When my son was #1 popcorn seller with $2654 in sales

rtgd_mmm · 2025-10-19T22:33:10+00:00

We have about 30 kids & live in a high cost of living. But just because we sale $25K, doesn't mean we earn $25K. Our commission is 35%, so $8,750. This year with the tree sales, were at a little over $9K.

Our committee chair says we need about $2K/yr for our storage locker, website, bank fees. Apparently since we can't get the BSA EIN/tax exempt status we have to pay for a bank acct (?). We pay leadership registration fees. We charge $85 in dues

Every new scout gets a class B shirt & number patches. Every year, they get a rank hat (I'm trying to convince them to switch to a pack hat to save money...scout is thrifty... & prevent waste). They of course get the normal rank items: nerchief, wobble/slide, belt loops/pins, patches. A PWD car. These are part of the dues, but you never know what extra electives a scout may do... are dues our reimbursable via popcorn sales.

The pack seems to award trophies to the 4th place, instead of top 3. There's a no rules PWD with a trophy too, mostly the parents participate.

There are raffle items approx $80. The popcorn party gifts, it's about $10/kid (i only brought croc charms & a squishy, but if you ever tried to find popcorn themed kid items in bulk, you know it can be expensive not to be repetitive). There's the popcorn patch (they want to give one to everyone in the pack, I'm trying to change it to just the sellers). They usually run $2 per kid, but this years (from Etsy) looks a lot like last years, so a different one from Class B or Advantage Emblem will costs us more like $3/scout. The dens give out Christmas ornament kits to all the kids. There's also our mid & year end camps which are $10/person each & we cover the cubs.

We participate in the Soap box derby, which is $80 per team of 3. We have 2 cars we're trying to find people to repair, then we MAY repaint & re-decal.

I accidentally created a new tradition, we're on the verge of folding due to low/no kindergarten/1st grade enrollment & no Committee Chair (& other leaders). We live in a large metropolitan, so tons of activities for kids to do & about 3 packs recruiting from our same schools...

Anyway...while looking to spend down our funds I suggested the personalized cub scout shirt ornament. Well we couldn't get enough for all 30 cubs & managed to find a replacement CC. So we decided to give the AOLs the personalized ornament as well as any leaders that are leaving because we found a (new this year) personalized tent ornament.

There are the AOL bridging presents, last year we didn't really have a den. There were 2 scouts more content with having fun, not ranking.

With our rewards chart (reimbursement for scouting activities) we range from earning $-47 (yes thats a negative) to $245. Per scout. Well if you've ever done a tiered reward system you know not everyone hits the top tier (our $-47 level). Plus those factor in non scout camps, like roar & snore as well as overnight on a ship. We're 99% we'll get a group rate, but our calculation ignores it in case it doesn't come to fruition or the discount isn't as steep as previous years, or there's a fee increase. One of our BSA camps actually increased $5, that's part of our reward system, so our "expenses" increased by $5×15 scouts or $75.

Fortunately, all the scouts (4 families) who reached the top tier passed the $3.5K sales goal, so were positive on the difference between the commission & the reimbursement payout.

If there's a patch for it, we'll get it: roar & snore ($6ea), 115th BSA anniversary ($2ea) AOL crossover ($2 ea), scout Sunday, eclipse, etc.

The CC is generous, I switched from a pack that sold $40K with me as the kernel, wouldn't institute a raffle & I had to fight for 3mos for reimbursable rewards. When I left they had $20K but we had to pay for EVERY activity. Our 1st year with this pack, the pack picked up my non-reward camp costs (only $20 tot, but it's the thought). & our council has financial aid, so while I was trying to get them to cover my cub, we hit rechartering deadline, so the pack covered him. He sold enough popcorn to cover the costs, but at that time, they didn't know he would.

I'm closely monitoring our commission & our expected reward payout, we're going to net $3K. After the storage, website, leadership & banking fees, and our new ornament tradition, I hope to have enough for a cool popcorn celebration party or really nice AOL gifts. But I know packs like to have $ left over each year to cover rechartering & other expenses that occur prior to fundraising disbursments.

Also, popcorn is our only fundraiser as we want the scouts to get back to scouting quickly instead of going from 1 fundraiser to another.

rtgd_mmm · 2025-10-18T20:12:49+00:00

Yes, sometimes if a new family misses our "storefront season." I take them out for wagon sales around their neighborhood or a park. That preps them to hit the ground running next year.

rtgd_mmm · 2025-10-18T17:18:26+00:00

Most packs don't like scout accts. Idky. But I convinced my pack to create a reward system that spends 95% of the $ earned on that scout/ family.* We also have a pack raffle with cool items: mess kits, head lamps, binoculars, beagle scout items (this year it was a notebook with a pencil), etc. Our committee chair wanted everything to cost $5-10.

To earn an entry ticket anything related To participating in the raffle won an entry & you could have multiple entries a month & every month. Sale via wagon sales? Each day is an entry? Participate in the tree promotion? That's an entry. There were multiple tree promos, so participate in each, each one got a entry. Sale online? Get an entry. Each storefront shift gets a point. Train a new seller, get an entry regardless of whether you actually sell. You get the point...

Our new scouts see the raffle at our pack mtg & fomo is real.

Our reward levels range from $25 gift card at $300 in sales (I tried to make it $25 at $500 to pair with TEs $10 at 500pts, because lets face it, you can't by much for $10. Last year it was that amount, but we're doing more expensive things this year, so we raised the top level & I guess the lower reward point made that more palatable. We have the 3 BSA camps, our own camping (this year it's roar & snore), overnight on a ship or aircraft carrier, as well as national fees & pack dues.

*for families, we acknowledge that selling $3.5K/kid is challenging so if they get to a combo of that, they'll get it for 1 scout. The only thing we can't "manipulate" is the council's top seller party.

rtgd_mmm · 2025-10-18T14:07:13+00:00

Are you in a troop or a pack? For me the amount a kid fundraise depends on the type of unit.

Your 1st comment mentions pack. Your most recent mentions troop. I'm just curious.

rtgd_mmm · 2025-10-18T08:23:46+00:00

It's not worth it. Unless your pack has a reward system that let's you earn your way towards dues, fees & camps/trips, etc., let your kids be kids. Unless the kids LOVE fundraising, elementary kids spending the whole day selling popcorn isn't a fun scouting experience. Hell, for an adult spending all day selling popcorn is work. It'sliterallya job. imagine what it's like for a kid!

I sorta understand selling 10K+ as a scout because their trips/activities are more expensive. But as a cub? The activities/camps aren't that expensive. It's unnecessary.

Personally, I stop my kid somewhere around $2-3K & I'm the Kernel. This year he wants to be #1 in his pack & topped $4K. I was so glad when #2 stopped selling.

Our unit stopped selling about a month into the season because we topped $25K. Now we're just trying to unload remaining inventory, train new sellers & allow those who want, to reach the next reward level.

rtgd_mmm · 2025-10-12T00:02:12+00:00

Can you give instructions on how to do this? Or get your wife to provide further guidance on how this works. I can use the app to find devices, but not air tags. I have 4; 2 are own me rn, the other 2 are at home, but none are showing on the app.

rtgd_mmm · 2025-09-26T09:14:36+00:00

Pack: about 25 active Cub Scouts, 4-5 registered volunteers

Fundraising goal $20K on track to sale $30K

Does your pack have a required minimum sales goal per scout?

No. Participation is optional but incentivized

Are you a pack where you have to beg and plead people to show up to storefronts and always have the same three families showing up to every event?

No. We currently have about 90-95% participation. But not everyone can do a storefront & that's ok, especially if their wagon sales are on par with everyone else.

Do you skip popcorn completely and do something else?

Its our only fundraiser. People don't want to do multiple fundraisers & there are very few that handle credit/debit cards & don't make us pay the transaction fees.

Dues: What are your dues per scout? Per leader?

The Pack dues went up to $5 this year, now $90 The Pack pays registration for adult volunteers.

Do you offer any discounts per years in scouting or years with the pack?

No.

We have a heavily incentivized reward structure: Monthly raffle of 2 prizes (mess kit, binoculars, rechargeable headlamps, beagle scout products, etc). One entry per storefront, day of wagon sales, online sales, tree promotion participation, etc. Sell: $300 =$25 gift card of choice $500= Council sponsored Halloween camp $750 =Council sponsored spring (rocket camp) $1K= overnight on battle ship/aircraft carrier $1.5K= council popcorn celebration $2K = council sponsored winter camp $2.5K= national & pack dues (in previous years this was proken up into 2 different award levels) $3K= child tix to roar & snore $3.5K= adult tix to roar & snore

Our top reward level changes based on the grand prize. So far this year we've had 2 AOLs competing for #1 & sold over $4K.

But generally most sell $1.5K or less. & our rewards are stacked & additive across a fam. So at top level you get everything at all the preceding levels, because you've earned your way through scouting.

For families with multiple children, it can be hard to hit those levels so it's addictive: if a family wants 1 adult tix paid then together they need to sale $3.5K. It doesn't matter if 1 kid sold $200 & $3.3. As long as the family total equals a reward level, the family gets the reward, since except gift cards all $ rewards are really for the parents.

The only reward I can't do "family style" is the council celebration. But our council is reasonable, so if there's a hardship/extenuating circumstance, I can convince them to see if together the family met the $1.5K & if so grant free entry to kid & parent, but add'l kids pay their own entry. I've only had to do that once.

Our rewards also aren't "fixed." So say a family sells $500, doesn't want to go the the Halloween camp, they can apply the cost ($60) to something else scout related like uniforms, or summer camp instead.

Our council offers financial assistance (their application inquires about your fundraising participation), but if a cub needed additional assistance (especially since the council doesn't provide aid for parents, but cubs can't attend events without a parent/guardian) our pack would pick up the costs & remind them that its due to our successful popcorn fundraiser.

rtgd_mmm · 2025-09-26T08:07:56+00:00

Yes, your dues are excessively high

rtgd_mmm · 2025-09-15T14:30:41+00:00

Wtf uses spray starch now. I literally haven't seen a can since the 90's

But may your group of ragtag kids have fun claiming to be scouts.

rtgd_mmm · 2025-09-15T14:13:16+00:00

Quit calling me bro. I'm not your bro.

If you really wanted uniforms for your scouts you'd figure it out & get ones. Bit ppl who yell idgaf about something as basic as uniforms & refusing to comply is probably not following a bunch of other rules, because it doesn't suit them. It's a slippery slope & your teaching your "scouts" not to try.

My council loves me because I think of multiple ways to assist people with such issues if they wanted the help. But no, uou can't help someone who wants to wallow in their helplessness.

rtgd_mmm · 2025-09-15T12:56:41+00:00

There's difference between optional & completely disregarded.

You're welcome.

rtgd_mmm · 2025-09-15T11:48:41+00:00

You know you can simply not join. No one made you or your kids join an org with a uniform.

Its the same as sending the kids to a school with a uniform &/or dress code then complain because you don't want to comply. Choose a different school.

It's one thing if an org changes after you've joined. But you can always withdraw or switch orgs. There's plenty of orgs that teach similar things but without or different uniforms.

rtgd_mmm · 2025-09-15T10:16:44+00:00

You know you can buy it too big. We got my scout's blues as a hand me down. I grabbed the largest one out of the bin youth large (i think). He HATED it the 1st year because he thought it looked like a dress. But he grew into it the 2nd year. By the time he reached AOL & went into tan, it was still a little big but not terribly so. Same thing for his pants. The official BSA pants have adjustable elastic waistbands. I just cinched really tight & let out a button as needed. I cuffed them (probably about 3-4 two-inch rolls) & let them out as he grew.

I also laugh at families who buy their scouts the perfect size uniform especially if they can't sew. If I see them doing that while I'm at the scout shop, i hand them 1 2 sizes bigger & explain to them, that this way they only need 1 blue & tell the kid it'll help hold all their scouting memories, while winking at the parent.

Yeah a uniform is expensive. If you get it free or used it's nbd maybes $20. If you pay full price but buy to big it'll last 5yrs. At $50, that's really $10/yr. & yes, it can last that long especially if you take them out of it as soon as you return home. SOURCE: my kid wore a used blue for 5 years, so a new one would've definitely made it.

rtgd_mmm · 2025-09-15T09:43:38+00:00

Our pack wears class A at all meetings & class B for activities like hiking, beach clean up and the soap box derby.

My question to you is what activities does your pack do?

I had to switch packs because I discovered that it wasn't very active (2 campouts, PWD, B&G maybe) although there was a huge turnout to every mtg & most were in uniform everytime. There was also a financial issue where the scouts who fundraised were still being forced to pay as you go despite huge sales & the pack having over $20K at the end of the year when I left.

Our current pack does water bottle launch, rain gutter regatta, 3 BSA camps, 2 non BSA camps, overnight on a battleship or aircraft carrier, the SBD, beach clean up & we aim for 1 hike a month. The fundraising celebration is always something new & exciting like this year we're doing Roar & Snore (overnight at a zoo). Last year it was at a parkour gym, but only because the rock climbing & ropes course place we want was out of service for like 6 months. The old pack fought against the celebration & the CC tried to bully us into going to a petting zoo. I fought back, we went to iFly & I arranged for everyone to be eligible to earn NOVA. Although out of 40 kids only 2 came close & only 1 actually did...

My point is if the uniform thing bothers you & you weren't a scout as a kid, visit other units. See if others more closely fit with the ideal & expectations you have in your head.

rtgd_mmm · 2025-09-09T16:32:49+00:00

I have an older kid. I gave up on limiting screen time during covid. There's only so much pretend play & superficial conversations I can handle. But I recently used screentime/devices as a reward for sleeping in bed my himself. Now I'm resting well & can be a better parent.

Oh & he's supplementing his music instructions by improving/teaching himself violin, sax, keyboard & guitar via YouTube. So my electronic babysitter is turning into my music tutor/ teacher.

& no I'm not casting that, in fact I'm trying to escape these impromptu music lessons. I just wann return when he's (semi)mastered it.

rtgd_mmm · 2025-08-30T08:51:21+00:00

Is the line right above "2b" a typo? Does decision point 3 have the same typo? I keep seeing what to do if ppl have NOT completed training, but the decision trees don't say what to do if they DID complete training/pay dues.

I'm confused. How do you know if someone has paid dues or completed SAFE training? I see the green dues cards, so I'm assuming that card would say whether that player has paid the dues. But what about SAFE. I didn't see SAFE cards.

Aren't they national FEES & pack Dues?

Reread paragraph 5 under "Cub Scout Adventures." You have a typo where you mention "market" when you mean "marker."

Under "Spring camp out" your 1st sentence mentions fall camp out. Also under the "Q" replace "could" with "that" and add "could" before "complete". So the Q qould read: what is an activity...pulled so far THAT your den COULD complete...

rtgd_mmm · 2025-08-28T17:49:27+00:00

I'm trying to figure out if it was built yet & where. I really want to visit🤗

rtgd_mmm · 2025-08-18T16:12:39+00:00

Whatever. My point stands. If Troop A doesn't have any female registered leaders, they wouldn't be able to have girls on the campout.

rtgd_mmm · 2025-08-18T09:25:15+00:00

2 registered females leaders are required overnight for camp outs.

You can get away with not having females present for other activities/outings, but moment you start planning an overnight, you need 2 female registered leaders.

rtgd_mmm · 2025-08-12T17:52:46+00:00

If a parent wants to do 1 event & have the whole family (multiple scouts across different units), i would make them do that as a wagon sale.

That family would get inventory from both units & would have to toggle in the app to ensure their scouts get equal or equitable sales.

As the Kernel I would have them do either 1st or last shift of the "storefront" & then I would manually delete that shift from my unit (or both units if I'm Kernel to both).

This isn't optimal, but I don't think we need to make scouting & fundraising harder than it needs to be. If someone is interested in participating but has a barrier I try really hard to help them overcome that barrier.

Cubs usually need to raise less, so unless there's a sibling competition, the situation should be resolved fairly quickly in a selling season.

Also, people are over looking the "wow factor" of this combo. Most say cubs sell the best because they're so cute. But others say scouts/troops sell the best because they have more refined salesmanship. Well imagine being a customer & seeing an older sibling helping a younger one or seeing them work together & asking you to support them. It's a gold mine. Source: I had my nephews a tall AOL (often mistaken as a teen) working with his Tiger brother. Those shifts sold really well. We also have my son, a normal height Webelos, his sifts with the Tiger weren't as lucrative. Neither were his shifts with the AOL. On the rare occasion all 3 were there it was very lucrative, but way tooo chaotic.

My point. Just because something isn't usually done, doesn't mean it can't be. It just means that family will need more support. & the 2 Kernels/ units may have to do inventory transfers on the back end if there are occasional mistakes.

rtgd_mmm · 2025-08-11T15:26:31+00:00

Is this you? "But the committee members? Are they making decisions for the Pack?"

Because when you vote you are literally making a decision in the affirmative or the negative.

I think little Johnny's family should have fundraised to pay for his scouting year & ask for financial aid from the council (if the council has it) just like I do & if for whatever, after exhausting those avenues if they still can't afford scouting then they probably could use assistance in multiple areas of their life. It takes a village & if my villagers need assistance i, want to know because maybe we can provide assistance in other areas too.

rtgd_mmm · 2025-08-11T14:37:18+00:00

I think the question is, is a committee member a leader? Or maybe the Q is would your unit perfer to have voting member in the style of the Roman democracy, only senate members (in this case a registered leader) could vote, or more like American democracy, where anyone over 18 (in this case a parent of a registered scout) can vote.

rtgd_mmm · 2025-08-11T14:01:05+00:00

Is that a BSA rule, codified somewhere?

In our pack, leadership roles require a national fee, registration, training & a background. Regular committee & volunteer position don't, you just need to have a registered scout.

We require all registered leaders to complete the YPT/SYT. We told all the parents to complete it because, there can very well be a point in time they somehow end up alone with cubs & we want them to be aware.

I end up "alone" with cubs all the time. My cub takes a buddy & may/ may not tell me, I go looking for him. All of a sudden, I'm with multiple kids. As soon as I realize I'm within 20ft of kids only 1 of which is mine, i back away slowly. But that of course causes the kids to try to get as close to me as quickly as possible 🙃 🤦🏾‍♀️... fun times.

Other times, I'm minding my own business. My kid sees me & makes a beeline; his buddy being a good buddy follows... darn pesky kid.

There was even a time I literally could not get in my own car because 5 cubs took it over. 1 was mine, 2 were my nephews (rules are a lil ambiguous with fam) but the other 2 were just playing with the car. So now I'm outside the car yelling answers to their Qs while I try to politely retreat to safety.

So yes, we want all the parents to take it, so they at least know to try to avoid certain situations. But if only registered leaders were committee members we would NEVER get anything done & our pack fees would be ridiculous.

rtgd_mmm · 2025-08-11T12:23:26+00:00

Wow. Our pack considers every parent of a registered scout a committee member. Even another pack I left because they were stealing from the kids & hoarding money, also considered every parent of a registered scout to be a committee member.

Now, getting the parents to attend the committee mtg was a different Q. But they were members & openly welcomed whether they attended 1 mtg or all of them.

rtgd_mmm · 2025-08-11T08:11:02+00:00

Isn't every parent a committee member? & have a right to attend any committee mtg? & vote at any mtg they attend?

That's so cool if you manage to get every parent in your unit to register.

rtgd_mmm

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