How should leaders divide Girl Scout cookie booth sales fairly for those girls who put in the work? Here are a few ways that leaders can do that.
Updated January 2023
Cookie season continues to be the hot topic on Girl Scout leader Facebook groups and forums. There seems to be an endless amount of stress and drama for leaders. Some of it is self-induced (getting aggravated at girls who are not selling) while other drama out of our control (parents not paying for the cookies they took).
Photo by Hannah Gold
That is one of the reasons I am loving my small troop. We are truly a team that works together. Drama is not a word in our lexicon. As I wrote in a recent post, we divide out cookies evenly across the board.
I understand that this does not work for larger troops, especially when you have some girls who sell nothing and others who sell one thousand boxes. One way to level the selling field is to do cookie booths.
I think cookie booths are a fantastic way for girls to work together as a team to help achieve the troop goals you established at the beginning of cookie sales. Having booth sales also helps girls who have parents who are either unwilling or unable to help their own daughter. This scout can still feel part of the sisterhood of her troop and help work towards the end goal-money for fun troop activities and community service projects.
However, one question that had many different answers was how leaders divided the number of boxes sold at a booth.
Here are the responses.
Photo by Hannah Gold
How to Divide Girl Scout Cookie Booth Sales
*One way to divide Girl Scout cookie booth sales to take all boxes sold at booth sales and divide it among the girls, as long as they worked at least one booth. Those who did not work any booths do not get credit towards their individual goals.
*Some leaders divide by individual booth. If four girls worked a booth, the total sales for that booth are given only to those four girls.
*There are others who divide by the number of cookies sold per hour. That way the girl gets credit only for the cookies she sells on her two hour shift.
*Another method is to total all booth sales divide by man hours worked ( 2 hour booth = 4 hours since 2 girls work at a time) , thus giving cookie credits per hours worked . Each girl then gets her total hours worked over all booths x cookie credits. This gives credit to girls who work solo (permitted by some Councils).
*Others take the total number of cookies sold at booths, divide them by how many boxes per hour per girl, and then multiply that by the hours worked. For example:
*”X” boxes total have been sold across the booths, 30 box per hour per girl x 4 booth hours is 120 boxes per girl.
Personally, I think the last scenario is the most fair way is the first method, dividing sales equally among the girls who have worked and the hours they have worked. It factors in slow booths, as well as those who only did one booth versus a girl who did five. Who wants to sign up for the library booth on a Sunday afternoon, when it is known as a slow selling place? No one.
However, the girls may get upset if they do not get a time slot the booth in front of the pizza parlor on Friday night or the supermarket on Super Bowl Sunday morning. If you are trying to make things fair and get girls and parents to give up time on the weekend and participate, then you need to make sure that booth sales are split evenly.
My troop has sold at various locations during our two active cookie seasons. The library was slow. The pizza place on Saturday afternoon was so slow we closed up shop an hour earlier.
Supermarket booths on Saturday and Sunday and Friday night pizza parlor booths were raging successes due to the time and location. The girls all sold and the sales were split evenly.
It is the time and location, not the effort of the girls, that is the largest determining factor for the amount of cookies sold at booths. More cookies are sold at the beginning of the season than at the end, when there is cookie fatigue for customers and sellers alike.
How do you divide up your cookie booth sales?
We are a troop of Cadettes. I am the Cookie Mom and how I divide it out is in hours. The adults get credit as well, grant you it goes to the girl, but we have had issues in the past where parents wouldn’t want to volunteer to help. I personally can not be at all the booth sales. This makes it so that the girls who put more work in get more sales and the ones who put in the smallest get that back. It is about what you want out of it.
If I understand you correctly Heather, adults get cookie credit and it is passed to the girls, so the girls get double credit for working a booth? My only issue with this is that I work on weekends, and if there is enough adult coverage without my being there, then my daughter loses out of cookie credit because of my work schedule. In this instance, it is not a matter of not wanting to help, but not being able to. That is a big difference to me. If this scenario works for your troop, and it gets parents to help, then that is great for you. Every leader has to do what is right by her to keep her sanity. I have always been fortunate to have help from my parents whenever I asked for it. Thank you for your comment!
I have an overseas troop. We are on a small island with limited resources and customers. But the girls also have family who visit and prior commitments. Family time is important and so is keeping promises. So to make it fair, we get the total amount of sales from all the booths, and divide it equally between each girls. The season isn’t over yet and each girl is getting over 100 boxes each credited to them so far. We also have 15 girls, and with the booth credits, each girl will reach their goal.
I am glad that you found a solution that works for your unique troop!