troop/pack popcorn show&sells

[Lisabob]

I was thinking about popcorn show&sells and was wondering if anybody had done one where a troop and pack joined forces. In our area, there are about 3 or 4 packs for every troop. Most of the packs sell popcorn; most of the troops do not. Although there are several cases where a pack and troop are sponsored by the same CO, few have close connections between the units and almost none share a common pool of adult leaders across troop/pack lines.

 

As a former cub leader and popcorn kernel I know how much work it was to organize those show & sells (a lot) - and how much money we made from them (a lot)! As a current troop committee member, I know that the older boys don't have the "cuteness" factor working for them any more and the older boys really hate going door to door for sales, but they are also better organized and more patient than cubs were.

 

Would it be beneficial to have a troop and pack team up to run a show & sell? Pack would benefit from having a wider adult and older boy network to do the organizing and run the sale. Troop would benefit from mixing in with the "cute" little guys to encourage people to buy the product.

 

Or am I pipe dreaming again?

[gwd-scouter]

A long time ago our adult leaders decided to have the boys do a show and sell at Walmart. It was difficult to get the older guys to do it. The problem for some was that they had to wear their uniforms and were afraid all their non-scouting friends would see them (everyone goes to Walmart on Saturday, right?). The other problem is that they thought it seemed to much like the Girls Scouts selling cookies.

 

The sale went pretty well, but our Troop has never done a show and sell again.

 

I do know that the Packs/Troops that have the same CO usually do Scouting for Food together and get many more donations than Troops that go it alone. It's that Cub Scout cuteness factor. So, teaming up for popcorn sales probably will help your Troop. How would you go about keeping track of what sales go to the Pack and to the Troop?

[Lisabob]

Good point about the uniform issue, although troop T shirts and scout pants seem to be acceptable public attire for most of our guys.

 

In the past when we did show & sells with the pack, we did it like this. We asked all boys to cover at least one 2-hour shift, but then they could work additional hours if they wanted to. The profits from the sale would be evenly divided across the total boy-hours worked by all boys. A boy who worked 3 hours would get 3 hours worth of profit. The idea was to reward effort and participation, and to avoid having some boys/parents worry about getting "better" time slots than others. We could do the same thing here.

 

Actually I think the harder part would be deciding who pays the up-front cost of the popcorn and deals with any left over product, since even packs & troops with the same CO don't share a common budget.

 

 

 

 

[ScoutNut]

Lisa, the shuffling of popcorn paperwork between Troop and Pack is a definitely pain in the tucass!

 

I am the Popcorn Kernel for the Pack. At one time I was also the PK for the Troop. In out Troop the popcorn profit goes 100% to the boys Scout accounts (their Troop fundraiser is a Pancake Breakfast), you would think that would encourage sales. Not so much. The boys do not like working for it by going door to door. As you noted, show & sells can make pretty good money, and it is REALLY EASY work (for the boys anyway).

 

For 2 years I offered show & sell slots to the Troop. I tried days specifically slotted for the Troop. I tried opening up all slots to both the Pack & Troop. The only takers from the Troop were my son & one other boy, who was used to booth sales of GS cookies with his 2 sisters.

 

Figuring out how much, of what product, to allocate to the Troop was way to much of a pain. I ended up simply giving the Troop the boys show & sell allocation out of the Pack funds. Not the best solution, but it did work.

 

A couple of years later, when boys and leaders who were used to show & sells from Cubs got into the Troop, the Troop did their own. Still not a large turn out, but some at least.

 

The only down side is I now have competition getting the best sites!

 

The bottom line is I would recommend the Troop run their own show & sells. Keeps the paperwork neater, with less headaches all around.