Should units share the wealth?

[NeverAnEagle]

Territory and turf, total BS. We have some McMansions in our "turf" but also a lot of apartment complexes. Popcorn does not sell there at all. Why are you selling popcorn at all ? Sell pizzas or something else people can actually use. Families are going to but frozen pizza anyway, why not pay a little more for some and help out a good cause. $20 for a small bag of Carmel popcorn is a luxury. Can you find a way to put that $4k BBQ to work ?

I Agree with KDD, but why sell anything? Selling crap that nobody wants is a waste of the boys time and doesn't fit at all with "a scout is thrifty."

 

We offer a Christmas tree removal service. It pays 100 times better than popcorn. We have the boys do radio spots after Christmas and all anyone has to do is give us a call and we arrange to come haul the tree away to be chipped. Some of the elderly and disabled in the area love the service and we can even send the boys to help them get the tree out of the stand. (Most people already have it out by the curve for us.)

 

Another troop obtains a permit from the FS to cut Christmas trees and sells them; they make out far better than we do, bu this way we aren't direct competitors. Yet another troop makes their money by hosting a giant spaghetti dinner every February.

 

If you get away from the dreaded popcorn, you will make much more money because 70% won't be guaranteed to leave the troop.

[Basementdweller]

Well the travel center was a bust. Spoke with the manager and his first response was he didn't want a bunch of kids running around. My response was I could limit it to boys over 14. which he responded he didn't think that was a good idea. My response was we could have adults do it....Which he responded I don't want you peddling out in front of my station.

 

Fair enough.

[Basementdweller]

Stop and robs are about it. Habibs corner grocery.....a few united dairy Farmers....a walgreens with a CVS directly a crossed the street and a few pizza take out places and that it. A few Somali and Latino grocery and a number of dive bars

We had a Krogers and Giant Eagle for a while. When they closed both of them there was a big news story, It was because of theft. Not from customers but from the employees. Every one they hired stole from them so they simply closed the stores. They showed video of employees loading boxes out the back of the store. employees ringing up family members with one can of soup and sending steaks and such down the line. Heck the fuel center caught a person selling fuel to her family and friends for .10 a gallon before the store opened.

 

that was 15 years ago now.....The stores still sit empty.

[Basementdweller]

Territory and turf, total BS. We have some McMansions in our "turf" but also a lot of apartment complexes. Popcorn does not sell there at all. Why are you selling popcorn at all ? Sell pizzas or something else people can actually use. Families are going to but frozen pizza anyway, why not pay a little more for some and help out a good cause. $20 for a small bag of Carmel popcorn is a luxury. Can you find a way to put that $4k BBQ to work ?

Our CO is a soup kitchen. local folks are not going to pay for a meal, Just that simple. Heck we have folks show up for a free meal at the Packs blue and gold banquet, They generally eat and run as soon as the program starts.

 

 

Our city offers free christmas tree removal.....But the rich folks a crossed the beltway now. that might be an idea. I think your right.....Let the police cite us for soliciting.....I bet the FOX channel would love to rip that Cub mom to shreds......Blocking the ethinically diverse troop from raising funds in their suburb.

 

 

So what do you charge for the christmas tree removal service???

[boomerscout]

Stop and robs are about it. Habibs corner grocery.....a few united dairy Farmers....a walgreens with a CVS directly a crossed the street and a few pizza take out places and that it. A few Somali and Latino grocery and a number of dive bars

the grocery stores are still empty? Maybe someone could start an indoor weekend flea market

[Nike]

BD, we don't always agree but vent on brother. My situation isn't inner city but rural town. Getting access to the big stores in the surrounding communities has been tough. That said, we did get access to a Wal-Mart and Jewel one year and the sales were terrible. We do better at the little gas station in our community than we ever did at the big store. Best part is we get some suburbanite tourist money when they head through town to spend the weekend in the country but need to stop for gas and beer.

BD, you'll also find that a lot of people will tell you they don't want popcorn, but they will give you a couple bucks. Best of luck. Your suburbanite "neighbors" are an embarrassment.

[qwazse]

The blog post that hasn't gotten any traction so far this month: http://scout-wire.org/2013/10/04/chiefs-corner-taking-scouting-to-the-inner-city/

 

On the other hand, all those reckless untucked scouters are catching heat for their slovenly ways. #firstworldprobelms

 

(Yes I know this site doesn't do hashtags, but if does in the future, I'll be ready!)

[Fehler]

I hear enough complaining about the part of popcorn sales that goes back to council to support programs in "those areas". If you tried to push the issue more, they're liable to think they are already supporting you through the council share (which we know is bogus).

[King Ding Dong]

The blog post that hasn't gotten any traction so far this month: http://scout-wire.org/2013/10/04/chiefs-corner-taking-scouting-to-the-inner-city/

 

On the other hand, all those reckless untucked scouters are catching heat for their slovenly ways. #firstworldprobelms

 

(Yes I know this site doesn't do hashtags, but if does in the future, I'll be ready!)

Sounds like Cub Scouts to me.

 

I don't know how far the typical scout ranch is from other major cities, but we have 2,200 acre property within about 30-40 minutes of most of the inner city. At least for Troops, it shouldn't be to difficult to set up bus transport at least a couple of times a year to a camporee field and some hikes.

 

As a service project I have always thought troops should host more disadvantaged troops for weekend outings. However as BD describes his experiences with the parents the culture clash could just be to great an obstacle to overcome. That pesky GTSS makes leaving the parents behind difficult for cub ages.

 

Hopefully they don't have any drive by shooting problems.

[5yearscouter]

It says I don't have at least 10 characters in this post!

 

My pack is in West Phoenix. Not a bad part of town, per se, but students qualify for free and reduced lunches at about 85-95% at our schools.

We've had to fight the packs from the more affluent parts of time from taking all of our sales times at our local Fry's grocery store. The council arranges with the grocery store corporate office to have the store fronts available to pack and troops on certain weekends. Then council has units sign up for all the time slots thru them. Which means every fall I'm waiting and watching until the store sign ups start so I hopefully can snag some store time for my cubs at the store that is RIGHT THERE by where we meet across the street. We got like friday night, saturday and sunday morning so like 9 hours total, and all the other time slots for the two weekends were snagged by units that are 10+miles away. They've learned that our store is good with donations, sales are not all that good, but used to be we'd get $600 a weekend in donations money just having a cubscout sitting there asking everyone to buy popcorn and a small donations can sitting on the table. Used to be also that you could reserve a store based on how close your pack meets to the store, and how many cubs you have--which at least guaranteed we'd have some time at "our" store. The packs from the wealthier areas have more scouts and they could use more places to sell at, but they also charge more, have more $ in the bank, and it hurts if they are taking away the money we need to actually provide scouting to our boys rather than money to send leaders to wood badge. know what I mean?

 

Without those popcorn sales times at Fry's, we've really struggled. We have a couple of gas stations, a couple of churches, dentist office, pediatrician's office, no big stores except ones where corporate has decide that if they open it up to cubs they'll have to let every non-profit have time in front of their store so they don't let anyone do it. There just aren't any other types of businesses to sell at.

 

Finding other fundraisers to do instead of popcorn is a good idea, but again, if you don't have a place to sell those things, your sales will suck. door to door sales you have to have a really kick butt product. Painting house numbers on the curb I've seen do well in new neighborhoods or very old neighborhoods. christmas tree hauling away would work if you have access to vehicles and a place to dispose of them.

 

My boy's troop sells flag subscriptions to make a LOT of $. But again, it's in a nicer area, more people with disposable income to spend $50 a year to have a flag put up at the home or business 8 holidays a year. and you hve to have a place to store the flags and vehicles to deliver them.

 

We are still looking for that perfect fundraiser. Right now we are trying to sell enough popcorn to get uniform shirts for 4 cubbies that need them(probably used on ebay but still parents can't afford it so you gotta do it). Then the next goal is enough to pay for $2 per boy for awards every month for the rest of the year. then we'll see if there is any to help offset the cost of daycamp. So far we haven't met goal #1 yet.

[boomerscout]

Kroger prides itself on being part of the community. Even though "your" Kroger is shuttered, they may let you use the commercial kitchen in the deli department

 

[boomerscout]

Kroger prides itself on being part of the community. Even though "your" Kroger is shuttered, they may let you use the commercial kitchen in the deli department

If you've been getting good write-ups in the local paper, then go into the dive bars with an official looking Scout donation cannister (Council need not know that it slipped your mind)

[boomerscout]

Kroger prides itself on being part of the community. Even though "your" Kroger is shuttered, they may let you use the commercial kitchen in the deli department

Your CO's kitchen may just need a 3-compartment sink plus a separate hand-washing sink to be kosher

[boomerscout]

Kroger prides itself on being part of the community. Even though "your" Kroger is shuttered, they may let you use the commercial kitchen in the deli department

the CVS near my Mother will rent out a stall in their parking lot. A couple guys try and sell their cheap imports there every time there is a community yard sale. Maybethe troop could go door-to-door collecting cast-offs and then sell them?? Saturday morning is traditionally the best time for this

[Basementdweller]

The blog post that hasn't gotten any traction so far this month: http://scout-wire.org/2013/10/04/chiefs-corner-taking-scouting-to-the-inner-city/

 

On the other hand, all those reckless untucked scouters are catching heat for their slovenly ways. #firstworldprobelms

 

(Yes I know this site doesn't do hashtags, but if does in the future, I'll be ready!)

Heck with inner city

 

How about all the boys who are country poor too....I am hearing more storys about that too.

 

I would love for my council to fulfill it's promise of support for these boys.......I would love some shirts and books......and lets not forget those camperships.......

 

The last shirt I received was thrown in my face at roundtable by the DE. That was three years ago. I have since requested more and the request are unfilled.