Girl Scout cookie presales hit ground running

MCT photo The Girl Scouts will be selling favorites such as Thin Mints, Do-si-dos, Tagalongs, Trefoils and Samoas.

The middle of January means one thing to most cookie lovers.

It is time to get their hands on some Girl Scout Cookies.

The Girl Scouts of New Mexico Trails have been selling cookies in Curry, Quay and Roosevelt counties since Jan. 15. The troops, which consist of 250 girls in the three counties, are working on initial sales to friends and family.

The next step is going out and setting up outside a businesses said Becky Burress, Member Development Coordinator for the Tucumcari, Clovis and Portales area.

“In March we will start heading out into the community,” Burress said.

Outside of Wal-Mart and Walgreens, the Girl Scouts will set up selling favorites such as Thin Mints, Do-si-dos, Tagalongs, Trefoils and Samoas.

The Girls Scouts also are introducing two new types are cookies this year. Thank You Berry Munch has cranberries and white fudge chunks and Dulce De Leche is a Latin caramel cookie.

Burress says sales have been strong so far. Even with a down economy, people are still buying a a lot of cookies.

“With the economy the way it is we are still seeing a lot of support,” Burress said.

Suzy Galea, leader of Troop 52 in Clovis, said her girls are doing great in sales. The 14 girls in her troop have sold more than 1,200 boxes of cookies in just two weeks Galea said.

Those sales are just pre-sales from friends and family.

“The favorites always sell the best,” Galea said. “I think the new cookies are about one-eighth of our sales so far.”

Girl Scout Cookies are about much more than just selling cookies to people according to the Web site GirlScouts.org. Selling cookies gives girls a chance to learn business, how to work in a team, goal setting and money management.

“Any activities the girls get to be involved with is good for the girls,” Galea said.

Every penny of sales of the cookies goes back to the Girl Scouts of New Mexico Trails. No other organization sees any money from the cookie sales. Some portion of the sales goes directly to the troop selling the cookies. The amount is decided by the troop and is around 12 to 17 percent of the purchase price of the box of cookies according to the Girl Scouts Web site.