Girl Scout cookies back with new flavor, price increases
April 1, 2023
It’s that time of the year again. Thin Mints, Samoas, Adventurefuls and new flavor Raspberry Rallies are taking over the country.
With Girl Scout cookies being sold nation-wide, prices of Raspberry Rally cookies on second-hand sites such as eBay and Poshmark have risen as high as six times the original price of $5 per box. Even amid the recent skyrocket of cookie prices, students at Palo Alto High School are eager to get their hands on a box.
The new Raspberry Rally cookie, which has sold out repeatedly since its initial launch this year, can be purchased only through online platforms. Raspberry Rally cookies are chocolate-coated with a sweet and tart raspberry cookie inside, similar to the popular thin mints cookies.
According to Girl Scout Haley Oba, a junior, the unauthorized selling of the Raspberry Rally cookies at higher prices decreases the funding that Girl Scouts can gain.
“Raspberry Rallies were sold for online shipping only because Girl Scouts wanted to teach [Scouts] about digital selling,” Oba said. “Given that it’s a new flavor and there was high demand for it, I think the reselling was inevitable. This strips away funding for Girl Scouts and troops, and this lack of integrity definitely isn’t what Girl Scouts is trying to teach.”
Paly computer science teacher Roxanne Lanzot has experience with Girl Scouts, as a Girl Scout mom and cookie manager of her daughters’ troop. Lanzot believes the reselling of Raspberry Rallies through second-hand websites takes away from the efforts and growth of being a part of the Girl Scout program.
“It’s absolutely undermining the goals of the cookie sale program,” Lanzot said. “I am upset, disappointed and angry that people made the decision to not put those cookies in the hands of Girl Scouts so that [they] could make the decision about what they wanted to do with a limited inventory product.”
According to Lanzot, Girl Scouts emphasizes development, and the lack of Raspberry Rally inventory impacts cookie sales negatively.
“The program is about real entrepreneurship, real goal setting and girls growing in competence,” Lanzot said. “Instead what we have is lots of little girls having to say no to disappointed customers over and over and over again.”
According to Oba, contrary to popular belief, individual troops struggle to make profit on Girl Scout sales.
“A major misunderstanding is that the girls selling and their troops get a big cut of the money we get from sales, but this isn’t true,” Oba said. “Girl Scouts gets $5.10 per box and our troop only gets 90 cents. More sales means our troop raises more money, which can then be used for various expenses in the season.”
According to the Girl Scouts of Northern California, the price increased from $5 to $6 per box of core cookies packages – the first price increase since 2014. The additional dollar per box is due to the toll the pandemic took on the Girl Scout cookie program in 2021.
Gunn High School sophomore Girl Scout Sonali Sinha said navigating new prices due to a shortage of sales from the COVID-19 pandemic is difficult.
“Prices have risen post-pandemic to help recover from the last few years,” Sinha said. “The biggest challenge this selling season has been navigating new prices and cookie shortages, but I’m glad people are able to finally buy cookies again.”
According to Sinha, despite the changes in price, the local demand for cookies has increased this year for her. Sinha said the increased buyers have made her role as a Girl Scout more exciting.
“Learning to deal with such demands in an organized manner is an important skill that Girl Scouts aims to teach scouts,” Sinha said. “Actually, I would say cookie selling is my favorite part of being a Girl Scout because I get to interact with so many different people and sell the cookies I loved so much as a kid.”
Lanzot said the skills Girl Scouts learn are important to everyday life and for their futures.
“It’s about the work it takes to run a business,” Lanzot said. “You have to go to the booths and say ‘Would you like to buy some Girl Scout cookies?’ to a bunch of strangers. Sometimes they get ignored. Sometimes they get bad looks. And every single time they have to say ‘Have a nice day.’ They learn about counting money and multiplication skills. I’d actually rather see more of the program shift to the in-person business because I think that’s the value of the program.”
According to Lanzot, the Girl Scouts program has benefited her own daughters’ characters in many different ways.
“Being part of the Girl Scout program, I have definitely seen both of my daughters grow in confidence and character,” Lanzot said. “Character development is super important to me. And it’s through Girl Scouts that we can come back to a strong sense of what is the right thing to do. It is the Girl Scout Promise and law to make the world a better place, help other people and be responsible for what we say and do.”