Cookie sales crumble? Girl Scouts left with 15 million boxes of unsold cookies

Is there a void in the pantry this year? A space that is normally taken up by boxes upon boxes of Samoas, Tagalongs and Trefoils could be sitting empty due to the coronavirus pandemic.

>> Read more trending news

The Girl Scouts told The Associated Press that the group has 15 million boxes of cookies that didn’t sell this year.

It was not because demand was lacking; instead, the store front sales where scouts ask shoppers to support their troops didn’t happen.

“This is unfortunate, but given this is a girl-driven program and the majority of cookies are sold in person, it was to be expected, Kelly Parisi, a Girl Scouts of the USA spokesperson, told the AP.

In April, Taste of Home reported that there was about a $3 million surplus of cookies waiting to be sold at the time.

Cookie sales go to help fund programming, camps, travel and other activities.

Usually, the annual sale brings in about $800 million through the sale of about 200 million boxes.

Some troops got creative to move the cookies by holding drive-thru sales and contact-free delivery.

But it wasn’t enough.

Girl Scouts of New Mexico Trails had about 22,000 unsold boxes, some of which they’re trying to sell online through the Hometown Heroes program where people buy boxes that are then distributed to health care workers and first responders, the AP reported.

The organization did plan for lower sales due to the pandemic, but did not expect such a shortfall, the AP reported.

Girl Scouts also teamed up with Grubhub for deliveries but neither that nor online sales made up the difference.

Of the 15 million unsold boxes, 12 million will stay at the bakers and 3 million will have to be either sold or donated, the AP reported.

The cookies have a 12-month shelf life.

For more on the cookie surplus, click here.

And for more on the yearly cookie sales, click here.

©2021 Cox Media Group