Girl Scout Cookies

And talking about prices and problems in our supply chain, there's a shortage of Girl Scout cookies. Just to give you some idea of what we're talking about here. You know, Girl Scout cookies are sold in a short season. In that season, it amounts to $800 million, the equivalent of about 200 million packages. And Little Brownie Bakers, which is owned by Ferrero in Italy, has had a problem, because of weather conditions. They've had power outages, they've had probably disruptions for the past three years, in their production, they supply 75% of all the Girl Scout cookies. The other 25% are supplied by ABC Bakers. And the bottom line is for certain products like the New Raspberry Rally, that's a new flavor this year. People have bought them and they're being sold on eBay for $35 bucks.

Phil: And what's important to note is that any money that the Girl Scouts make, stays in their local chapter. It doesn't go to a big organization somewhere, where they can rent office space and pay high CEO salaries. This is money that actually stays in that local community. And when people do stuff like this, the Girl Scouts, you know, they made a couple bucks on the cookies to begin with, but the person who's making the big bucks on eBay, none of that money goes to Girl Scouts. And I know that your sister's involved in in Girl Scouts. What does she have to say about this?

Sally: Yeah, so my sister has been involved as a troop leader with her daughters for many years now. And, you know, they sell a lot of cookies. They have a really big program where they do that. And you know, what she has told me is exactly what you're talking about here, Phil, is that this is a great organization that for so many decades has been supporting programs and healthy, strong, inspirational growth for young girls. And we want that money from those cookies that those girls are out there selling. We want that money to go to them and support these programs for them. So, it is something for people to keep in mind that, you know, I mean, do you really wanna pay $35 for a box of raspberry rallies? It's not so much about the cookie, although I know some people love them and love the taste of them. It's really about supporting this program.

Phil: And, also, this points out, you know, a problem for the Girl Scouts having, Ferrero occupies 75% of their capacity, for this program, you know, is dangerous. The past three years, they've not been able to keep up with it. They're putting up a new plant in Illinois that supposedly once it's built, solves these problems. And also because there's just two suppliers, the Girl Scout cookies that you get in Nashville may be a different recipe than the ones that I get here in Santa Monica. So I think that the Girl Scouts need to bring in, you know, somebody who knows distribution and food to really even this out. So everybody uses the same recipe, same formula, has the same variety of products, and they don't get into the situation again. You know, if you look at what Ferrero has been able to supply 84 million packages, but again, you know, 75%, the last time I looked of $200 million is $150 million.

Phil: So they're just about half of what they need to, and this is Girl Scout cookie season. If they don't get 'em now, they're not gonna get 'em. So let's support the Girl Scouts, let's keep it local and, hey girl Scouts, you know, it's time to really look at your supply chain and see how you can fix this so it doesn't happen again.