Girl Scouts - Training Girls to Run MLMs, Change My Mind
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@bnrstnr said in Girl Scouts - Training Girls to Run MLMs, Change My Mind:
@dashrender said in Girl Scouts - Training Girls to Run MLMs, Change My Mind:
Sure, the whole thing is a MLM scam - but without it, I'm not sure GS would have any money at all.
Why can't they bake cookies themselves and sell them at a much higher margin?
Because lawsuits.
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@dashrender said in Girl Scouts - Training Girls to Run MLMs, Change My Mind:
Which makes me wonder - how does the boyscouts exist? Where does their funding come from? I can't believe they make enough in popcorn sales to do what they do?
When I wanted to be in the Boy Scouts years ago parents had to pay for it and the time was volunteered, I have no idea if it is still this way.
And what do they even do? Last I knew they did community service and went camping...
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@jaredbusch said in Girl Scouts - Training Girls to Run MLMs, Change My Mind:
Because lawsuits.
Because lawsuits from who? Girl Scouts (the corporation?) or the people eating the cookies?
If the Girl Scouts are suing people for not using their products then start your own organization... People have bake sales all the time without being sued to oblivion
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@bnrstnr said in Girl Scouts - Training Girls to Run MLMs, Change My Mind:
@dashrender said in Girl Scouts - Training Girls to Run MLMs, Change My Mind:
Sure, the whole thing is a MLM scam - but without it, I'm not sure GS would have any money at all.
Why can't they bake cookies themselves and sell them at a much higher margin? It doesn't HAVE to be a scam, they just choose the path of least resistance. "Here's our standard order sheet, everything is done for you, you don't need to do anything but stand in front of a store and annoy the shit out of people"
There was definitely a movie based on this.
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@bnrstnr said in Girl Scouts - Training Girls to Run MLMs, Change My Mind:
@dashrender said in Girl Scouts - Training Girls to Run MLMs, Change My Mind:
Which makes me wonder - how does the boyscouts exist? Where does their funding come from? I can't believe they make enough in popcorn sales to do what they do?
When I wanted to be in the Boy Scouts years ago parents had to pay for it and the time was volunteered, I have no idea if it is still this way.
It is. The fundraising in Boy Scouts strictly pays for the camping trips and supplies.
Our troop broke free from the popcorn enslavement just before I turned 18. One of the parents knew a business in town that was shutting down that had a snow cone machine to liquidate.
He convinced the other parents to use the funds to buy it. We then started going to all the summer fairs with a snow cone booth. Made tons of money for the troop and none of the boys had to pay their own money to go to camps anymore.
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@jaredbusch said in Girl Scouts - Training Girls to Run MLMs, Change My Mind:
@bnrstnr said in Girl Scouts - Training Girls to Run MLMs, Change My Mind:
@dashrender said in Girl Scouts - Training Girls to Run MLMs, Change My Mind:
Which makes me wonder - how does the boyscouts exist? Where does their funding come from? I can't believe they make enough in popcorn sales to do what they do?
When I wanted to be in the Boy Scouts years ago parents had to pay for it and the time was volunteered, I have no idea if it is still this way.
It is. The fundraising in Boy Scouts strictly pays for the camping trips and supplies.
Our troop broke free from the popcorn enslavement just before I turned 18. One of the parents knew a business in town that was shutting down that had a snow cone machine to liquidate.
He convinced the other parents to use the funds to buy it. We then started going to all the summer fairs with a snow cone booth. Made tons of money for the troop and none of the boys had to pay their own money to go to camps anymore.
Just CAN'T +1 this enough. Also teaches the boys a little bit about entrepreneurship.
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@jaredbusch said in Girl Scouts - Training Girls to Run MLMs, Change My Mind:
It is. The fundraising in Boy Scouts strictly pays for the camping trips and supplies.
Obviously, like any other thing involving money, there are corrupt parents out there.
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@jaredbusch said in Girl Scouts - Training Girls to Run MLMs, Change My Mind:
Our troop broke free from the popcorn enslavement just before I turned 18. One of the parents knew a business in town that was shutting down that had a snow cone machine to liquidate.
I specifically remember my friends troops would sell tickets for and work the local "haunted forest" during Halloween, they were never popcorn slaves that I was aware of. They did all kinds of stuff to raise money to go camping and do whatever else they did.
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I guess I don't even understand why so much money is required, don't you just get "merit badges" for doing/learning new skills? Why do they have to sell a billion boxes of cookies to learn new skills?
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@bnrstnr said in Girl Scouts - Training Girls to Run MLMs, Change My Mind:
I guess I don't even understand why so much money is required, don't you just get "merit badges" for doing/learning new skills? Why do they have to sell a billion boxes of cookies to learn new skills?
Some of the merit badges can only be earned on camping trips, like navigation or wilderness survival. Which costs money to get out there, camping grounds, food, etc.
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@bnrstnr said in Girl Scouts - Training Girls to Run MLMs, Change My Mind:
@jaredbusch said in Girl Scouts - Training Girls to Run MLMs, Change My Mind:
Because lawsuits.
Because lawsuits from who? Girl Scouts (the corporation?) or the people eating the cookies?
If the Girl Scouts are suing people for not using their products then start your own organization... People have bake sales all the time without being sued to oblivion
Lawsuits from the actual maker of the cookies who likely have a lifetime contract, non-compete clause etc.
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@bnrstnr said in Girl Scouts - Training Girls to Run MLMs, Change My Mind:
I guess I don't even understand why so much money is required, don't you just get "merit badges" for doing/learning new skills? Why do they have to sell a billion boxes of cookies to learn new skills?
Simply put, like with hockey someone needs to pay to keep the ice cold. . .
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@dustinb3403 said in Girl Scouts - Training Girls to Run MLMs, Change My Mind:
Lawsuits from the actual maker of the cookies who likely have a lifetime contract, non-compete clause etc.
Right, so ditch the Girl Scouts name completely, get it back to a local thing. Seems like a win-win all around.
I guess with how sue-crazed everybody is nobody wants to operate something like this an accept any liability...
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@bnrstnr said in Girl Scouts - Training Girls to Run MLMs, Change My Mind:
I guess I don't even understand why so much money is required, don't you just get "merit badges" for doing/learning new skills? Why do they have to sell a billion boxes of cookies to learn new skills?
Very little is required. They get basically nothing from the cookie sales. They sell a billion boxes of cookies becaue the girl scouts are a multi-level cookie marketing scheme. That is what they are. They aren't about anything else, AFAIK. They are literally about selling cookies as pressured child labour through a pyramid scheme that is illegal on the MLM side and on the child labour side. But they've been doing it under a non-profit money laundering front since like 1936 so people turn a blind eye to it.
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@bnrstnr said in Girl Scouts - Training Girls to Run MLMs, Change My Mind:
@dustinb3403 said in Girl Scouts - Training Girls to Run MLMs, Change My Mind:
Lawsuits from the actual maker of the cookies who likely have a lifetime contract, non-compete clause etc.
Right, so ditch the Girl Scouts name completely, get it back to a local thing. Seems like a win-win all around.
I guess with how sue-crazed everybody is nobody wants to operate something like this an accept any liability...
Ditch the whole concept and make something that isn't an MLM.
My problem here, and it's not a problem just a bit of confusion, is if we look at what the Girls Scouts truly are, why would anyone want anything like that, at all? If we want something for girls to do, shouldn't it just be a completely different thing with goals that aren't selling cookies?
I guess to me it's like saying Product X is a car. Oh, that's not what I want, I want a sandwich. We should make Product Y based on Product X that meets my goals. But if your goal is a sandwich, why make something related to the car you didn't want en route to getting the sandwich? Why not just make a sandwich in the first place rather than trying to alter the car into a sandwich?
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@scottalanmiller said in Girl Scouts - Training Girls to Run MLMs, Change My Mind:
@bnrstnr said in Girl Scouts - Training Girls to Run MLMs, Change My Mind:
@dustinb3403 said in Girl Scouts - Training Girls to Run MLMs, Change My Mind:
Lawsuits from the actual maker of the cookies who likely have a lifetime contract, non-compete clause etc.
Right, so ditch the Girl Scouts name completely, get it back to a local thing. Seems like a win-win all around.
I guess with how sue-crazed everybody is nobody wants to operate something like this an accept any liability...
Ditch the whole concept and make something that isn't an MLM.
My problem here, and it's not a problem just a bit of confusion, is if we look at what the Girls Scouts truly are, why would anyone want anything like that, at all? If we want something for girls to do, shouldn't it just be a completely different thing with goals that aren't selling cookies?
I guess to me it's like saying Product X is a car. Oh, that's not what I want, I want a sandwich. We should make Product Y based on Product X that meets my goals. But if your goal is a sandwich, why make something related to the car you didn't want en route to getting the sandwich? Why not just make a sandwich in the first place rather than trying to alter the car into a sandwich?
You are implying that Girl Scouts is a MLM only, which is not true. But Girl Scouts never had as strong of a presence of doing other things with the kids like Boy Scouts does. So the MLM fundraising side is the only thing people "know" about Girls Scouts.
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@jaredbusch said in Girl Scouts - Training Girls to Run MLMs, Change My Mind:
@scottalanmiller said in Girl Scouts - Training Girls to Run MLMs, Change My Mind:
@bnrstnr said in Girl Scouts - Training Girls to Run MLMs, Change My Mind:
@dustinb3403 said in Girl Scouts - Training Girls to Run MLMs, Change My Mind:
Lawsuits from the actual maker of the cookies who likely have a lifetime contract, non-compete clause etc.
Right, so ditch the Girl Scouts name completely, get it back to a local thing. Seems like a win-win all around.
I guess with how sue-crazed everybody is nobody wants to operate something like this an accept any liability...
Ditch the whole concept and make something that isn't an MLM.
My problem here, and it's not a problem just a bit of confusion, is if we look at what the Girls Scouts truly are, why would anyone want anything like that, at all? If we want something for girls to do, shouldn't it just be a completely different thing with goals that aren't selling cookies?
I guess to me it's like saying Product X is a car. Oh, that's not what I want, I want a sandwich. We should make Product Y based on Product X that meets my goals. But if your goal is a sandwich, why make something related to the car you didn't want en route to getting the sandwich? Why not just make a sandwich in the first place rather than trying to alter the car into a sandwich?
You are implying that Girl Scouts is a MLM only, which is not true.
No, I'm stating outright that if they are anything more than an MLM I'm not aware of it. I'm not saying that they aren't, just that whatever they are past an MLM is not transparent to me and I don't know if it exists or, if it does, what it is.
As an outsider, their MLM business is the only aspect we see. At least typically.
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@jaredbusch said in Girl Scouts - Training Girls to Run MLMs, Change My Mind:
But Girl Scouts never had as strong of a presence of doing other things with the kids like Boy Scouts does.
Right, Boy Scouts have this strong "visible" non-MLM thing, I know some things that the Boy Scouts do. Then, once in a great while, I see them doing an MLM fundraiser.
Girl Scouts, I see constantly doing MLM fundraisers, the most of any MLM I know of world wide in fact, and I know zero of there being anything beyond that.
Which leads to the question of "what is it about the Girl Scouts that we both know about and would want to preserve?"
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The real question here is: what do girl scouts do besides MLM, and is it significant enough to categorize them as not just a MLM?
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@tim_g said in Girl Scouts - Training Girls to Run MLMs, Change My Mind:
The real question here is: what do girl scouts do besides MLM, and is it significant enough to categorize them as not just a MLM?
I was thinking the same thing. My daughter is in GS and has been for a few years now. They seem to do a bunch of other stuff, but I'm not that involved. I mean, I go to a lot of her events, but my wife is the main one doing stuff. My daughter is a brownie too so I think depending on the bracket (or whatever) and the people running the troop, the various activities they do probably can very a lot.
Actually, my wife has gotten stuck with being the troop's cookie manager two years in a row. She has to collect all the money from the parents and submit the orders online. She hasn't said anything to me about things seeming fishy, but she does have a lot of complaints about their website, plus a lot of parents are idiots about submitting and picking up their orders.
I'm also thinking that if it is a full blown MLM at this point, it probably didn't start off that way. I'm sure various levels of greed and corruption have gradually fueled changes that swung the cookie sales portion of the GS into the MLM arena of things.
I feel like pretty much anything that starts off with good and pure intentions and is successful is inevitably pushed more and more to the point that it becomes an obscene version of it's original self.
