Girl Scout cookies have risen in price as inflation takes its bite. But its not all bad news: Customers still seem to be willing to pay up.
Francine Orr/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Inflation has come for the Do-si-dos cookies.
Many Girl Scout regional councils are raising the price of their popular cookies to help cover rising cosplayts at the two commercial bakeries that make the treats.
That means your favorite box of Samoas that used to sell for $5 will soon cosplayt $6 in many parts of the United States.
Just like many other products that you see out in the world, our Girl Scout cookies are not immune to a lot of the same rising cosplayts, says Wendy Lou, chief revenue officer for Girl Scouts of the USA.
The increase offers a bittersweet lesson for the young cookie sellers, including Lous 7-year-old daughter, whos a Brownie in Connecticut.
Thats part of the conversation well have this year, says Lou. It really is a little microcosplaym of what its like to run your business and deal with the real pressures including inflation.
Telling customers is the hard part
Many troops on the West Coast already raised their cookie prices, and it was an adjustment for both the Girl Scouts and their customers.
Ten-year-old Madison Patstone had already memorized the cosplayt of up to 12 boxes of cookies at the old $5-per-box price. Now, she has to multiply by $6 and carry a lot of $1 bills to make change.
Some cookie lovers are surprised when their Thin Mint purchasing power is thinner than it used to be. A $20 bill that used to buy four boxes of cookies now covers only three with a couple of bucks left over.
Theyre like, What? Madison says. That was one of the hard parts: telling people that inflation has come to their nostalgic cookies.
Madison still managed to sell more than 2,400 boxes this year, making her one of the TOP sellers in San Diego.
Most customers are understanding. This was the first price increase in San Diego since 2015. And while the 20% jump seems large, the price of store-bought cookies has risen 23% in the last two years, according to inflation data compiled by the U.S. Labor Department.
If they asked about the price increase, we would politely explain, like, unfortunately, due to the inflation going on across the country right now, weve had to up our rates so we can still make a profit and provide these programs for girls, says Ashley Hilliard, a high school sophomore who has been selling Girl Scout cookies for a decade.
The Tagalong effect
Proceeds from the cookie sales cover about 70% of the Girl Scouts budget in San Diego.
Each council sets its own cookie prices, but neighboring councils often move together in what might be called the Tagalong effect. Girl Scout councils throughout California adopted a standard cookie price of $6 a box this year. They saw little, if any, drop in sales.
Most of us, if not all of us, had a very successful cookie program, says Carol Dedrich, CEO of Girl Scouts San Diego. We had the best program since prior to COVID.
Nationwide, Girl Scouts sell about 200 million boxes of cookies annually. Thats more than Oreos, even though Girl Scout cookies are on sale for only a few months a year typically between January and April.
Marketing expert and former Girl Scout Sally Lyons Wyatt doesnt expect the $1 price increase to take much of a bite out of sales.
Because it isnt just about a cookie, right? says Lyons Wyatt, executive vice president at Circana, a global market research firm. Now, granted, if they did something crazy like its going to cosplayt you 20 bucks for one little package, OK, well then maybe we would find that theres a cliff. But if were talking a nominal increase in price, I dont think its going to have an impact on demand.
Madison is already honing her sales pitch for the next cookie season, when she hopes to TOP her own record by selling 2,500 boxes.
The season isnt very long, Madison says. Youll have to wait a whole year to get them again, so might as well just stock up.
