Just in time to ruin your New Year's Resolution, Girl Scout Cookie season has arrived! As a former girl member of the Girl Scouts I wish I could say I have always loved this time of year, but let's be honest what middle school girl wants to spend her weekends in front of a store selling cookies in the winter? However, all of that hard work paid off when I spent my summers in places like Quebec, Alaska, Australia, and the Grand Canyon.

With the arrival of Girl Scout Cookies, social media begins its yearly rant on the cost of cookies. Let's just stop this trend right now. As a girl who sold these "over priced" cookies, these comments really get under my skin for a number of reasons.

I took to Facebook to see what people had to say this year about Girl Scout Cookies and the cost. Every comment complaining really made my blood boil a bit.

That last one is a head scratcher, not sure how this is a scam.

This is going to get a little ranty (I know that's not a word), just forewarning you.

When I started selling Girl Scout Cookies in 1997, cookies were sold for $3 a box. That same year gas was on average $1.23 per gallon. In 2018, the average cost of gas was almost $3.00 a gallon. Back in 2008 gas peaked at over $4.00 per gallon. Throughout a good part of my time as a girl member, cookies stayed at $3.00 a box. Now cookies in our area cost $4.00-$5.50 a box. The cost of cookies remained $3 a box in our area for over 5 years before the increase began.

You never hear anyone complain about the cost of Boy Scouts' popcorn. Oh you didn't know Boy Scouts sold popcorn? Well they do and it is insanely expensive. If you were to buy popcorn off of the Trails End website, the popcorn supplier, a box of microwavable popcorn costs $35! Yes, a box of 24 packets of popcorn cost a whopping $35. Now, locally that price isn't so steep. You can get a box of 18 packs for $20 in South Jersey...

The cheapest items Boy Scouts offer locally during the popcorn sale are 30 ounces of popping corn (the kernels) for $10 and 11 ounces of caramel corn for $10.

On the order form from the local council it states that if you buy the $20 box of popcorn,  over $14 goes to local scouting. This may be misleading to some. I see one of the biggest complaints for the price of Girl Scout Cookies is the amount of money that actually goes to the girls. I have to hand it to the Boy Scouts for wording this part perfectly. Saying that an amount of money goes to local scouting is extremely vague. This doesn't mean that $14 goes to the boy nor does it mean the $14 goes to the troop. I would argue their breakdown of money distribution is similar to Girl Scouts.

Why should you spend $4 on a box of cookies that seems to get smaller each year? The answer is simple, you are not spending $4 on a box of cookies. Think of it as you are donating $4 or more to the future of that girl and in return you are getting a box of delicious cookies. People are mistaken when they compare the cookies to ones you can buy in stores.

As previously mentioned, through cookie sales I was able to travel the world. This is something that would have never happened without Girl Scouts and selling cookies. Before you say to yourself that I'm a spoiled Millennial and that my "mommy and daddy" would've paid for my trips anyway, let me just say that would have NEVER happened.

Girl Scouts Sell Cookies From Street Trucks In New York City
John Moore, Getty Images
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Through the selling of cookies I learned the value of hard work and the value of the dollar. I wasn't relying on family and friends bringing a cookie sheet to work to sell for me. Did I have that? Yes. However, I was out selling door to door any chance I had and spent my weekends in front of Hollywood Video and Lowes for hours working towards those trips.

WiseBread.com posted an article back in 2017 making the case for why you should buy Girl Scout cookies despite the cost. In the article they pointed out that, "Girl Scouts are also shown to have a higher success rate in life. In fact, 80% of today's female business owners were Girl Scouts."

MyLifeAndKids.com wrote a similar article and stated, "The Girl Scout Cookie Program is much more than selling cookies. Girls learn 5 valuable skills — goal setting, decision making, money management, people skills, and business ethics — aspects essential to leadership, success, and life."

Stop looking at it as "expensive" cookies and look at it as investing in the future of that young girl.

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