Supply chain issues have hit Girl Scout cookies. Samoas, Thin Mints, Tagalongs, and others might be tougher to come by this season.
“There is drama unfolding in the cookie-verse because these cookie moms, all these troop leaders were posting [on Facebook groups] that they could not get any Girl Scout cookies anywhere, so they were having to stop selling,” says Rachel Wolfe, a lifelong Girl Scout and Wall Street journal reporter who covers consumer trends.
Not every type of cookie is affected — only the ones produced by Little Brownie Bakers, a bakery servicing 75 out of the 111 geographic areas, or “councils,” as Girl Scouts call them, explains Wolfe. Only one other bakery makes these Girl Scout cookies.
She notes that in LA, she spoke to people who are experiencing some of the worst cookie shortages.
What’s causing all of this? The Girl Scouts themselves aren’t completely sure, but a 7-year-old told Wolfe, “There aren't any more cookies because the workers are getting sick, and the bakers are getting sick and have to go home.”
Cookie sales fund 70% of the troops’ operating budgets, Wolfe explains. “It funds activities, Girl Scout dues for less privileged scouts … charitable events, the different badges that scouts work on. But they do get cookie badges. So there's one called Cookie CEO, where they learn how to make their own business. Or a budgeting badge asks kids to define and give examples of opportunity costs.”
When will the situation clear up? Wolfe says some geographic areas are extending cookie season to wait on more inventory, and the other bakery is considering supplying to the other councils.