Girl Scout Cookie Sales Crumble

PALM DESERT – Troops are out selling their famous Girl Scout cookies, but this year people are buying less.

“People are losing their jobs, they’re out of work and looking for ways to cut back,” says Palm Desert assistant troop leader, Lisa Underwood.

Conservative spending makes it difficult of these girls to keep their commitment of service.

“The more people buy, the more we can do for the community,” says Underwood.

With money made through cookie sales, the Palm Desert troop hopes to help a poor family living in Africa become more self-sufficient. They plan to buy a sheep, a goat and two flocks of chicken through the Heifer Foundation.

The troops’ goal is to sell 4000 boxes of cookies, that means each girl will need to sell 200 boxes. Leaders are confident they will reach this goal, but this year could be a little harder.

Going into the year, two obstacle stood in the girls’ way- the economy and the peanut butter scare.

“Our two top sellers have peanut butter in them,” says Dianne Biggs, Palm Desert troop leader.

The cookies made it through the recall, but the economic hurdle is growing.

The girl scouts don’t take money from the buyer until cookies are ordered and delivered, but many sales aren’t cashing out.

“A lot of people have lost their home and had to move quickly,” says Biggs. ” We are stuck with the cookies.”

Still a lot of people are buying cookies, but not large quantities like they used to.

“Some people would buy ten boxes, now its two,” says Underwood.

These girls won’t give up they just go to more doors hoping for sales of any size and they’ll continue taking small steps towards their goal and pledge of community service.

Girl Scout cookies still cost $3.50, but the boxes have gotten lighter. Many variety have two to four fewer cookies per box than they used to.

If you’d like to buy Girl Scout cookies please contact Dianne Biggs at diannebiggs@dc.rr.com or call the Girl Scout office at 760-345-1703.