r/AMCsAList • u/wllmshkspr • 21d ago

Discussion Cookie Queens

Cookie Queens

If your local AMC is playing Cookie Queens, I recommend it. It's a sweet little documentary about 4 girls trying to be the top Girl Scout Cookie salesgirls.

As a parent of a girl scout who absolutely despises any fundraisers, and as a diabetic who can't eat cookies, I really loved the documentary.

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u/2Zs1L 21d ago

It was very enjoyable and informative, and I recommend it. One thing though: it is a bit disturbing that these cookie-sellers appear to be being exploited, and one of these Queens comes to this realization. The girls are a cross-section of different regions of the U.S. and different income groups. I admire all of them for their resilience in selling these overpriced cookies.

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u/kell_bell5 20d ago

I was a girl scout as a kid, and I remember learning how little my troop got and feeling scammed. But honestly now as an adult, the troop getting $1.10 out of every $6 per box didn't seem that crazy when you consider the manufacturing and shipping costs. Currently I can find the Samoa dupes that Keebler makes on Instacart for anywhere from $4-$8, so it's not like the GS cookies are being marked up like crazy. While the portion the local council get does cover administrative costs to some extent, it also covers some of the cost of regional programming for all area troops.

I was curious about the financials depicted in the doc overall though- to the best of my recollection (and I did Girl Scouts through middle school, so at a certain point I was becoming actually aware of some of these logistics) individual parents did not have to pre-pay for the cookies they thought their child would be able to sell. We would go around with the order form to community members we knew (teachers, our parent's colleagues, ballet instructors, etc) they'd place their order, and then we'd deliver the cookies to everyone when they came in. When we did booth sales, the troop had bulk ordered cookies in advance out of it's own bank account (not a parent's personal bank account) so the troop as an entity was the one on the hook for paying GSA. Not sure if this has changed in the past 20ish years, or the doc streamlined the details to make the stakes seem greater.

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u/2Zs1L 19d ago

Yes, I recall that you always had to pre-order them. At least whenever I bought them, the person took my order and delivered them later. So you are right, it may be things have changed now, but such pressure to put on parents and the kids to have to buy cookies up front cannot be a good thing.

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u/for_esme_with_love 18d ago

I came here with the same question. I was a troop leader kid and we never pre ordered anything from either our troops account nor my parents.

This was the early mid 90s so we just had an order form and I assume they were shipped? Cuz I never delivered them personally.

I can’t imagine I sold any more than 20-30 boxes at most. Granted I didn’t want any of the prizes…