Popcorn ?

[VentureScoutNY 10]

Ok, this is my take on popcorn and I don't know much about it, so if and when anyone disagrees with me or wants to enlighten me on the greatness of popcorn sales please feel free.

 

From my experience, selling un-popped popcorn is a very lame money maker. I do not know exactly how much popcorn sales produce for councils, if its a great fundraiser or not, I'm just speaking from my little knowledge of popcorn sales in my Troop.

 

I remember being given a sample can to take around town to sell to people and my family. When I asked my Aunt if she wanted to buy popcorn she said of course. When the time came when I delievered it to her, she was a little surprised. She was not expecting un-popped pop corn. The can went in her basement never to be popped. Another one of my aunts just gave me the money and said she didn't want any popcorn but heres the donation anyway.

 

In fact I wouldn't want to buy un-popped pop corn either come to think of it. I'm sure some people, maybe some of you love to cook pop corn and enjoy it very much. That's great for you. But what about the majority of people, what do they like?

 

Our troop sold the popcorn, and didn't make much at all. Hardly any of the boys wanted to do it and it was not a positive experience. The ones that did got there little prize worth mybe $5, rolled there eyes and sat down. But for the majority of the population in my opinion, they want some good stuff if they are buying it. 1 word... Chocolate!

 

My Scoutmaster once bought boxes and boxes from Mars chocolate and said we will sell them to the commuters coming home from NYC to Long Island, off of the Long Island Rail Road. Around 5 o'clock a few of us set up a table with a poster "Help us Pay for Camp". We sold m&m's kit kats etc... Well they sold like hot cakes. One of the leaders had to run home and get more boxes. We met great people and they shared stories when there were in Scouts etc... I believe that selling chocolate is the way to go. Each scout can carry his own case and not have to deal with order forms and deliveries. It's on the spot money. You learn just as many people skills as if you were selling the popcorn, in my opinion more.

 

Where did all of this Popcorn stuff start?

 

From the post this was spun from, the Girl Scouts sold $400 million in Cookies last year. No way can popcorn come close...does it?

 

I'd take a box of Thin mints way before a can of un-popped popcorn.

 

Thoughts..

 

VentureScoutNY

[EagleInKY 14]

It must have been a while since you sold popcorn. I don't think we've sold "unpopped" popcorn in a can for a few years. I remember having it at one time, but it was never a big seller. We do sell Microwave popcorn, which of course, is unpopped. It's a big seller.

 

The majority of items are popped and flavored (caramel, cheese, Chocolate, etc.). I'm sure BSA is no where near the Girl Scout's numbers, but you have to realize how long they've been at it. I do have people that count on their Boy Scout Popcorn every winter, just like they look for their Girl Scout cookies at the beginning of the Spring. Most will even say that the popcorn is more for their money than a $3 box of Thin Mints.

 

I have to admit, I love them both (eating a Samoa as I type).

[Marty_Doyle 10]

Our Pack sold popcorn for the first time this year. Total sales exceeded $5K, and the Pack got commissions close to $2K. We ended up fourth in sales in our district. Another Pack, in our same town, sold over $15K (and netted over $5K). There are three other Packs in town, two who also participated in the Popcorn sale. So the "market" exists.

 

My daughter's troop sold about twice the dollar amount of cookie sales as we did popcorn sales. But they netted less (we were eligible for 40%). An important consideration from the unit level. Partly because the cookies require a higher % to go to the manufacturer than popcorn does. And the popcorn costs more per unit, meaning less units to sell to reach prize dollar limits. Important to the Cub Scouts. (Some might say that this is because the popocorn is overpriced. That may be true, but what is being sold is a chance to support Scouting, not popcorn per se).

 

I agree that the prizes at the low end were more geared towards Cubs.

 

But the popcorn sale is pretty much it for our Pack fundraising. The rest of the year can be spent fun-raising.

[SR540Beaver 116]

I have no idea how the BSA chose popcorn as it's officially sponsered annual fundraiser. In my opinion, it is a little overpriced. But what fundraiser isn't to some degree. Yes, you can still buy a tin of unpopped popcorn. There are also 4 or 5 different flavors of microwave popcorn and several options of tins of prepopped popcorn. You can do a "show and sell" where you order boxes of the various types and sell it to the public in front of a Wal-Mart or some other type store or event. Then there is the door to door order type of sale. You can do one or the other or both. My son (as a Cub) sold over $450.00 just in our neighborhood this past fall. The high sales went to another kid in his den who sold over $1500 for the second year in a row. The biggest problem with any fundraiser is getting the parents to support it and the boys to participate. Our Pack sales were so low this past fall that we had to cut back on Blue and Gold and just have cake and ice cream and are doing a second fundraiser. We had some boys who didn't even attempt to sell any popcorn.

 

Now that my son is a Boy Scout and some of the money goes directly into his "account", he had a greater incentive for raising funds. He was second in sells in his troop with over $700 in sausage sales and walked into the troop as a new scout with almost $150 in his account.

[Sturgen 10]

Popcorn sales for cubbies I can understand, its simply, and lets face it, some people consider the monsters cute.(forgive the sarcasm, but try running a cub scout archery range and see what you think then) But Boy Scouts and the Venture Program need to come up with something a little more creative, that requires some leadership from the boys, in my opinion getting a card table and sitting outside walmart is not leadership, there are hundreds of options out there, you just have to be creative.

[dan 10]

Cub Scout archery range!

 

Setting up a show and sell is a great leadership project! As long as the adults let the scout do the work. Calling the stores to find one that will let you do it, scheduling when the scouts will be there, getting the popcorn there.

[evmori 11]

What I don't like about the popcorn (besides the price) is the return. We only get 39% of total sales. And I understand this varies council to council. The Troop can sell hoagies and make 50%. I know the council benefits from the popcorn sale but the Troop cut should be higher.

 

Ed Mori

Troop 1

1 Peter 4:10

[Marty_Doyle 10]

In our Council, units can get 30%-35%-40%, depending on whether or not they use Trail's End prizes(no, 5% more) and whether or not they meet Council's perfomance goals (attend Popcorn Training, submit a unit budget, submit a unit calendar, turn in popcorn money on time, etc)-(yes, 5% more).

The Council gets a cut, up to a total of 73% (less what the unit gets). They have all the hassle of ordering, co-ordinating, warehousing, getting prizes, etc.

It's an easy win-win.

(And sometimes, the little monsters are cute).

 

(This message has been edited by Marty_Doyle)

[buffalo2 14]

Popcorn sales work well for us in our Pack and in our Troop and in our District and for the Council... We're grateful to have an opportunity for the boys to contribute and find that sharing with those that sponsor it isn't so much to ask.

Candy bar sales work well for us also; privately arranged and on a smaller scale and the 'Show & Sell' aspect makes it a little easier all around, and keeping 1/2 the proceeds might make it a little more palatable for some.

Run them both, stagger your sales periods around the GS Cookies, and let the boys pull their weight!

[Sturgen 10]

For some clarity the archery range was in reference to cubbies being little monsters. Also, making a dozen or so phone calls is not leadership.

[Bob White 20]

Not everyone on a project gets to be the leader. Success also takes laborers, and that takes skill to do as well. Just because it takes skills other than those of leadership does not minimize the value of the work.

[dan 10]

So setting up and scheduling a show and sell is not leadership? What in the heck do you think leadership is, yelling?!? Please explain.

 

A silver beaver award recipient that does not support the council, is there irony in there somewhere?

 

[committeechair 10]

Yes, GS cookies are so much easier to sell. Just about everyone will

reach in their pockets to pay for a $3 box of a few cookies.

But, I was told they only make 25 cents from each box. That is only about 8% they make on their sales!

The popcorn is very hard to sell, especially once the boys get past Cub Scout age. Instead of the people thinking "oh, isn't he cute..." they are thinking "That stuff is a rip-off." It takes boys who really can speak well, and sell the product as something good for the organization. I live in a small town. The kids who do sell have their target areas and must get their first. These areas are the ones that have people who can afford the popcorn,and will come to their doors. The ones who sell the most go into the big cities, where the Scouts don't want to sell. Our top seller in town reguarly made $6000

from his percentage just from going to the city. And he has earned scholarships.

But yes, I wish there was something other than popcorn to sell. My son is always told "I can't eat popcorn...because of my dentures." Those who can afford to buy it can't eat it because of dental problems in our town! He will be handed donations at times.

[Fat Old Guy 11]

I'm a fan of Trail's End popcorn. It is the only fundraiser that supports the council. Our troop gets 35% which is far better than the 16% that Girl Scouts get (50 cents per box in my daughter's council).

 

Evidently, Venture Dude, no one prepped you with product awareness. Did you have a product sheet. In the six years that I've been dealing with popcorn, there's been at least 2 microwave products, three caramel products and, until recently, unpopped popcorn.

 

Around here, people have learned that Trail's End is the best popcorn going. Sure you can get a huge can of caramel corn at the Mart Mart but it tastes like crud.

 

Every other organization around here sells overpriced candy bars that you can get at the supermarket. People have learned that Trail's End is unique and can only be bought from the Boy Scouts.

 

Selling GS cookies is a big pain in the butt. The Girl Scouts have more rules than you can count for where you can sell. One local girl was bowling with her family and thought, "I'll bet that I could sell some cookies here," she asked the manager, he said OK so she went down the lanes and sold nearly 100 boxes of cookie. She and her troop leader received an official reprimand for "conducting an unauthorized booth sale."

 

 

[committeechair 10]

The Girl Scouts who were reprimanded for their cookie sales in the bowling alley - they probably didn't fill out a form they were suppost to. We (Boy Scout units) were told at Roundtable that we haven't been filling out a required "funraising request form." Some of the older Scouters were aware of such form, but ignored it. We just had our garage sales, taco dinners, etc. I am not sure if this form is an attempt by the council to get a cut of any fundraising or what. Our council has lost United Way funding because of the gay issue and I think the money people are trying to make up for the lost funds.

As far as the % from each GS cookie box, I am sure that they have some deal like the Boy Scouts do. The Girl Scouts I know get 25cents a box for their account. Our Boy Scout troop is very generous by giving the Scouts all of the money (I think it is 39%) instead of part of it going into the general troop account.

I totally agree that the Trails End is very good and the Wally World stuff is stale. But people around our town see the big $5 tin of popcorn and go for it. If only we sold our Trails End at a time Walmart wasn't stocking the junky corn for the holidays! Our stuff is more expensive than GS cookies. Our boys have to work a lot harder to get any of it sold in this town! If they only got 8% I don't think they'd bother selling.