Girl Scout cookies have risen in value as inflation takes its chew. But it is not all dangerous information: Customers nonetheless appear to be prepared to pay up.

Francine Orr/Los Angeles Times by way of Getty Images

conceal caption

toggle caption

Francine Orr/Los Angeles Times by way of Getty Images

Girl Scout cookies have risen in value as inflation takes its chew. But it is not all dangerous information: Customers nonetheless appear to be prepared to pay up.

Francine Orr/Los Angeles Times by way of Getty Images

Inflation has come for the Do-si-dos cookies.

Many Girl Scout regional councils are elevating the worth of their widespread cookies to assist cowl rising prices on the two industrial bakeries that make the treats.

That means your favourite field of Samoas that used to promote for $5 will quickly value $6 in lots of elements 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 costs,” says Wendy Lou, chief income officer for Girl Scouts of the USA.

The enhance gives a bittersweet lesson for the younger cookie sellers, together with Lou’s 7-year-old daughter, who’s a Brownie in Connecticut.

“That’s part of the conversation we’ll have this year,” says Lou. “It really is a little microcosm of what it’s like to run your business and deal with the real pressures — including inflation.”

Telling clients is the onerous half

Many troops on the West Coast already raised their cookie costs, and it was an adjustment for each the Girl Scouts and their clients.

Ten-year-old Madison Patstone had already memorized the price of as much as 12 packing containers of cookies on the previous $5-per-box value. Now, she has to multiply by $6 — and carry plenty of $1 payments to make change.

Some cookie lovers are shocked when their Thin Mint buying energy is thinner than it was once. A $20 invoice that used to purchase 4 packing containers of cookies now covers solely three — with a few bucks left over.

“They’re like, ‘What?'” Madison says. “That was one of the hard parts: telling people that inflation has come to their nostalgic cookies.”

Madison nonetheless managed to promote greater than 2,400 packing containers this yr, making her one of many high sellers in San Diego.

Most clients are understanding. This was the primary value enhance in San Diego since 2015. And whereas the 20% bounce appears massive, the worth of store-bought cookies has risen 23% within the final two years, in response to inflation information 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, we’ve had to up our rates so we can still make a profit and provide these programs for girls,” says Ashley Hilliard, a highschool sophomore who has been promoting Girl Scout cookies for a decade.

The “Tagalong effect”

Proceeds from the cookie gross sales cowl about 70% of the Girl Scouts’ funds in San Diego.

Each council units its personal cookie costs, however neighboring councils usually transfer collectively in what is likely to be known as the “Tagalong effect.” Girl Scout councils all through California adopted a regular cookie value of $6 a field this yr. They noticed little, if any, drop in gross 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 promote about 200 million packing containers of cookies yearly. That’s greater than Oreos, though Girl Scout cookies are on sale for just a few months a yr — sometimes between January and April.

“Low Price” indicators are displayed at a grocery retailer in Los Angeles on Oct. 12. Inflation is steadily moderating, although it continues to impression folks throughout the United States.

Mario Tama/Getty Images

conceal caption

toggle caption

Mario Tama/Getty Images

“Low Price” indicators are displayed at a grocery retailer in Los Angeles on Oct. 12. Inflation is steadily moderating, although it continues to impression folks throughout the United States.

Mario Tama/Getty Images

Marketing professional — and former Girl Scout — Sally Lyons Wyatt would not anticipate the $1 value enhance to take a lot of a chew out of gross sales.

“Because it isn’t just about a cookie, right?” says Lyons Wyatt, government vp at Circana, a world market analysis agency. “Now, granted, if they did something crazy like it’s going to cost you 20 bucks for one little package, OK, well then maybe we would find that there’s a cliff. But if we’re talking a nominal increase in price, I don’t think it’s going to have an impact on demand.”

Madison is already honing her gross sales pitch for the following cookie season, when she hopes to high her personal document by promoting 2,500 packing containers.

“The season isn’t very long,” Madison says. “You’ll have to wait a whole year to get them again, so might as well just stock up.”