CHICAGO: On a sunny Sunday afternoon, Molly Sheridan is hard at work in front of a Starbucks coffee shop in Chicago.
The 13-year-old is playing her ukulele and, along with her five-year-old sister Edie, singing about Girl Scout cookies — boxes of which she has arranged for sale on a table.
“Singing with my ukulele, I think that brings in people,” Molly says.
It is Girl Scout cookie season, a uniquely American tradition marking its 100th year.
The cookies aren’t made by the scouts, but rather are marketed and sold by members of the service organisation between January and April — the local weather determines the timing — to raise money for their activities.
The tradition has been interrupted only during the Second World War, when a shortage of ingredients led the scouts to sell calendars.
Jean Niederman, 56, can remember back to her own childhood, selling the same cookies door-to-door in the late 1960s. Back then, they were $1 per box. Now they’re $5, she pointed out with a hint of irritation.
“Girl Scout cookies have always been popular,” she said.
There are other differences today: a new box design, and a Scouts-specific digital selling platform that allows girls to sell to people anywhere in the United States, its territories and even on military bases in other countries.
Sales on sites such as Amazon and eBay are prohibited. Scouts are supposed to maintain one-on-one interactions with their customers, so they must use the Scouts website and personally invite customers to buy online.
Still, boxes of cookies can be found on e-commerce sites for a markup — at times twice their original price.
The Girl Scouts organisation says it sells some $800 million worth of cookies a year. The girls keep the proceeds of what they sell.
Last year, Molly sold 1,500 boxes, raising hundreds of dollars to go on a nature trip with other scouts. She’s not the most prolific saleswoman — Katie Francis of Oklahoma City sold 22,200 boxes in 2015 alone.
The 14-year-old has sold more than 85,000 boxes overall — one of the best sales records at the Girl Scouts.
“It really takes a lot of time, and I’ve learnt that attitude is everything,” Katie said, detailing real-life lessons in entrepreneurship, service and resourcefulness.
“I’ve learnt not to set limits in any goal,” she said. “With time and determination, anything is possible.”
That’s just the kind of message that Sylvia Acevedo wants to impart.
The CEO of the Girl Scouts, a former scout herself, said selling cookies changed her life — instilling a young girl from modest means with a sense of self-determination.
“It’s not just about selling cookies, it’s about setting goals,” Acevedo said. “It’s really their first chance to start their own business.”
Acevedo points out that nearly half the women entrepreneurs she encounters were Girl Scouts in their youth.
“It’s building the girls’ confidence,” she said.
Molly said selling cookies has indeed helped her confidence and taught her to plan ahead. She plans to save her cookie sale earnings for two years to pay for a special trip.
“I’m excited to go to India in 2018,” she said with a smile.
