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Popcorn Problems


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What do you do with those that wait 4 days after the 'last turn in' for popcorn sales? They want the Cubmaster(me) and Kernel to alter their families lives for their own convience and lack of their own proper planning. The last excuse I heard was I didnt want to carry the money with me! Well they didnt carry the paperwork either! So now I've lost another Kernel who doesnt like problems....

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Why day do dat?

Is an age old question.

If you can find the answer and bottle it, you can make a lot of money donate it to the pack and never have to bother selling that foul tasting stuff ever again!

Until then I found counting to 100 under my breath helped me.

Ea

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I told them I was not going to 'bend for them', and that they can deal directly with council. They are big yellers and that is one of the reasons kids wont join us, they are intimidated. I told em, if you want to complain to council about me make sure you spell my name right!

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I make sure that I tell scouts/parents when the deadline is and stick to it. I email, give out calendars.

 

Had a scout who was always late, well we were leaving at 8am for a 20 mile drive and mom said he was always the one running late so we left at 8am without him. Mom drove him but was not happy. Anyhow he is now on time for everything. It self corrected.

 

By the way my deadline for popcorn orders was last Monday.

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Was the date you had to turn it in to Council the same day, or the day after your deadline to the members of the Pack to turn in their orders?

 

It's too late for this year but in the future, I'd make the Pack deadline at least 5 days before the Council deadline. That allows you time to put the orders together while stll giving you time to add in any stragglers that might come through. Just don't tell anyone about the Council deadline - tell them the Pack deadline is firm.

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Stick to your guns. The only way learn sometimes is the hard way!. My wife is our kernel. she told everyone one it was at a given date and stuck to it. Found out if you give people till last minute, they will take it and more. Unless people are willing to step-up and do it , walk a mile in shoes they don't know what is involved.

 

Sad for the boy, but a deadline is a deadline!

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We tell everybody that the deadline is the deadline....no exceptions.

 

Of course, the deadline we give is about 4 days to a wek before the real deadline.

 

But, I'll say this...if this is the biggest problem you have with popcorn, then you are doing great!

 

We "used" to have other bigger issues with popcorn. Families sellling and collecting money, but not turning it into the pack which decided to order it anyways. Yeah, that bit us big . But that was before the current leadership and committee were running things.

 

Our biggest potential problem is ordering from Trail's End.

 

When you sell 13 boxes of something that comes in cases of 12, you still have to buy a whole case.

 

Our council will not help pay for those 11 boxes of popcorn that came in that case, but will hold out their hand to get their share of the profits of trhose 11 cases being bought from Trail's End.

 

As it was yesterday morning, we were looking at a $400.00 loss dues to split and partial orders. I called and e mailed all the packs in my district and worked things out.

 

Council just sent out a memo to the effect of: "When you oreder, you are ordering by the case. You will be responcible for that case. We get our share wether you sell or not!"

 

So basically, we do all the work, do all the selling, and council gets a profit no matter what. Depending on how much you sell, it might be cheaper to cut a check to council and just not sell anything!

 

 

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I am the Pack popcorn kernel......we end our sale a month before the council... Pretty simple

 

 

Yes some parents are rude, selfish and ignorant......nothing you are going to do to change it.

 

Ya know scoutfish if our council pulled a stunt like that and forcing us to eat partial cases I would refuse to sell.

 

You guys all are aware that you don't have to sell popcorn....(This message has been edited by Basementdweller)

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Our popcorn sales ended tonight. Orders have to be in at Council tomorrow. Our pack meeting was 2 weeks ago, and that's when the order turn-in was. That 2 weeks gives me time to triple check everything. I know that I will get a few late from people who weren't at the pack meeting or forgot, and I account for that. However, last Monday, I sent out an email that I HAD to have all orders in by last Wednesday night, and any orders that came in after that time would not be accepted, and the boy would have to go around and refund everyone's money, explaining to them that his parents screwed up.

I've never had anyone come in after that "drop-dead" date, and I never have any problems with really late orders.

 

Although I kinda wish I had about $800 more in orders come in this weekend at our campout. We would have hit a major sales milestone of $30,000/

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Scoutfish,

Last year, our council did the same thing - required final orders to be full cases only. It's not that bad to deal with if you arrange with several other units to do a little "horse trading" to eliminate the extra. But it is still a pain. We only had to eat about $100 worth of popcorn out of $22k sold. Enough people expressed displeasure at this to council that this year, they went back to ordering by unit.

Keep in mind, though, that council has to order by the pallet and/or the row, so they also end up eating a lot of excess popcorn. That is their way of trying to offset what they end up getting stuck with.

 

Contrary to popular belief, BSA Councils are not evil. There is usually a method to their madness.

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Last year we sold 3500 yep 3500 and we were 1st in our district. If they start the but the case, pallet whatever you call it. Well I do not see us going that route. Why should the we, the sellers, pay the price of councils lack of planning? Just love that - all for me and none for thee- council attitude!

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Basementdweller, I never said it was a good thing. Believe me, I was one of the more vocal opponents to it. However, rather than thinking that council was out to screw me, I found out why they did it, and I understand.

 

No name, the council buying by the pallet isnt poor planning by the council, that's the way they are required to do it by Trails End. Requiring units to buy full cases was their way to cut down on their loss. It makes sense to a certain degree, but isn't really practical and ours decided to discontinue the practice, fortunately.

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That's where the council could have some of it's less buy paid staff collect the orders of the entire council a week before they have to make their own order, and do a councilwide total of each flavor of popcorn they need. Then order that way.

 

If 6 or 7 units within a district can work it out...great, if not, they can work it out council wide.

 

My issue is this: We run around and do all the leg work, pitching, selling, then go back and deliver it all. The council orders basd on what we order, but saying we have to buy an entire case tells me that council isn't even bothering to check the counts or do a little math on their own.They are just going to a higher number. Spelled $$$$$$$$

 

Yeah, it is to raise money for the council, but that doesn't mean units should go into the hole to do this.

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I'm playing popcorn kernel this year, because our pack is apparently made up of our core 4 families and 80 others that are all apparently single,hard-working, no-free-time parents. /rolleyes

 

 

I set the turn in date for take orders for tomorrow. I have sent out emails, posted on the website, handed out calendars, and talked to each den at least twice. Tomorrow night, I will again visit each den and then spend the remaining time down in our "central location" with the cubmaster, for anyone who is straggling. Anyone who doesn't turn in tomorrow at the den meetings can drive the hour to come to my house on Wednesday and turn the form in to me by noon. After noon, I will no longer be accepting forms--I will be too busy getting the numbers together to turn in at Roundtable on Thursday, and packing for Cubaree that weekend. They will also not be eligible for our prizes (we chose the cash option, and bought our own).

 

Same thing when the money is due at the end of November. They have a set date, and the next day they can drive to me. Those that don't pay don't get to play later...

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