funscout 11 Posted February 24, 2006 Share Posted February 24, 2006 A boy in our pack has consistently been the top seller of popcorn each year. Our pack is grateful for the money that he generates for us. However, I learned that this year, when he didn't manage to sell nearly as much as in previous years, his parents bought $1500 worth of popcorn with the idea that they'd continue to try to sell it after the ending date. I didn't know about this until after it was done. I have no idea how much popcorn they are "stuck" with, but I also wonder if this is ethical. He was cited as the top seller again, and he probably would have been even without the extra help. I just feel that it sent a poor message to the kid when his dad announced to the Pack, "He set a goal, and he earned it." I have no problem with parents taking the popcorn sheet to work and helping to get sales for their boy. But, telling people that it was their son's work isn't completely truthful. Any thoughts on this? Link to post Share on other sites
johndaigler 10 Posted February 25, 2006 Share Posted February 25, 2006 HI, funscout, I'm not sure about the family selling after the program is over. Seems inappropriate -- certainly the popcorn is not intended to be resold once it has been sold to parents, etc. I'm just not sure if it's a big deal. To be honest, once those parents pay for it, I might be of the opinion that it's their problem, not the Pack's. As far as whether the popcorn is sold by the Cub or the family, that definitely is a non-issue. This particular amount seems tremendous, but after you get past the dollar figure, this (parent involvement, not parent reselling) is how the program is intended to work. The Council fully expects parents to be integral to the success of the program -- their marketing materials make that very clear. When we give prizes to the Cubs for selling PC, they might be better motivators if they were family-aimed prizes. They certainly would be more truthfully awarded. jd Link to post Share on other sites
funscout 11 Posted February 25, 2006 Author Share Posted February 25, 2006 I agree that the popcorn fundraiser should be a family effort. If I had an office to go to, I would take my boys' order forms with me to work. I guess I just didn't feel the dad should have misled the Pack into thinking that his son went out and sold all that popcorn. The only reason I even knew about this was becuase the Treasurer was very concerned that this family was not turning in $1,500 of their sale. She asked me what to do about it, and that's when we discovered the family had personally bought that much in order to make sure their son had a huge sale. Luckily, they did pay up, but we were a bit nervous while we waited! Link to post Share on other sites
t158sm 10 Posted February 25, 2006 Share Posted February 25, 2006 Think, what if just for a moment the family had not been able to pay the $1500. What then? How would you have felt about their large purchase then? Link to post Share on other sites
funscout 11 Posted February 25, 2006 Author Share Posted February 25, 2006 That's exactly what the Treasurer and I were worried about! Link to post Share on other sites
EagleInKY 14 Posted February 25, 2006 Share Posted February 25, 2006 First of all, you can't worry about whether the family can pay or not. If they placed the order, it's their responsibility. They were either confident that they could sell it, or the $1500 isn't a big deal to them. Either way, it's not your responsibility to worry about that. Personally, my experience has not been that the big purchasers don't pay, It's the $10 and $15 dollar checks that bounce that bug me. Second, it's just not worth worrying about how or why these things are sold. I had a dad by several hundred dollars worth one year to give as presents to his clients. One year our former Committee Chairman's boss purchased over a $1000 worth to give as gifts to clients and employees. And one year my brother in law bought $500 worth to give to his clients. The point is, whatever the reason, people will sometimes make big purchases. Could these folks have bought less expensive gifts or gotten more for their money at Walmart? Sure. But they wanted to help scouting. So, my opinion is don't worry about it. Let them do what they want with it. Take your profit and run a great pack. Worry about what really matters, the program and the boys. Link to post Share on other sites
Kudu 186 Posted February 25, 2006 Share Posted February 25, 2006 Be happy they brought in $1,500. Save the "parents or Scout" ethical soul-searching for the cubs' pinewood derby cars and advancement requirements :-) Kudu Link to post Share on other sites
funscout 11 Posted February 25, 2006 Author Share Posted February 25, 2006 Thanks for the input, I promise I'll quit worrying since this is over and done with, and it did turn out okay. This family doesn't have much extra money, so I don't know where they came up with the $1,500, but as you said, it's their business, not ours. Our initial concern was that they did turn in the $2,500 that their son sold as orders, but missed the deadline to turn in the remainder of the money (the $1,500). Our treasurer asked them 3 weeks in a row to turn in the money, and that's why we were nervous. Our Pack had already paid for the popcorn and we wanted to be reimbursed. I, too have bought popcorn to give as gifts. I have no problem with families buying popcorn to give away. My concerns were that we might not have been reimbursed, and I didn't know if it was ethical to re-sell the popcorn. Our Pack has been "stuck" with smaller orders before, but this is the first time that we were almost stuck with a large amount of money. And, yes, we are thrilled to have the money that this boy's $4,000 popcorn sale generated for us. Link to post Share on other sites
Lisabob 13 Posted February 25, 2006 Share Posted February 25, 2006 The only thing I might find worrisome about this is if the parents bought all that popcorn just so "Junior" could make his goal. In that case I'd say this might be a misplaced sense of accomplishment. But that's ultimately the parents' issue anyway. They'd better hope Junior doesn't set a $10,000 goal next year! Lisa'bob Link to post Share on other sites
funscout 11 Posted February 25, 2006 Author Share Posted February 25, 2006 Yes, LisaBob, that is exactly why they bought the extra popcorn. That's why I was dismayed when Dad bragged at the Pack Meeting about how his son set himself a goal and he went out and met that goal. Link to post Share on other sites
Cubmaster Randy 10 Posted February 25, 2006 Share Posted February 25, 2006 What is the lesson being learned here? Are we teaching that it OK for Dad to sell the popcorn and for the son to reap the benefits. Personally, I'd rather see a scout sell $500 of popcorn with his parents help than for the dad/mom to sell $4000 at work without the scout involved. This just sends the message that the pack wants the money. If someone has that kind of money to invest in popcorn sales , may I suggest a larger donation to FOS or possibly James West donation Link to post Share on other sites
Lisabob 13 Posted February 25, 2006 Share Posted February 25, 2006 Yeah Funscout, that's pretty sad. I'm glad the pack didn't get stiffed for the money though. Lisa'bob Link to post Share on other sites
evmori 11 Posted February 26, 2006 Share Posted February 26, 2006 Umm, is reselling Trails End popcorn allowed by Trails End? If so, how much are they selling it for? Ed Mori Troop 1 1 Peter 4:10(This message has been edited by evmori) Link to post Share on other sites
funscout 11 Posted February 27, 2006 Author Share Posted February 27, 2006 Ed, I'm 99% sure the family will sell the popcorn for the actual amount. I really don't think they would try to profit financially from this. It seems to me they were just trying to make sure their son made the goal he set, but as Cubmaster Randy said, "What is the lesson being learned here?" Link to post Share on other sites
EagleInKY 14 Posted February 27, 2006 Share Posted February 27, 2006 Ed, I was assuming they were selling it for the same price. If they were charging more, I would then have an issue. A few years ago we tried this as a unit. We bought about $1000 extra and tried selling it in store parking lots and as follow-up orders. We sold most of it and gave the rest away as thank you gifts, but we decided it wasn't worth the hassle. Link to post Share on other sites
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