Don't fuck with da Girl Scouts!

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Don't fuck with da Girl Scouts!

Girl Scouts to lean on cookie sale deadbeats

By Lorene Yue
Tribune staff reporter
Published July 10, 2004

When customers order Trefoils and Thin Mints but won't pay for them, Girl Scouts are increasingly becoming tough cookies.

Thanks to a steady number of people skipping out on orders each year, the national girls organization has recently begun to crack down on munchers who owe money.

"We're a non-profit and I don't think it's a good idea to steal from the Girl Scouts," said Barb Atwell, finance director for the Fox Valley Council, which represents 6,500 scouts.

So is a baseball bat-embroidered debt collection badge on the horizon?

Not really, according to organization officials. But leaders work hard to recoup the outstanding money because Girl Scouts rely on cookie sales for the bulk of their funding. Troops get roughly 50 cents for every $3 to $4 box sold--or $2,500 for 5,000 boxes. And, to a non-profit organization, every penny counts.

Cookie deadbeats limit camping trips, treats and other activities, and some say, come within one small step of taking candy from a baby.

"It takes over $200 a year to provide girl scouting to one girl," said Jan Devore, spokeswoman for the Fox Valley Council. "The bottom line: You're affecting programs for girls."

Nationally, Girl Scouts raise more than $500 million each year on the sale--so even a 1-percent loss would represent a $5 million or more shortfall.

As serious as the group is getting about collecting, don't expect the neighborhood Girl Scout to show up at the door for a shortbread shakedown.

Council leaders often try first.

Atwell uses a two-step approach to collecting cookie debt. First come the letters, then maybe a phone call. Most people end up paying the bill after a few gentle reminders. Rarely does she have to get ugly.

"It takes me three to four months before I become a hardnose," Atwell said.

Some councils resort to professional debt collection agencies for the heavy lifting.

California-based OldDebts.com, a division of Fidelity Information Corp., was hired in June to hound 2,000 people in cookie default. The Web-based collection agency, which won't divulge its client council, charges a flat fee to pursue delinquent debt instead of the traditional 20 percent to 30 percent commission of recovered funds. That makes it more cost-effective for non-profits to go after smaller debts.

Getting a letter from a collection agency seems to pack more punch than a call from the local Girl Scouts council.

"The success for non-for-profits is better than a typical collection," said Jeff Cronrod, president and chief executive of OldDebts.com. "People do come around faster than if it were for a delinquent doctor bill."

Councils have their own rules for running annual cookie sales, which typically take place in the first few months of the year. Some expect payment when the order is placed, others will release that box of Carmel deLites only after they get the cash.

Chicagoan Ted Swartz, whose daughter Chrissy is in Scouts, has embraced that same business model for the past six years: No cash, no cookies. Still, he ends up with extra boxes every year.

"I've probably absorbed a dozen boxes in addition to placing a large order," he said. "I will take a certain amount of risk."

He says he is placated by the product: "You can never get tired of eating Girl Scout cookies."

While giving up the goods without getting paid is not encouraged, it does happen.

"I didn't think you could buy cookies on credit," said Maggie Killackey, press secretary for the Chicago Public Library, who was surprised by the practice.

Unclaimed cookies usually end up in the hands of someone who forgot to place an order or are dispatched through an on-site sale, said Betty McPhilimy, leader of Girl Scout Troop 1561 in Lake Forest.

In her five years as a troop leader, she says, she has never had a problem with cookie debt.

"It's really fairly well controlled," she said about the sales process.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...i-newslocal-hed

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