campout later this month.

 

If anyone wants more information about what we did or how it worked, please let me know. I am more than happy to help!

 

[curtis]

We did not sell popcorn last year. We sold "NUTS FOR SCOUTING" from the Virginia Diner. 1-888-VADINER. The incentive we used was the more you earn the less you have to pay for Cub resident camp. It worked. We were able to pay for camp with little or no trouble. We also use other fund raisers thorughout the year. This will be o ur first attempt at selling the popcorn this year.

[eaglewife]

PackCC--Our pack sells popcorn and the incentive we have is if you sell $200.00 in popcorn you get to throw a cream pie at your den leader's face. The top five sellers in the pack get to throw a cream pie at the cub master. The boys love it and the adults have a blast too. We do this at a pack meeting later in the year!

 

Janet

[Lisabob]

The pack we were part of sells popcorn - our troop does not.

 

If you decide to set a goal for your cub scouts, keep in mind that you won't be able to force them to meet it by penalizing them. If you try, you'll end up with some people quitting scouting over popcorn.

 

If you set a buy-out, you will have some of your wealthier parents take the attitude that they can simply buy whatever their son needs, rather than teaching him to work for what he wants in life. This is inevitable with buy-outs, whether in scouting or elsewhere. You have to decide if that's ok with you.

 

If you set a goal or a minimum "requirement," as Greg points out there are always people who struggle to meet it for reasons that are beyond the boys' control. So it will be important to organize den- and pack-level events where all kids can participate even if their family members aren't real gung ho, or aren't well connected, or whatever.

 

Show and sells can work, especially if you are in uniform. Pick stores where they aren't selling popcorn inside. Lowes, Home Depot, etc.. A pack or den photo display helps too so the boys can show people what they do in cub scouts. To do well, show & sells require a little advance communication with local shop owners and possibly with other packs in the area (depending on how saturated your market is).

 

Finally, rewards - as the purpose of the popcorn sale is to raise funds for the pack and since you've suggested that money is tight ($7 dues is extraordinarily low), I recommend you look for very low cost rewards. I love the pie in the CM's face type of rewards because they are fun, simple, and cheap. But if your sale goes well and you have lots of left over money, why not spend it on something scout-related? How about buying the boys their next rank book, or their new neckerchief, or something like that? In years where our sales went really well, we used the money to fund day camp. Kids didn't necessarily care that they saved mom & dad $40 but they did "get" that they got to do fun things at camp because of the popcorn sale, especially because we had them include photos from camp on their Pack Photo Display that we set up whenever we did show & sells.

 

 

 

 

[Greg Nelson]

We set our dues for this year at $50/6 months. This covers the total cost of one boy for a year, plus an extra $10 or so to cover any of our boys who don't have money for dues.

 

Last year they were $60 for the year plus expected participation in the popcorn sale.

 

 

[ScoutNut]

You know the more I think about it, I really like Beagle Scout's idea of the camp incentive for sales of $500+.

 

We have been talking about adding a car wash or some such with the proceeds going toward summer camp, but we never seem to get it going. With including it as a popcorn incentive you have a win-win situation. You don't have to load another fundraiser on families who are already fund raised out, you are helping families pay for camp, and you are potentially increasing the amount of popcorn sold. For those who sell over $500 and don't camp (our CM & his family, sad but true) we can do a credit at the Scout Shop.

 

I love it! First Committee meeting of the school year tonight with popcorn kickoff in 2 weeks. Yeah!