[mikester]

That's gotta be a local decision: "We will sell this many cookies per girl to support the troop for the year" kind of thing. Sell it or buy it. A fantastic way to thin out a Pack or Troop. I have seen it many times and have a few parents who brought their kids from one troop elsewhere to our troop because we do not do that.

I realize it isn't the best product and the cost is MORE than what you would buy at the store but the idea is that it is to support the Scouts. That is why it costs more - it's a donation mechanism. Instead of simply asking for a hand-out the boys are actually given a product to sell and work with. It is not nearly as good as the girl scout cookie thing though. Man...

I encourage our Scouts to do their best at selling. We do it door to door in our neighborhood which is a nice one in this regard. We are generally well received but if a boy comes to my door and he isn't in uniform then...well he doesn't sell anything to me. It fosters a self supportive attitude and a sense of entrepreneurship. Would you prefer they simply ask for money?

We also do a Christmas tree lot which I like more than the popcorn sales. My son isn't very good at the popcorn thing, kind of shy but that is something else he needs to overcome and popcorn gives him something to help with that. As a Cub, he isn't old enough to work the tree lot unfortunately so I have to do that (16 hours a season per family).

With popcorn and tree lot our boys don't pay anything else to be in the organization, they are self supporting.