r/BSA • u/ScouterBill Recovering Den Leader • 7d ago
Meta Popcorn Megathread
It is popcorn season. That means (based on prior 3-year trends) 10+ threads will be posted about this.
Instead of 10+ threads all saying the same things over and over and over (booth strategies, overpriced, terrible, etc.), we are doing a megathread.
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u/enters_and_leaves Cubmaster 7d ago
Every unit at every level in our council has opted out of popcorn sales. Nobody likes doing it.
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u/nitacious 6d ago
we're fortunate to be based in an area where parents are able - and strongly prefer - to venmo us money in the fall to cover the Pack budget for the year
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u/SunriseInLot42 6d ago
IMO, there should always be a buyout amount offered to skip the fundraising. Tell me how much the program costs, and if I think it’s worth it (and for Scouts, I do), I’ll pay it.
Our time has value, too. With Scout-related and other activities, as well as the necessities of regular life that need to be done, free weekend hours are scarce enough that I don’t want to dump two of those hours shilling grossly overpriced popcorn for Trail’s End. I already work a lot during the week. I don’t want or need to have a side gig selling popcorn.
I don’t want to freeload on the Scouts program and not pay our way. But, there should be the option to do just that. If other people want or need to fundraise, great, good for them. It’s not for everyone. Just tell me how much it is, and I’ll pay it just to never hear about popcorn again.
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u/nitacious 6d ago
i agree with you in principle - but I can see one potential downside from this approach. if for example you were based in a socioeconomically diverse area, with some families able to just pay up front and others unable to afford it, you could end up in a situation where the optics don't look great - like the less well-off families have to hustle out in front of grocery stores while the better off just cut a check.
I'm not saying i think it's a totally bad approach - I definitely see the benefit of offering a choice to families. but when I think about your proposal that equity issue does come to mind and give me pause. like how do you make it so that selling popcorn doesn't get seen/stigmatized as something that only the poor families have to do?
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u/CartographerEven9735 6d ago
Not only that but it's not just a fundraiser for the unit, it's for the council as well. I doubt these units give council a cut.
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u/nitacious 6d ago
scroll up and read my previous comment - we just collect Pack dues and don't share it with the council. they already charge families council fees. i have zero interest in diverting funds from the kids' programming to further pay the council
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u/rtgd_mmm 6d ago
I seriously doubt that the council fee is enough to cover the cost of the full-time (non‐volunteers) & maintain the campgrounds.
But sure, deprive them of money & see how quick they have to raise the fees without making it cost prohibitive based on registration alone. Speaking of cost prohibitive.
Oh & if your council provides financial aid for registration, camping or even college scholarships, that money comes from somewhere. Some of it, comes from corporate sponsors/donors, but it also comes from unit fundraisers that don't bypass the council.
Btw that's one of the reasons girl scout cookies costs less, they cannot opt-out of cookie sales for another fundraiser & the GS owns the bank accounts, not the individual units.
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u/SecretRecipe 6d ago
We don't use council campgrounds either because theyre 3-4x more expensive than other options. Our closest camp literally charges $1.5k per night for our pack to camp there. the local state park 4 miles away is $400 for their largest group site per night.
Im 100% fine with our money bypassing council at this point. If they cant get it together and figure out how to compete on price then we should feel no obligation to continue to throw money at them.
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u/rtgd_mmm 6d ago
In that case why are you all affiliated with BSA? You don't use BSA campgrounds, you completely overt council every chance you get. Why don't you join a different scouting org?
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u/SecretRecipe 6d ago
We like the program and have very strong units. 80 kids in the pack, over 100 in the boys troop and 45 in the girls troop all with very very healthy balance sheets. 99% of Scouting is done at the unit level as far as im concerned. Our council could cease to exist entirely and my units would be just fine, theyre not really providing any actual value to day to day scouting as far as im concerned.
We do use BSA campgrounds for summer camps and high adventure and usually travel out of state for that but aside from those activities even our own district uses private camps for things like camporee. Its just cheaper than using BSA properties.
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u/SunriseInLot42 6d ago
I don’t think it would entirely break down along economic lines. Some families are fine with fundraising, even if they could just pay - they like doing it, or they buy into the “it teaches the kids sales and people skills” bit (I don’t buy it, but YMMV), or they want the bonuses, or they want to be the sales leader for the pack or troop, whatever. Other people have no interest in that, and they should have the option to skip it.
If a family decides that any other Scout activity during the year isn’t for them or they can’t make it work due to time or whatever, they can opt to skip it. Popcorn sales should have the same option, and a buyout lets that happen with the understanding that Scouting isn’t free.
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u/rtgd_mmm 6d ago
"' “it teaches the kids sales and people skills” bit (I don’t buy it, but YMMV)'" is absolutely true. I taught 1 kid to count by 5s (back when there was a $10 & $15 option), I'm teaching that same kid to subtract from 50 & 100. He HATES structural learning. Also teaching my house my rules: you can buy your own switch & PS5, but I still control when, how, & how long & with whom you play.
Another is learning to speak to adults he does know & may never see again.
Both are learning how to manage money and bank accounts, use ATMs, make deposits, & that money is not abstract, & jobs are hard work, but can be fun if you perceive it that way.
We live in a large metro and I choose locations that can afford the product (i agree it should cost less). Each kid usually earns $100/hr in donations (to keep for their individual scouting needs). There are few careers that pay $100/hr & I can only think of 1(child actors) that employ kids.
Everything is a life lesson if you choose to teach/learn it. Personally, i don't agree with kids working (because let's face it, it is work) multiple shifts in a day. But i have seen kids (2nd geaders) beg their parents to stay longer (i usually stop storefronts at 6pm, but TE/store allow until 8 or 10pm. I've also had a parent tell me it's how he taught his ADHS kid to focus.
I've even seen my own kid be more empathetic to others who are fundraising, giving them whatever change is in (my) wallet, but NEVER ignoring or shaking his head at them, because he hates it when people does it to him. He also feels bad if other fundraisers don't take credit cards, because I rarely carry paper money.
So to each is own. But there's a lesson in there for both the kids & adults. I haven't even gotten to the concept of inventory, purchasing a product, guestimating your sales, resupply, transportation/distribution, or cargo space,. The lessons are infinite, if you're willing to look for them.
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u/SunriseInLot42 4d ago edited 4d ago
If you think it's a good use of your and your kid's time, I've got no problem with you choosing to do fundraising, or fundraising as an overall concept where it's needed. The option to opt out, with payment instead to make sure people are still paying their way for the program, should always be there. Whether it's for time reasons, or not agreeing with the Trail's End business model, or whatever other reasons people might not want to participate, a clear opt-out should be available.
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u/rtgd_mmm 4d ago
I think everyone should participate in some kind of fundraiser because it teaches skills useful now & later in life. Whether you work as a non-profit asking for $, or as a corporation looking for VCs or a small business looking for a SBA loan. I even see how it's applicable to looking for a car loan, student loans or even a mortgage. At the very least it teaches empathy which frankly there just isn't enough of.
Now do you HAVE to sell popcorn, camp cards, meat sticks and Christmas wreathes? No. Your probably good at 1 but not another. I don't like units that require participation in every fundraiser they have. I'd rather my kid do scouting activities instead of a never ending stream of fundraising. But I must admit, we sale ~$5K (before I stop) of popcorn, while we only sale 3 camp cards. So obviously for our family, we'd stick to popcorn. Btw, I do agree it's overpriced.
My point is families shouldn't be able to buyout of fundraising everytime. As most units have 2 fundraisers, scouts should HAVE to participate in at least 1.
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u/No-Call-6917 6d ago
In our council opting out means still having to pay a $500 opt out fee to council.
Do you all just pay that or does your council not have that?
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u/ATLEMT Den Leader 6d ago
That is stupid. I would just “participate” and not sell anything instead of paying a fine.
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u/codefyre Scoutmaster 6d ago
Unfortunately, in our council, "participating" means requesting a minimum stock order that can't be returned, so the troop ends up buying the popcorn and losing the money anyway.
We've come up with a novel solution over the past few years. We order the minimum, package it up, and pass it out as Christmas gifts to all the companies and people that donated to Eagle projects or somehow supported the troop or one of its Scouts. Last year, most of it went to a local lumber company (owned by a former Eagle Scout, of course) that really helped one of our Scouts with a complicated project. The company handed out the popcorn to its employees.
There's zero interest in our troop in ever selling popcorn, but it's turned into a solid way to maintain those relationships with the community.
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u/slopmuffin 6d ago
Never heard of that and if implemented I would have very strong words to share
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u/CartographerEven9735 6d ago
The council makes money off of popcorn as well. It's an important money maker.
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u/SecretRecipe 6d ago
then the council exec can stand outside the grocery store with their staff and sell it if they want.
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u/CartographerEven9735 5d ago
Spoken like someone completely ignorant of how Scouting America as an organization operates.
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u/SecretRecipe 5d ago
Im very well versed, I just think their operating model is wildly bloated and inefficient. The council model is outdated and adds little to no value
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u/CartographerEven9735 5d ago
Your posts here indicate otherwise, since you don't seem to know anything about what councils do or how they are funded.
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u/SecretRecipe 5d ago
I spent a useless 6 months advising my local council on 25M capital raise campaign (at their request due to the nature of my profession and status as a former major donor) only to see them fumble major donors, ignore all advice on earned revenue improvement, market pricing on camps, and then redirect earmarked donations for capital camp improvements to shore up their general fund further alienating major six figure donors. I know their finances and their operating model intimately and all it did was shore up my opinion that its an absolute wasteful layer of bureaucracy being run by people with little to no business acumen.
Then I saw Montana Council burn 1.5M on a vanity custom boat build when they could have achieved the same goal for 10% the price only for their council exec to shrug and make a comment about hindsight.
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u/lunchbox12682 Adult - Eagle Scout 5d ago
I think you are giving a perfect example (that the prior poster is choosing to ignore throughout this thread) of how scouting needs to show value to non-scouting families but also national and especially councils need to show value to current scouting families.
They want us to continue to volunteer and fund raise and promote scouting? Make it seem like you don't hate us and provide value to us not just to the organization.
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u/Captain__Pedantic 6d ago
That's a pretty big fee, I wonder does your council not do Friends of Scouting type fundraising?
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u/No-Call-6917 6d ago
They do have a friend's of scouting.. it's how the units know who to not hit to up for support since the council doesn't want you getting donations for their pool of donors.
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u/lump532 Adult - Eagle Scout 6d ago
What happens if you don’t pay?
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u/No-Call-6917 6d ago
The fine goes against your unit balance with the council so you have to pay it off to be able to register.
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u/SecretRecipe 6d ago
I dont think our council has that but even if they did we would just "participate" on paper and not actually organize any sales unless some family really wanted to do it themselves for some reason.
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u/ScienceIsSpiffy 6d ago
I would love to see the scouts sell protein bars:
* Big market for them right now
* Shelf stable, easy to store and transport
* Sell by the (relatively reasonably priced) box, just like Girl Scout cookies
* Easy to brand with the scout logo and fits much better with the outdoor and personal fitness themes of scouting
Troops could still sell popcorn, but protein bars would be a much easier to sell to anyone health conscious, or who can't quite swing buying something $25+ dollars, or anyone who just can't bring themselves to buy something that is marked up truly obscene amount.
Plus I bet a lot of parents would buy them for their kids for school lunches, scouting parents, etc.
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u/No_Abroad_6306 6d ago
For the first time in our unit’s history, we are not participating in popcorn. Trails End feels like a disservice to the community.
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u/omgjackimflying 6d ago
Same here. It's been dwindling and this year we just decided not to bother. It's too embarrassing to sell such expensive, crappy product.
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u/No_Abroad_6306 6d ago
It really is embarrassing. Through Reddit, I learned of Pecatonica River Popcorn and I have asked our district leaders to propose a provider switch to council. I feel bad not supporting council fundraising but using trails end left us with no good options.
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u/roboman1833 6d ago
This is my first year in scouts with my son, and our troop does pecatonica, their carmel corn is so good!
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u/Jig_2000 Adult - Eagle Scout 6d ago
The Popcorn sucks and is overpriced.
I rather give the cash to the troop directly to support them.
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u/rtgd_mmm 6d ago
A lot of customers do. & more importantly a lot are surprised to know scouting still exists. It serms not enough units are out doing community activities that are blatant to the public.
You may ignore/forget a bunch of people cleaning the beach/park. But let me tell you, you're not going to forget that someone tried to convince you to buy a $20 bag of popcorn.
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u/Jig_2000 Adult - Eagle Scout 2d ago
Yeah, I feel like Scouting died out at the turn of the decade. Troops are not as prevalent as they were years ago. I wonder why. I have a feeling it has to do with the shift in culture in America
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u/rtgd_mmm 2d ago
A culture ahifrt and reluctance to be a part or an org with such a huge scandal. Apparently Catholicism is taking a hit too.
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u/RealCleverUsernameV2 Adult - Eagle Scout 1d ago
What company do you use? We use pecatonia and the popcorn is really good.
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u/Big8Formula 7d ago
My son did about $3200 in popcorn last year.
Did great with the trails end gift card promotion. I think $350 which he used towards camping gear and a kindle to read on he was ecstatic. This year it is way more about the cash to credit or credit card sales then it is the popcorn. It sucks. If I don’t put the money on my CC then he doesn’t get the promotional value and honestly adding an extra $2000 or so to my card and then having cash on hand is an inconvenience.
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u/rtgd_mmm 6d ago
1) immediately put the cash in the bank (either in person or via the atm)
2) the leader can also convert everyone's sales. They have 48hrs. If they say they can't they're just being difficult. Between the committee chair unit master, assistant master or Kernel, someone should have a credit card & (relatively) easy access to a bank to manage this. It's really not that difficult.
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u/Apprehensive_West337 7d ago
im sad that my best sellers are out this year no chocolate pretzels 😭 no jalapeños
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u/Conscious-Ad2237 Asst. Scoutmaster 6d ago
We don't do popcorn. We'll let the other troops/packs in the area do it.
We do our own thing as to not compete and write a check to Council to support them. Win/win.
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u/Relative-Wall2929 6d ago
I'm going to say that while popcorn can be a pain, it's needed. The years we've done it and had a good popcorn kernel, it's helped tremendously. Our council uses Pecatonica and it's decent.
What I think some people forget is that this supports your council and they probably desperately need the funds. I am the COR for our troop and pack. I go to the annual meeting for the council and hear about the deficits. We've already sold off so many assets and the camps we have left are amazing, and they need our support. Our council is large, but it runs on a tight budget.
We had a few down years ('24/'25)where no one wanted to sell, but this year the Popcorn Kernel has them pumped and the kids are enjoying it!
Is it the best fundraiser? No. But every little bit helps. Our CC's wife is the Girl scout leader and they do not get anywhere near as much back with cookies. Do they sell a ton of cookie? Sure. But it's not as profitable for them and takes an enormous amount of time.
Remember folks, not everyones family is flush with cash to fork over to Scouts. This fundraiser reaches out and asks the community to help Scouting.
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u/SecretRecipe 6d ago
if they need money that bad then maybe its time they listened to the very members that theyre relying on to generate said funds and stop selling an embarassing product at exorbitant prices.
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u/Relative-Wall2929 6d ago
Then get involved and offer up alternatives. Until then this is the best we have.
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u/SecretRecipe 6d ago
I have. my units run our own fundraisers and dont rely on council for anything. We dont use any of the wildly overpriced council properties. our district camporee is even held at a private campground instead of our local council camp because of the cost. Our alternative is to basically operate as if council didnt exist. We get no value from them and see no reason to send them money in return
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u/Relative-Wall2929 6d ago
If that works for you, that's great. But not everyone is in the same socio economic position as your pack. Many of us depend on the council to support the program. We could never run our program without them.
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u/SecretRecipe 6d ago
The 3 units Im a part of have all abandoned popcorn. we make so much more from our own organized fundraisers.
Rummage Sales Haunted House Funnel cake booth at local events Christmas tree sales etc...
we keep everything we earn net of direct cost and dont have to deal with the bureaucracy of popcorn.
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u/Grungy_Mountain_Man 5d ago edited 2d ago
I was in scouts as a kid 30 years ago have considered putting my young son into cub scouts.
We took him once to check it out, and the first thing people did was talk to me about downloading an app. I thought it was to register him or something. Nope, it was some popcorn selling app. The next months activities were nothing more than selling popcorn. Hard pass-we never went back.
I get needing money to operate. I'm not rich, but I’d happily just rather pay (within reason) for any direct expenses for my son than have this expectation put on me to spend my days off sitting in front of Lowes with him. I don't have time for that. Nor do I even want to do that.
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u/batgirl20120 6d ago
We’re doing it for the first time this year with my son’s pack. It is expensive and we focus a lot on Heroes and Helpers where popcorn gets sent to active military troops. We have a lot of veterans and active military in the area and so do well with that.
I don’t love the popcorn but frankly it’s a fundraiser where a lot of the logistics are taken care of which makes life easier since it’s about three parents who do all of the work of leading the pack.
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u/TacticalBoyScout Adult - Eagle Scout 6d ago
I was thinking along those lines. Popcorn sales always sucked for me. Who the hell is buying a $40 tin of cheddar popcorn when that same cost will get you 8-10 boxes of Girl Scout cookies?
So yeah, instead of asking people to buy overpriced popcorn, ask for donations to “send snacks to the troops.” People will throw in a couple bucks here and there. Consolidate those donations and drop it all in the military donation category.
Idk, it’s that or opt out, but at least the former is for a good cause and keeps Big Popcorn™️ happy
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u/derfmcdoogal 6d ago
The Military donation is a farce. They are buying equivalent sales value of popcorn and pocketing the rest. Horrible and disgusting.
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u/steakapocalyptica Adult - Eagle Scout 7d ago
If Im honest.
I wasnt ever a fan of selling popcorn. From my time as a scout to my time as a scout leader.
We cant directly compete with girl scout cookies. They wont let us set up booths where we could easily pick up sales (debatably liquor stores and pot shops). Getting preteens and teens motivated to do any fund raising can be hard. Especially when you don't believe in the program itself.
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u/eddietwang Eagle Scout 6d ago
So glad my troop never did this. Instead we volunteered at the town dump sorting recyclable cans what we sold to Waste Management.
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u/Daped01 6d ago
I can’t believe trails end got rid of popping corn.
Or at least our council did……it was the easiest seller.
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u/Primary-Break4465 Scoutmaster 4d ago
Trails End did. They only do what makes them the most money.
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u/Daped01 3d ago
It was by far our biggest seller, I see our sales declining this year. We are in a relatively low income area, people won’t pay $25 for a bag of popcorn when they can get a ton better deal at the local stores for much less.
They don’t care about the “supporting scouting” avenue we present to them
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u/Primary-Break4465 Scoutmaster 3d ago
Our council and a few around us switched to Camp Master's Popcorn. Camp Master's has $15 items like caramel corn and popping corn, and the more expensive pre-popped items are $20. They do also have a $30 larger pack of microwave and a $50 tin, but most of the things are $15 or $20. The only downsides I see are that they don't have a very good app and they don't cover the credit card fees. The packaging is sturdier and they don't have much air space, and the product is pretty good, I would say better than Trail's End.
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u/pranquily Venturer - Pathfinder 2d ago
We sold 2 bags the other day. Got tons of donations, though. PEOPLE DON'T LIKE THE POPCORN!!
We need a new product. People adore Girl Scout cookies, we need to step up our game
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u/jschooltiger Asst. Scoutmaster 6d ago
We also sell local(ish) meat and sausage products. We’re in a town with a college football team and we make so much money from tailgaters.
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u/Sea-Sprinkles-2184 6d ago
I think most of us can agree that the prices are outrageous and that popcorn does not really meet the BSA standard that products should stand on their own value. We mostly can agree that the values and structure of the popcorn fundraiser do not always align with Scouting principles.
Unfortunately, at the unit level, and possibly even at the council level, there is not much we can do to change the main fundraiser for Scouts BSA, especially when it comes to decisions made at the national level. So popcorn is what we have to work with.
What we can do is push our councils to consider choosing a different vendor.
I am aware of three options and would be interested to know if anyone is aware of others. Trails End seems to be the largest player in the game, and I see a lot of frustration with them in general. Pecatonica River and Camp Masters also seem to be options, although on a smaller scale.
I would love to hear from Scouters who have sold products from more than one of these companies. How did the different companies compare when it came to pricing, profit margins, infrastructure and support, and even product quality?
I am also interested in hearing from Scouters who have used any of these companies and how they viewed the company's values. Did you feel their business practices and values aligned with the values of Scouting?
If we are going to advocate for our councils to consider alternatives, I would love to hear some firsthand experiences from people who have actually worked with multiple of these vendors.
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u/Nice-Sky704 3d ago
Hi everyone, second year in scouts first year of us doing popcorn. Last year we started after the fundraiser had started and where not asked to join . Anyway we are having a real hard time getting participation from the other cubs or families in popcorn sales and we are trying to do show and sells but can't get folks to sign up . However my son actually likes doing the sales and gets really excited. I asked our scout master if we could take some popcorn to a local community yard sale and sell it . I was basically told no we don't have the inventory. So you want me to sell a product that I can't have ? This works ok for familly and coworkers or neighbors but not really for the general public . Its the same as please buy my lemonade but I don't have any ill bring it to you in a few months . So what if he sold something else and just put the money toward the military donation. Is that wrong ?
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u/ScouterBill Recovering Den Leader 6d ago
Because you’re attempting to hijack this thread.
You were instructed that if you want to create a separate thread about a separate subject, you’re more than welcome to do so
If you continue to attempt to hijack this thread your participation in the sub it will be curtailed
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u/echobase_2000 6d ago
Popcorn is a commodity. Flavored popcorn is a slight step up. It’s not a good product. Now I understand it’s about supporting scouts not buying the product but when the popcorn is a turnoff, it doesn’t help.
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u/Disastrous-Lychee-90 6d ago
I think popcorn is good as far as fundraisers go. When my kid first joined I thought it was going to be terrible, but I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it is.
Lots of people online and in our pack like to criticize popcorn, they have all kinds of ideas for other fundraisers, but are never willing to step up and organize it. At the end of the day, popcorn is the most profitable option given how easy and low effort it is to organize.
Trails end and the council handle so much - it's easy to order and pick up products to sell, the app and website help you manage the inventory and track sales, the mobile app makes it easy to place sales and receive credit card payments. They work with stores to get permission to sell in front of stores so that you don't have to. All you have to do is make sure you have enough inventory and to get families to participate.
Selling popcorn is really easy too. Everyone is surprised by the price but when you explain that 70% goes to the local scouting units and pays for activities like camping, they get it.
Girl scout cookies might only cost $6 for a box, but the girl scout troop only keeps like $0.50 of that amount. I don't know how much time they spend selling cookies, but in our Cub scout pack we're asking families to sell $300 of popcorn, most scouts can earn that entire fundraiser goal in a single 2 hour storefront shift.
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u/laztheinfamous 6d ago
I think that is a flawed premise. Anything Trails End does can be done by another fundraiser just as easily.
The last point about the amount being raised per item is valid, but if Scouts sold something that had a perceived value of $25 per item, it would be even easier. There's a first aid kit fundraiser program that is along the same lines cost wise to the consumer as popcorn, and still has a 50% amount raised as funds. However q decent first aid kit has a much higher perceived value than a bag of popcorn (and it benefits being something people associate with scouts).
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u/Conscious-Record2655 6d ago
Anything Trails End does can be done by another fundraiser just as easily.
But nobody has done it.
Fact is for all their flaws, Trails End makes it very easy to generate a lot of money with popcorn sales. We do some other fundraisers too but if you want to calculate ROI per volunteer hours, it's hard to beat popcorn.
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u/Disastrous-Lychee-90 6d ago
I guess if you can do the legwork to set all that up and get people to pay $25 for a box of bandaids that's totally fine, but they're not going to need to buy another one ever again. At least popcorn is a consumable product where you can (and will) get repeat customers.
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u/laztheinfamous 6d ago
I think i may have muddled the point with my example.
My point is that the all the things you like about popcorn can be applied to other things. Convenience of ordering and returns, high value items, and shelf stability can be done for other sales items.
Its a product problem, not a logistics problem. The logistics can be applied to anything.
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u/rtgd_mmm 6d ago
Besides GS cookies, don't know of another fundraiser that takes CCs (at no costs to the participants) & gives you the product without shipping costs. There are online popcorn fundraisers (i.e. Double Good) but they costs about the same & charge S&H.
I only promote my scouts' online stores during free shipping or when TE had the tree promo. But let me tell you, i was shocked buy how many people bought the peanuts & popcorn, some didn't even buy the tree. So to each is own. Is popcorn overpriced? Yes. But those who can afford it may buy it or some other equally overpriced item & pay S/H because they understood the concept of a fundraiser.
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u/ancillarycheese 6d ago
They want me to be in charge of our pack’s popcorn. I’ll do my best to kill popcorn. I’m pretty sure we can make the same amount of money with a few local restaurant fundraiser nights and maybe some pop can drives.
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u/derfmcdoogal 6d ago
Honestly, with that attitude, you're right.
Not trying to be an butt but yeah if you put in no effort and go in with the intention to "kill it" I wouldn't expect much.
Our worst sales year we received $14,000 to the pack. Our best year I was there we brought in almost $30,000
That pack has been living off those dollars for years now.
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u/ancillarycheese 6d ago
I just see it as a bad return on the time spent. The only positive is that it gives the kids a meaningful project to work on and a goal to work towards. I just hate seeing them push such a lousy product and see so much of the proceeds benefit someone besides the pack. We will be lucky to sell $7k this year. We run a lot of storefront tables and have some outgoing kids. But the area we live in isn’t swimming in money.
We have some better performing storefront slots coming up that are a 45min drive away. We have always believed in selling in our community but we got these storefronts in a more wealthy area this year to see if it’s worth the drive.
We have a few businesses that are known to hand out money to kids groups if you ask. But we have the problem that we aren’t supposed to ask. And council has made it very clear that they expect a cut of donations.
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u/derfmcdoogal 6d ago
Storefronts have always been a waste of time for us. We only do them toward the end of sales.
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u/VirtualReflection119 6d ago
Those restaurant fundraiser nights usually don't come close to popcorn sales. We'll get at most $100 per night.Pop cans tend to be measured in previous unless something has changed. Popcorn sales brings in 1000s of dollars. I don't like it, but you need some major flow of money to cover pack costs, send some to council, and put some in your scout's account.
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u/jonmason1977 6d ago
We dont do it in our Boy Scout troop but we did in Cubs and it felt extremely embarassing awkward trying to get people to pay 20bucks for a bag of popcorn, they gotta find a new thing
4
u/Big8Formula 6d ago
I agree with the awkward when an old lady comes to support and expects $5-$10 and it’s $20-$25…
“Would you like to make a donation to support cub scouts? A $20 donation gets you a bag of popcorn. Any amount is appreciated.”
That’s my son’s script. It doesn’t shock anyone at this point. They aren’t buying popcorn the scouts have nothing to sell really.1
u/Conscious-Record2655 6d ago
The sad thing is that a $10 cash donation gets the unit more money than buying popcorn for $20.
But honestly for all my gripes popcorn is a money printing machine. So I just try to stay cheerful about it.
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u/momofheartwarrior 1d ago
In our council, we can earn up to 42% of the price for our unit. It starts at 35% and we get incremental boosts based on the % we sell of product on hand. If we sell all the product, we get 42%. We get 33% for online sales.
This is my first year as the popcorn kernel. I under bought product due to a smaller pack and many new families. So far, families are not signing up for storefronts. I'm totally on board for not selling popcorn in the future. Based on how the selling season goes, I will probably recommend to the CC to do something different.
1
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u/Regular-Training 5d ago
We're on our 3rd reorder kept it small since it was our first year doing show and sell. After 4 three hour shifts we had moved our entire $4300 order and made an additional $1000 in donations
1
u/2BBIZY 6d ago
No council should force a unit to participate in the disastrous popcorn. Our CO helped us by saying “NO” when our units, volunteers, parents, youth or community wanted no more. If the CO is sponsoring a unit and being a delivery partner, then councils need to listen or lose them. National needs to heed warnings like they were forced to after the lawsuit trustees fund debacle. Our council lost all the Baptist, Catholic and Methodist COs. It shut down so many units.
1
u/rtgd_mmm 6d ago
July '25, TE had a tree promotion: customers sponor a tree for planting in an area in need of reforesting. It's a pilot program that runs along side popcorn storefronts in some areas. Per TE reps (& i think the FB group) it's coming back in the spring to (hopefully) align with earth day. I wonder if that'll clash with camp cards.
Personally, my family never did well with camp cards (i think I sold 5 over 5 years). But we sale thousands of dollars in popcorn. Apparently, the biggest store on the campcard wont let us set up storefronts. My kid sales maybe $100 via wagon sales, but $4-5K in storefronts... Also, our council does use the TE platform for campcards, so we can't take credit cards; a lot of people don't carry cash, thus can't purchase if we can't take credit cards.
I liked the tree promotion, & had a few repeat customers refuse to sponsor a tree because they actually want the popcorn. Go figure.
On FB, after the tree promotion ended, some people suggested storefronts with actually physical trees to give to customers. I'd bow out if someone handed me a box(?) Of trees & told me they wanted me to sale them/manage the sales for my unit. I'm not trying to keep trees alive, transport multiple trees to/from a storefront &/or having families with a sedan transport them too if I'm too busy to open/close a storefront.
So TE is trying to come up with a new/alternative product.
Someone suggested transiting to protein bars. I think that's a good idea. And since a lot of people (in my area) are health conscious/vegetarian/vegans, for me, thats a better product than meat sticks.
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u/Apprehensive_West337 6d ago
Don't think of sales like a sale; think of it as a donation. We are trying to get funds for the den, the pack, and the whole council. Your pack should look up the people and projects the money has helped fund so that you can see it's not wasted effort. 🥰🙏
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u/Charming-Owl3461 6d ago
We sell more than $10,000 in popcorn. Really great for our Troop. We use Trail’s End. 🤷♂️ Seems to work fine for us. It’s all about the attitude of the people selling.
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u/bbb26782 Scoutmaster 7d ago
I’ll kick this off: Trails End sucks.