ROTD thread

[walrus]

Yeah, this is a tough situation with the boys and girls in scouts. I'm not going to weigh in on good/bad, but I think it comes down to financial viability.

Yes. The whole leadership of every troop is based on volunteers. But to fund camping trips, equipment, etc, a troop really counts on some funding from the organzation itself. As numbers decline in both Boy and Girl Scouts, it's a snowball effect that effects the funding of the organization as a whole and individual local troops.

BTW, a minor veer, in Keith Richards' excellent autobiography, "Life", he discusses his time in Boy Scouts as the greatest part of his childhood!

walrus

 

[chazmo]

Wow, Keef was a Scout? That's a little scary.

 

[FNG]

I was in the Boy Scouts and we had a blast! Went to Philmont twice, summer camp, camping once a month, Order of the Arrow. That was in the 70s when it definitely wasn't cool, but we having too much fun to care.

Thanks, Dad, for taking care of me!

 

[chazmo]

OK, here's my ROTD, Tues., 29-Aug: Why do they hide the opening for septic tanks so you have to dig up your whole yard to find them. Why not just put a metal cap on the damn things so you can find it with a geiger counter??? Jeez, the guys here at my mother's house have taken almost two hours to find the opening, and I'm getting really annoyed. Hence the rant!

 

[FNG]

Is your poop radioactive?

 

[chazmo]

Is your poop radioactive?

I'm not sure I want to know the answer to that.

 

[GAD]

Both organizations give about 60% - 70% of that money to the local troop. Both of my sons were Scouts (and one earned Eagle Scout). For a few years I was in charge of the troop's popcorn sales process (the "Popcorn Colonel!). The way to think about it is to treat it as a donation to a worthy cause, and you get a gift of cookies or popcorn, just like other charities give you stickers, a T-shirt, or other gift of some kind.

walrus

This is not true for Girl Scouts. My wife was a girl scout leader for 20 years and she used to complain about cookie sales.

Who would take money away from little girls? The Girl Scouts.

At the end when the girls were working for their silver and gold awards, the most they would get from a $5 box of cookies was $0.90. Where it gets terrible is the fact that the older the girls get a larger percentage of the money they get from each box, so the adorable little girls who probably sell the most boxes get substantially less. All the rest goes to the Girl Scout orginizattion and is divided among local, regional, and national needs including the salary of the CEO which is $1.5M/year.

Executive Compensation at the Girl Scouts (2021)

The Girl Scouts of the United States of America (Girl Scouts) is a tax-exempt, non-profit 501 (c) (3) based in New York, NY. With more than 2.5 million members (an estimated 1.8 million girl member…

paddockpost.com

 

[Rocky]

This is not true for Girl Scouts. My wife was a girl scout leader for 20 years and she used to complain about cookie sales.

Who would take money away from little girls? The Girl Scouts.

At the end when the girls were working for their silver and gold awards, the most they would get from a $5 box of cookies was $0.90. Where it gets terrible is the fact that the older the girls get a larger percentage of the money they get from each box, so the adorable little girls who probably sell the most boxes get substantially less. All the rest goes to the Girl Scout orginizattion and is divided among local, regional, and national needs including the salary of the CEO which is $1.5M/year.

Executive Compensation at the Girl Scouts (2021)

The Girl Scouts of the United States of America (Girl Scouts) is a tax-exempt, non-profit 501 (c) (3) based in New York, NY. With more than 2.5 million members (an estimated 1.8 million girl member…

paddockpost.com

The organization may be contractually obligated for those salaries of past employees.

And, of course, the organization is ridiculously top-heavy, just like United Way, Salvation Army, Red Cross, and most of the well known charities. I have a relative who worked for the "Army" and her stories of what goes on are frightening.

I believe that local retention of funds of GSA cookie sales were increased in recent years due to threats of troop strikes. How sad is that?

 

[chazmo]

Oh, now this is totally a rant. Don't get me started on the United Way chief around my parts who stole millions of $$ from the organization. ROcky has it right. You really have to be careful who you donate to.

 

[Rocky]

Oh, now this is totally a rant. Don't get me started on the United Way chief around my parts who stole millions of $$ from the organization. ROcky has it right. You really have to be careful who you donate to.

A useful link: https://www.charitynavigator.org/

The sad thing is that even worthwhile charities waste $$$ on pointless fundraising. For example, the president of a company I worked for asked that any gifts that were sent his way (he was a great guy and everybody loved him) be sent to heifer.org, a charity that works to help people in developing nations become self-sufficient. After a modest gift, they proceeded to routinely send me mail talking about all their success stories. I had to contact them to tell them to stop frittering away my donation.

 

[jwsamuel]

BTW, a minor veer, in Keith Richards' excellent autobiography, "Life", he discusses his time in Boy Scouts as the greatest part of his childhood!

walrus

When I was in college and still living with my parents, Keith Richards lived up the street from me in Cherry Hill, NJ. I had no clue at the time except that I once went to a bar called "The Shepard's Inn" and the bartender said "You should have been here two hours ago Keith Richards and Mick Jagger were here for lunch." No one believed him but when Keith's bio came out, he talked about it and I realized it was all true.

 

[jwsamuel]

I believe that local retention of funds of GSA cookie sales were increased in recent years due to threats of troop strikes. How sad is that?

About 10 years ago, there was a battle here between Girl Scout troops that ended up in court. One troop was selling cookies at the standard $4/box in its region. The troop in the region next door decided to move into the first troop's area and sell cookies for $3.50.

 

[Rocky]

About 10 years ago, there was a battle here between Girl Scout troops that ended up in court. One troop was selling cookies at the standard $4/box in its region. The troop in the region next door decided to move into the first troop's area and sell cookies for $3.50.

Unbridled capitalism.

 

[GAD]

About 10 years ago, there was a battle here between Girl Scout troops that ended up in court. One troop was selling cookies at the standard $4/box in its region. The troop in the region next door decided to move into the first troop's area and sell cookies for $3.50.

That's very much against Girl Scout rules.

 

[JohnW63]

"The Boy Scouts need all the money they can get these days."

I don't doubt it. I would bet they would sell more bags of stuff at a reduced price. I would have gotten 2, one of each flavor, if they were 10 bucks each. So, they lost 20 bucks by wanting $25 for one bag.

 

[chazmo]

As Oscar Wilde was fond of saying, no good organization goes unpunished!

 

[GAD]

Walked into a Starbucks today. This was an actual Starbucks store with people sitting at tables working like every damn Starbucks around.

Grabbed a bottled water only to be greeted with: "Sorry sir, we're only taking orders through the app or drive-through" and then they walked away.

Customer service here in 2023.

 

[JohnW63]

Then why have things on display that you can reach? We have places that are trying to go paper money-less. I think someone is trying to pass a bill to make that illegal. Not everyone has good credit and plastic money.

 

[GAD]

Then why have things on display that you can reach? We have places that are trying to go paper money-less. I think someone is trying to pass a bill to make that illegal. Not everyone has good credit and plastic money.

My guess is that they were very busy and understaffed. I used to go to Starbucks daily and IMO adding a drive-thru was a sure sign that service would deteriorate in the store, but I'd never seen it completely shut down like that.

 

[Rocky]

Then why have things on display that you can reach? We have places that are trying to go paper money-less. I think someone is trying to pass a bill to make that illegal. Not everyone has good credit and plastic money.