Despite rain, cookie sales march on

Cookie sales can be a tough business, especially when you’re out in the rain.

Take it from Sybrina Cardinale, an 11-year-old Girl Scout dressed up as a DoSiDo. It’s hard enough to wear a costume that’s supposed to make you look like one of those crunchy oatmeal cookies with peanut butter. But it’s even more challenging when you have to stand on a sidewalk along North Ash Street, waving a pompom in the freezing cold.

“It’s still fun,” said the intrepid fifth-grader, who spent a few hours Saturday selling cookies with her troop at a drive-by cookie stand. “We really like selling cookies.”

This weekend marks the beginning of Girl Scout cookie season. Although troops took orders several weeks ago, the goodies weren’t actually ready for delivery until Friday.

On Saturday, Girl Scouts throughout the Inland Northwest began setting up booths outside grocery stores hoping to sell even more boxes of Thin Mints, Samoas and other favorites. Some Scouts also go door-to-door around their neighborhood. Others find lucrative markets at their parents’ workplaces.

Instead of standing outside Wal-Mart, which they did last year, Cardinale and her fellow troop members took a different approach: Hoping to profit from the drivers who stop for coffee at espresso stands along busy Ash Street, the five girls created a drive-by cookie stand in the parking lot of the Girl Scout office.

With colorful markers, they made signs that said, “Help us earn $$$,” “Buy Some Cookies” and “Cookies – Yum!” Under a large, green patio umbrella, supported by a bucket full of rocks, the girls set up a table with rows of boxes to showcase their goods.

While three of the girls sat at the booth with a pad of paper and a metal box full of change, the other two sported Girl Scout cookie costumes and waved to passing cars.

“It’s like school – we learn manners and how to talk to people,” said Lexi Padilla, the 10-year-old put in charge of greeting drivers once they pulled up to the stand. “We also learn math because we have to count money.”

Girl Scouts earn awards based on the number of boxes they sell. Everyone gets a badge, of course, as well as an activity pin. But selling cookies – which cost $3.50 a box – also enables the girls to earn money for troop activities.

About 70 percent of the proceeds from each purchase of Girl Scout cookies remain with the local Girl Scouts Inland Empire Council and the individual troops. The council uses their cookie revenue for programs, services, training adult volunteers and special events. The troops, however, get to decide what to do with the money they earn.

This year, members of the Girl Scouts Inland Empire Council plan to sell nearly 356,000 boxes of cookies.

Last year, the troop with the drive-by cookie stand Saturday sold 100 boxes. This year, they hope to sell 150, which would be just enough to fund a pizza and slumber party for their group at the Girl Scout office.

Unfortunately for the girls, the blustery weather put a damper on sales Saturday. Within the first hour, they sold only three boxes; two to a man in a pickup truck and a package of Thin Mints to the bartender at the Maxwell House, a bar and restaurant across the street.

“What’s wrong with our marketing strategy?” Peggy McDonald, the Girl Scout council’s membership outreach coordinator, asked the girls.

“Maybe they don’t know how much the boxes cost,” Padilla suggested, as she started making another sign with the cookies’ price tag.

“Maybe it’s the weather,” Barker said. “My legs are frozen.”

It started raining a few minutes later. As the girls scrambled to keep their cookies dry, Cardinale was still standing on the sidewalk in her cookie outfit.

Even if they didn’t stop, at least a few of the drivers waved back and honked their horns.