On January 9, 2024, the Girl Scouts of the USA announced the launching of this year’s Girl Scout cookie season. This season is set to begin on January 29th. So now is the time that Girl Scouts are spreading the news and preparing to sell their hearts out and empty the whole country’s pockets. This year’s lineup of cookies consists of:

• Adventurefuls
• Caramel Chocolate chip
• Caramel deLites
• Do-si-dos
• Girl Scout S’mores
• Lemonades
• Lemon-Ups
• Peanut Butter Patties
• Thin Mints
• Toast-Yay!
• Toffee-tastic
• Trefoils

These cookies are iconic masterpieces. Everyone has tried a Girl Scout cookie at least once in their life. Their signature cookies are some of the best in the nation: Thin Mints, Samoas, Tagalongs, and Do-si-dos. Most of them are slathered in caramel and chocolate which everyone knows are the best toppings for a cookie. But have the Girl Scouts – the largest girl-led organization in the world – been taking advantage of people’s addiction to these cookies? Inflation must have a vice grip on these little girls because in 1981 Girl Scout cookies cost $1.50, by 1999 they cost $3, and by 2015 they were $5.

To get a better understanding of the price increases we have to take a look at how the Girl Scouts organization works. Girl Scouts is a large organization that is split into 112 councils all over the nation these councils oversee the facilitation of Troops which are groups of Girl Scouts in a given area. Each council gets its say in the price and flavors of the cookies sold by their troops. The councils also get to choose between two licensed bakers to produce their cookies, ABC Bakers or Little Brownie Bakers. The Girl Scouts of Northern California are selling:

• Adventurefuls
• Thin mints
• Samoas
• Tagalongs
• Do-si-dos
• Trefoils
• Lemon-ups
• Girl Scout S’mores
• Toffee-tastic

Now in 2024 California Girl Scout cookies cost $6 per package which is $1 more expensive than last year’s prices. Girl Scout troops will earn $0.70 with rewards and $0.80 without rewards when 1-249 packages of cookies are sold. As the cost of these popular cookies has been rapidly increasing so has the unrest of the customers. Many buyers think that the price increases are unnecessary and that $6 is too expensive for one box of cookies. When the criticism became too much the Girl Scouts official website came out with a FAQ in 2022 to answer the many boiling questions about their price changes. In their response they state, “This price increase is based on high production costs from the bakery, requests for troop profits, and increased expenses to provide outstanding girl programming.”

Their main point is that the money will fund projects and programs that will benefit the young girls all around the nation; this point is the center of the Girl Scouts mission which is admittedly a good one. However, another notable detail is that the bakeries are demanding more money to produce their cookies. This statement leads to the question: can the Girl Scouts spare the cost of their expensive cookies? For this organization, cookie season is when they get their most useful profits, and with demands from the economy, inflation, and their manufacturing partnership raising their costs it seems understandable that to make a profit from their cookies the prices need to be brought up. Although many people disagree there may be some aspects that they fail to see.

Sophomore Raya Casselman, a Girl Scout since Kindergarten, is planning to sell cookies this season; she states, “It’s harder to sell more expensive cookies but I understand why the prices have risen due to inflation.” It seems that most Girl Scouts are not opposed to price increases given an increase in prices mean more profits for their troops but it can prove unsuccessful if fewer customers pay the price. 

Generally, the consumers are still upset and are demanding lower prices, but in the end, most people keel over to the allure of these delicacies and end up buying them. Still, this controversy seems to rise every passing season and appears to rise more heatedly each time. Will this problem be solved in the future? Will cookie prices drop in the end? These are all the burning questions that have yet to go unanswered by the organization but this year the girls are on their way to another successful season.