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It's Girl Scout cookie time!By Maria Bailey It's Girl Scout cookie time! Those five words evoke so many memories for so many women. Yesterday while working out in the gym, my friend Rachael and I reflected on Girl Scout cookies. I know it seems a little contradictory to be discussing Thin Mints while on a treadmill but just think about how many cookies we'll be able to eat this weekend when the Girl Scouts come knocking. Correct me if I'm wrong but everyone seems to have a favorite flavor. Just mention Girl Scout cookies and a smile appears. You immediately think about the special cookies with the fun names that you can only get once a year. No matter what Nabisico does, a Thin Mint is only a Thin Mint if it's delivered by an enthusiastic, green or brown-frocked girl. Regardless how many times the Girl Scouts change the names of a cookie they still taste great. But many of us still cling to an old name for the new cookie. Take Rachael for instance. She loves Samoas. You should hear how she describes the coconut flakes topped with caramel and drizzles of chocolate. She's practically salivating as she reminds me of Samoas. She even knows that they have a new name but refuses to let the Girl Scout marketing guru take away her attachment to the name Samoa. Just for fun I asked her how many old names of cookies that she can remember. Rachael knows more about things you'd never think to know than anyone I know so it didn't surprise me when she rattled off a list. Here's what came up: Trefoils, Dos-si-dos, Samoas, Tagalongs, Striped Chocolate Chip, Snaps, Crème filled and Chalets. She even said if I gave her a couple more minutes she could list more! About the time I was in the fourth grade, I remember that the Girl Scouts tried to change bakers. Sales apparently slumped because the next year the old cookies were back. The only good thing to come out of that off year was a chocolate chip cookie that was incredible. Well, at least it was for my fourth grade taste buds. I remember the years that my mother was a Girl Scout leader. We had cases and cases of cookies stacked high in our garage. It was like a mini-Costco of cookies. There was one sad year that our Labrador retriever decided to feast on Lemon Fills and Savannahs. I'll never forget my mother's reaction as she discovered shredded boxes and half-eaten cases scattered across the front lawn. At a dollar a box, it probably cost her at least $100 bucks to replace the mangled boxes. Although the taste of Girl Scout cookies have remained the same, two things have changed: Price and Selling Technique. The first is easy. Chalk it up to inflation that what once cost $1 a box now costs $3 to $3.50. Either that or Brownies are learning at an early age the importance of Profit/Loss and Margins. Selling technique is an interesting topic to discuss. When I was a Girl Scout, we would prepare for weeks for the day we got our official order form. We were read the riot act that we were not allowed to start selling until noon on the official start date. This would make it fair for everyone trying to earn the coveted "100 box" badge. The awesome thing about going to Catholic school though was that we always got out of school 45 minutes before the public schools in our area. That gave us almost an hour head start if we wore our scout uniform to school and sacrificed our afternoon snack. My sister and I would bolt from the station wagon (tells you how old I am) and begin knocking. We lived on a very long street and traded off the good houses and the bad. After years of selling cookies you began to know who were the Weight Watcher dropouts. The ones you could depend on for at least a five-box order. The Bartons were of our cookie clients. They had ten children, mostly boys with appetites. If you hit it just right when Mrs. Barton was home, it was a guaranteed 15-box order. That's a big push toward the 100-box badge. The McLouglins were always good for three boxes of Thin Mints, two Savanahs and one assorted. Men always ordered more than women who answered the door so the evening hours were good for hitting the houses of strangers. Your parent's friends felt obligated so they were easy targets. I was surprised to learn that some scouts no long go door to door. Our troop will distribute two cases to each girl and send them off to target friends and family. Good news for all of us who desire immediate gratification. No more wait time between ordering and delivery. I'm happy that my daughter won't have to knock on strange doors and suffer the stress of being the first on the street as I experienced many years ago. So today is the big day when we get to pick up our cookies. I don't know which I am looking forward to the most, the taste of a frozen Thin Mint or my trip down memory lane. Have a great week. I'm off to the gym so I can burn off the cookies I intend to eat tonight. Share your thoughts on our message board or email Maria.
Also see: Maria Bailey is the CEO and founder of BlueSuitMom.com and a mother of four children under the age of seven.
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