Mar 8, 2022 3 min read

Late last week, Girl Scout leaders received a disappointing email: beginning March 7, all cookie booth sales are paused.

The exception, leaders learned, are troops that previously contracted a booth space in front of a local storefront.

The hiatus in booth sales is another hiccup in a series of cookie shortages and shipment delays impacting Girl Scout troops nationwide.

“We allowed booth sales to start based on information from our baker that deliveries would continue,” read the email, which hit inboxes March 3. “We never intended for booth sales to continue without delivering initial orders at the same time. With the new information from our baker, this is now the second week they have not shipped any cookies to our warehouses.”

Booth sales that popped up throughout Washington County over the weekend felt like an insult to customers who placed initial cookie orders in January.

“I get customer questions every day: ‘Why are there people selling cookies outside stores when you can’t fill my order?'” said Christy Dinch, who has led Troop 52020 in Washington for 11 years. “I think that was the worst decision (Girl Scouts) ever made. It makes customers feel like they’re not important. It’s just a mess.”

Since the beginning of this year, the cookie program has been rather crumbly. Typically, orders begin in January, with deliveries slated for the end of February. March marks the beginning of booth sale season.

“Certain cookies have been in jeopardy: Adventurefuls, Toffee-Tastics, Samoas. They’ve said things like, ‘We can’t fill them,’ ‘We’re going to try to fill them,’ ‘We can’t promise you any more of certain cookies,'” said Amy Gough, who leads Troop 18006 in Canonsburg. “Since the beginning of the season, this year seems to have been a challenge.”

The cookie shortage and delivery delays were documented in a Feb. 24 Observer-Reporter article.

The most recent email offered no estimated cookie arrival date. Troop leaders were simply instructed to check their Cookie Bytes for “additional program updates, key dates, ideas and more.”

“It’s very frustrating,” said Dinch. “I’ve had to make posts all over Facebook. It’s very frustrating to keep explaining to people over and over again. This has just put a lot of extra stress on the volunteers.”

In addition to the stress of not selling is the stress of not generating income. The cookie program is the only annual fundraiser for many troops.

Troops who didn’t host booths over the weekend have already lost income, Dinch said.

“If we don’t get the cookies, then we have to issue refunds. The scouts as a whole may end up losing customers,” she said. “What happens if (people) stop supporting us? There’s still a whole world of Scouts that could be affected in the long run.”