You Can Finally Order Ungodly Amounts Of Girl Scout Cookies From The Anonymity Of Your Computer
The Girl Scouts are finally going to sell their cookies online. Yay! You can buy ungodly amounts of Thin Mints from the privacy and anonymity of your own computer. The “digital cookie” program will start nationally in January — just in time to completely screw your resolution to stop doing things like eating entire sleeves of frozen Thin Mints while watching bad reality TV. Oh — is that just me?
From The New York Times:
After years of prohibiting Internet sales, the Girl Scouts of the U.S.A., the group’s national organization, has approved ”Digital Cookie,” a platform for scouts to sell and ship the colorfully boxed cookies to friends and relatives around the country.
”Girls across the country now can use modern tools to expand the size and scope of their cookie business,” said Sarah Angel-Johnson, who directs the digital cookie effort, ”and learn vital entrepreneurial lessons in online marketing, application use and e-commerce.”
This is a great idea. In addition to raising money for the organization, the girls will be taught valuable lessons in e-commerce. Each scout can have her own cookie website. Customers only get access to the site by a non-transferable link they can use for purchasing. The reason the organization never allowed digital marketing before was because they thought it created an unfair advantage for some members. Also, they spent a lot of time figuring out how to make it a safe space: “Each participating scout’s parent or guardian must approve everything on a girl’s web page, including the videos posted. Also, girls under 13 must use an anonymous designation so their names and contact information are not public.”
Unfortunately, there still needs to be some human interaction. Kidding, kidding — human interaction is good. The websites will not be accessible without a non-transferable link from a scout herself, to teach the scouts how to build client lists. But the scouts will be able to just take an email address to mail a link, rather than having to rely on having order sheets on hand for potential customers to fill out. Also, the scouts will no longer need to worry about hand delivering each package.
The world has obviously been wanting easier access to Girl Scout cookies, and the organization is finally capitalizing on that. I wonder if it will take some of the allure out of the brand. Part of the reason Girl Scout cookies are so exciting is because you can’t get them all the time. I think it’s going to be great for the girls — but I’m personally going to have to pretend this option does not exist. Buying them a few times a year in front of Publix is enough for me. I have no willpower.
(photo: Pinterest/ AlannaGeorge.com)
