Girl Scout Cookie Sales - Mercenaries in Beige

Tomorrow, January 17, is Go Day for Girl Scouts throughout the Eastern Missouri Council area to start selling Girl Scout Cookies. This is an exciting time for these girls, especially the younger ones. Little do these poor, unsuspecting innocents realize that the older Scouts (Cadettes and Seniors) have already plotted their strategy - strategies that could rival anything coming out of the Pentagon. In fact, I'll bet some of our best military generals really learned their battle strategies from their Girl Scout sisters, not the military academy. Oh, sure, West Point will be a little irked, but the truth hurts.

My 13-year-old daughter is a Cadette and we have been talking about how to increase her sales in the midst of a difficult economy and the price increase of the cookies. Several of our neighbors have been laid off from their jobs and money is tight everywhere. This means, that if they order at all, they will reduce what they have ordered in the past. To make up for the likely shortfall of our regulars, we will have to go farther afield in our search for cookie customers. Her goal is 260 boxes - last year she sold just over 200.

This may mean infiltrating the streets that have been typically scoped out by other Girl Scouts in the neighborhood. The caring and compassionate mother that I am would instruct my daughter to respect the other girls and let them have their sales. My daughter is saying, "You snooze, you lose, Mom." Therefore, she will take no prisoners; all Brownies and Juniors are fair game. Note to other parents - I have talked her out of ambushing the other Scouts.

Girls, you have been officially warned.

Despite the cold weather, we will go out tomorrow armed with our order sheet and two pens in search of elusive sales and will beat the competition. As we march through the streets of our community, we will be watching for the younger Girl Scouts and move ahead of them to each house. We will be bold. We will be daring. We will be there first.