Who is financially responsible?

[jc2008]

Just curious after i saw this article:

http://www.kens5.com/news/Donor-save...tml?hpt=us_bn8

 

If someone doesn't sell their popcorn/cookies who exactly is responsible for the bill if they don't have enough money to pay it?

For BSA is it the charter org? Can't imagine the charter org wanting to be responsible for however many cases of popcorn someone orders....

 

I know if I went to pick up my popcorn order and saw 12 times the number of things I had ordered, you wouldn't get me to sign the accept form lol..

[King Ding Dong]

I would have just dissolved the troop and started another one. Mistakes are made and GSUSA should have a system in place to fix such errors. There is also the three day right of recision law that should apply here. I nave not been involved directly with pack level ordering of popcorn but as you said I would just refuse delivery.

[ScoutNut]

The "system" in place for correcting such errors would vary depending on the council (BSA or GSUSA). However, as you both have noted, the best thing to do is to simply refuse to accept the order.

 

Why this Girl Scout Troop signed for all of these cases is beyond me. Why their council did not work with them on this is also beyond me.

 

It is nice to see that a "cookie angel" came thru to take the last of the cookies off their hands. Kudos to these girls for managing to sell 251 cases! I hope they do something FUN with some of that profit!

[Basementdweller]

The GSUSA is Draconian with the way they run the cookie sale....I doubt dissolving the troop would have ended it for the unit leaders.....

 

 

From what I have read every BSA council Runs their Popcorn/fundraisers differently.......

 

Some won't let you return less than full cases....Some won't let you return at all......Others return as much as you want.

 

In our unit.....All popcorn is paid for up front.....This minimizes the units liability...... This minimizes the lost stolen, eaten popcorn.

 

Once the popcorn leaves the units hands is the parent and youth problem.

[King Ding Dong]

The GSUSA is Draconian with the way they run the cookie sale....I doubt dissolving the troop would have ended it for the unit leaders.....

 

 

From what I have read every BSA council Runs their Popcorn/fundraisers differently.......

 

Some won't let you return less than full cases....Some won't let you return at all......Others return as much as you want.

 

In our unit.....All popcorn is paid for up front.....This minimizes the units liability...... This minimizes the lost stolen, eaten popcorn.

 

Once the popcorn leaves the units hands is the parent and youth problem.

I think we can return the non-chocolate stuff. We have also passed on the show and sell for this reason. Accounting just becomes to complicated.

[Twocubdad]

After selling 451 cases of cookies I'd have dropped the remaining 49 off in front of the council office and told them to put them somewhere. And it would be the last da.. uh... dang cookie I ever sold or ate. You folks who know about cookie prices and mark ups correct me, but to my math it would appear the council still got their full wholesale price on the "donation" and most assuredly profited on the cookies the girls sold. I know in our council the few times there have been problems like this the council tries to work everything out on the council's cost of the popcorn. Insisting on making your net on someone's mistake is wrong. And it sure doesn't engender anyone to cooperate in next year's sale.

 

Here, cookies sell for $4 a box and the troop gets 50 cents, or 12.5%. Popcorn sales net troops 25-33%, depending on the plan and bonuses. The poor girls are getting scr..uh...ripped off. I admit it, I always have to have a box or two of Thin Mints and my wife comes home from the office with a couple more. After that, anytime I see girls selling cookies, I'll give them a few bucks and make sure their leaders know it is a donation to the troop.

 

 

I don't know any BSA leaders who would put up with that treatment.

[Nike]

Councils that don't work with troops to correct ordering errors are shooting themselves in the foot and just engendering ill will. That said, the service unit cookie manager should have asked why the troop was ordering 500 cases if that was unusual for the area. I bet this was a first time cookie parent who clicked the wrong button on the website.

 

Lots of Girl Scout cookies get eaten at resident camp. It's always a thrill to get Thin Mints in July!

 

Overseas in our area, the Committee gets $1 of the $3.50 we charge for cookies. We split it here in our community 75/25 with the troops. So the girls get $9 on a $42 case of cookies or 22%. The rest of the money goes to USAGSO-NA, which pays the baker and keeps a cut, and AAFES, which brings the cookies into the country tax free under the SOFA.

 

And, yes a bake sale is way more profitable, but the first day the cookies show up on an overseas post, you'd think we were selling booze during Prohibition. We can't get them out of the car before people are asking to just buy the case.

[Nike]

The GSUSA is Draconian with the way they run the cookie sale....I doubt dissolving the troop would have ended it for the unit leaders.....

 

 

From what I have read every BSA council Runs their Popcorn/fundraisers differently.......

 

Some won't let you return less than full cases....Some won't let you return at all......Others return as much as you want.

 

In our unit.....All popcorn is paid for up front.....This minimizes the units liability...... This minimizes the lost stolen, eaten popcorn.

 

Once the popcorn leaves the units hands is the parent and youth problem.

Almost every GS lawsuit involves cookie money. You don't mess with the cookies.

[jc2008]

I was really wondering who exactly the Girl Scouts would send to a Collection Agency. The Troop leader going to get annoying calls 3 times a day from someone trying to recover the debt?

 

It just doesn't make sense that there is no oversight, and like someone above said, someone at the girl scout council not saying hmm this order is unusually large, better check on it.

[packsaddle]

I suspect a collection agency would seek and accept money from anyone they thought might be willing to pay, even if for no other reason than to end the harassment.

 

But if the economic meltdown and moral fabric of our financial industry is any guide, considering that practically no one has been convicted of anything, I'd guess that no one is responsible. Don't worry about it, just walk away and leave the unit 'holding the bag'. Seems to have worked for bankers and brokers.

 

 

 

On the other hand, if you happen to be the CEO who has committed comparatively minor transgressions (without sending the entire world into near economic collapse) AND you happen to be a woman...lady, you're going to prison. Just ask Martha.

[jc2008]

Donno, personally I would blame the council for ordering that many boxes for a troop that hasn't had orders like that in the past. I know our council calls to speak to the popcorn kernel if they see an unusually large or odd order from a troop/pack that doesn't normally ask for that much.