SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - Girl Scouts will not be selling cookies in front of stores this year, but the cookies are still available.
Because of the pandemic, troops will not be doing any face-to-face sales, meaning their typical strategies of setting up tables in front of stores and going door-to-door are put on hold. This year, they’re turning to technology to sell cookies.
Each Girl Scout has her own QR code that can be scanned, then your phone takes you to each girl's website, where you can order cookies. The Girl Scout will then either ship you the cookies or deliver them to your home.
Many San Diego Girl Scouts are getting creative with where they advertise their QR codes. Some put them on door hangers that they place on their neighbor’s doors, while others have put the QR codes on the sides of their cars. Eleven-year-old Danity Valentine made a poster with her QR code and hung it outside her home.
“We live in an apartment, so up on the balcony, we put a banner that says ‘come get your Girl Scout cookies,’” she said.
Valentine, who lives in City Heights and has been a Girl Scout since kindergarten, said cookie sales teach her about money management and people skills.
“At first I was not good at talking to strangers but I grew better gradually over time,” she said.
Now, she’s adding virtual skills to her resume. She and other Girl Scouts can also participate in an “Entrepreneur-to-Business” program, where the girls call into a company's virtual meeting, then have five minutes to pitch their cookies to the people on the call.
Girl Scouts San Diego CEO Carol Dedrich said she hopes the girls will still be able to learn communication skills through sales, even though it’s virtual.
Dedrich added that they’re also partnering with Grubhub. The public can order cookies through the food delivery service, and local Girl Scouts will help pack and distribute the cookies, with no extra cost to the Girl Scouts.
Dedrich said they’re anticipating cookie sales to decrease this year. She said the cookie sale money stays in San Diego, so this will have a direct impact on the Girl Scouts and their resources moving forward. So, she asks the community to step up and continue to order cookies.
“Girl Scout cookie program has not been canceled. We need everyone to participate so these girls can learn these skills, and they can engage. And they’re looking forward to when we get to the other side of this, being able to have the funds to do all of the activities that they couldn’t do this past year,” said Dedrich.
Anyone can visit Sdgirlscouts.org and input their address, then order cookies from a Girl Scout in their neighborhood.
Sales typically run through March, but Dedrich said depending on the restrictions during that time, it might be extended to give the Girl Scouts more time to sell.
She added that if people don't want the cookies for themselves, they can buy cookies for "Operation Thin Mint," which is a program that ships cookies to troops overseas.
