Simple cost saving uniform changes

[afscout]

My son just crossed over to Bear and it once again brings up the point of why we have a hat, necker, and slide (and belt buckles for Tigers) for each level? It makes scouting more expensive to participate in. Remember when CS wore one hat/slide/necker for the whole time except for Webs (basically the wolf uniform except for a dark blue hat with yellow stripeing)? I would even go as far as saying having different color neckers is ok since it make it easy to see your den in a sea of CS at pack meeting or if people wanted another piece of "bling" to give to the boys at crossover (and even those are pretty flimsy reasons). But I can't think of one good reason for having different slides and hats. If you simplify your product line, you gain efficiencies and hopefully reduce cost by producing in greater bulk numbers. With the economy in a downturn, BSA could score some points by doing things to help parents out in the wallet.

 

OK, I'm done venting and feel better. Now I'm going to admire my son's new Bear stuff because before I know it he'll be a Web and have to buy a different hat/slide/necker.(This message has been edited by AFscout)

[moosetracker]

Have your Pack think about doing a handme down day.. If the hats, slides and neckers aren't lost before you go up a rank, you pass yours down, and get first dibs on the rank up who are passing theirs down. No guarentee that there will be enough from the rank up to pass down to the rank below, but it is a thought.

 

Yeah some stuff makes you wonder why they still allow BSA to be a non-profit organization. They definately are trying to turn a profit where ever they can. Your non-profit small unit have to come up with ways to battle that and keep the costs down.

[momof2cubs]

Our pack passes things down. And our pack also elected to use the tan uniform for webs, so it's a whole new uniform after bears.

[afscout]

We tried the donation closet at our pack, it didn't work. We acutally landed up donating a whole bunch of uniform stuff to another pack out of state that was in need. We live in a middle-class area where most of the parents can afford to buy new uniforms and such, but at the same time, they (including me) gripe about the cost and wish the price could come down.

 

One of my biggest pet-peeves is the neckerchef slides. They don't stay in place and most of the boys lose theirs if they're running around (like boys do). At $5.00 a pop, it gets pricy really quick. When my son was a Tiger, he lost two before I made him tie his necker below the slide no matter what he's doing. It looks dorky, but at least he stopped losing them. As a DL, I made one of our first den projects to make a slide out of beads and paracord. It's cheap and it won't come off when the boys play. Now if I could also figure out how to make den hats and neckers...

[shortridge]

Easy solution to the Sliding Slide Conundrum:

 

Take a rubber band or metal twist-tie and secure the neckerchief first. Then slide the metal slide over it, slipping one of the slide ends through the band or through a loop in the twist-tie. The neckerchief is secure, and the slide is hooked in place.

 

Or just make your own slides, den or individualized.

[Lisabob]

I hear you. One easy solution is to decide that your pack won't vigorously enforce some of these items. The Hats come to mind. The change from having the same hat (and necker) for all cubs, to having distinct ones for every rank, happened while my son was a cub. The pack decided that they really weren't fussed about which hat a kid wore - if any. Parents who wanted rank-specific hats were invited to purchase them. Parents who didn't, were invited not to.

 

The pack did provide neckers for each rank. We didn't provide slides. But most dens made their own slides anyway, which solved that problem.

 

As for belt buckles - that's nuts. Buy the cub scout belt & buckle. Nobody is likely going to notice, or care.

 

 

[Eagle92]

One thing my pack did this year was to make slides, or woggles, using Turk's Head Knots out of parahute cord. For the price of about 5 slides, maybe fewer, I got 200' of #550 cord and was able to make enough for all the Cubs, Leaders,, and still have it left over for fall round up.

[Papadaddy]

Why does the BSA have different uniform parts for different CS levels? Revenue. First thing we did when I was a CS back in the 60's was make our own slides, which I wore throughout CS and BS (one of those leather arrowhead kits). I still have it in my scout drawer.

[Eagle92]

Yep! Although I do know for the slides at least, most people bought two at a time. I think someone suggested different slides since folks were buying multiples anyway.

 

The hats are what get my goat.

[SSScout]

The Pack can decide to use only the "generic" yellow Cub Necker and Bear symbol Cub hat. It is a decission that the Pack can make. The uniforms do need to be replaced, Cubs do grow.

The slide (woggle): The metal slide can be bent to grip tighter, AND Cubs can make their own. I always liked the idea of each Den making their own Den specific woggle.

As it happens, the loose slide thing began when the necker was made smaller, but the slide was kept the same size as before. I have compared my Cub slide to the modern ones, same size. Neckers are smaller, less cloth for the slide to grip.

The profit motive is an obvious consideration, but the style thing, the differation of the Dens, I think was the real motivation when the year specific stuff came out. I don't like it either. But, again, some Akelas do.

[rjscout]

I like the necker per rank to differentiate dens. I am not big on separate slides/hats per rank. We handed out homemade slides made with polymer clay disks and stamped with rank paw, as well as Turks head knots. We also encouraged den made slides. Didn't encourage the rank hats. Switched to a more generic scout hat (cub scouts or webelos) for those who wanted a hat.