Why Do We Have To Get Girl Scout Cookies?
In the comments to my last post, Sid asked:
"From South Africa. Don't quite get it ... Why do you have to get Girl Scout cookies? Does the money go to charity?"
I'm going to answer this here instead of in the comments because I know there are a lot of Non-USA-ers who read this blog.
I'd like to give some kind of altruistic answer to this and say that I buy them because the money goes to the local Girl Scout troop, and that Girl Scouts is a time honored organization that has been doing great things for young girls all over America and some parts of the world for many many years.... But the real reason that I (and many people) get these, is because they are the best cookies in the world, they are highly addictive, and you can only buy them once a year and only if you know a little girl who's selling them! (-Until I discovered otherwise. Hence my last post!)
They start us on the Girl Scout cookie addiction when we're very young. In Elementary school I always had friends selling them. By Junior High I started buying more boxes so they'd last longer (3 or 4 boxes? I don't think so. Those would be gone in less than 2 weeks! I started buying between 12 and 20 boxes at a time, as money would permit.) I also started hiding them in the back of my closet so the rest of my family wouldn't eat them!
When I moved back to New York City it got harder to find Girl Scouts. In suburbia, once a year, the girls go door to door selling their cookies or they set up a table outside a large store (like a grocery store). In NYC they don't do this. You have to find them! They do sell them in some office buildings once a year, but only some. And if you did not find a Girl Scout in time? You did NOT get your cookie fix that year! (Oh the horror!) -Any time I saw someone with a box of Girl Scout cookies in their home I'd yell "Where did you get that??!! Give me that little girl's name and number!!!!" Lol!
If it were possible to get these cookies all year round, I wonder if the addictiveness would be as high, or if people would just get used to them and the demand would die down? I don't think that would happen, but you never know.
7 Comments:
Re: the attraction of Girl Scout cookies.
Well said! And that's an excellent question leading me to wonder the same thing about Harvest Pie at Coco's that's only available in November and December. Would it be so tempting if I could have a piece anytime? I just don't know.
Hugs and blessings,
Wonderful post. My cookies are on order..thanks to the coworkers kid. SO..in Illinois, which is right across the river from us..their cookie season is in the Fall..I'm not kidding!! So we can get cookies twice a year! I put mine in the freezer..I had a sleeve of thin mints last month during a really bad case of PMS..AND it tasted as good as the fresh boxes will :-)
Ah thanks for replying to this. This makes so much more sense. You were beginning to sound like the cookie monster. Once a yr ... great marketing trick.
OK..you can go do the American Accent Quiz now..I put up the link :-)
A great post from one of your American readers. Yes, scarcity is a huge part of the GSC love. I had a similar conversation explaining this to my Canadian friend who was all, aren't they just cookies? (!) I will forward her this link and I know it will make her smile.
wtf! i totally just posted a comment thanking you for YOUR comment and also raving maniacally about girl scout cookies.. but.. it's gone. sniffle.
to sum up: hi! thanks! girl scout cookies rock!
Storyteller: Never heard of Harvest pie. Hmmm...
MP: Cookies in the fall? Oh we should start a network. Thin mints in the freezer: Yeah I do that!
sid: You're welcome. As you can see, other people thought it was a good question too!
mp: Done! (But you probably knew that already.)
Nora: More Canadians! "Hi Canadians! De-lurk a bit more will ya?!"
Alice: Hi! :) Really? Crap, you're the third person who's said that in 2 weeks. What's up with Blogger? No one ever said their comments got lost before. Thanks for leaving a 2nd er... first.. um... "replacement" comment! (I'm kind of sorry I missed the maniacal raving! :) )
Post a Comment