It’s Here! the 2023 Popcorn Season is fast approaching! This fundraiser gives the opportunity for the Scout to sell popcorn throughout the local community which 70% proceeds benefit the Palmetto Scouting Program. On top of that, the Scout has the opportunity to get a portion, or the entire 2024 Scouting Dues paid for through this fundraiser. Pack 108 has an amazing Popcorn Kernal that has set up all the Scouts with the ability to succeed in just one or 2 weekends of selling through local businesses, virtual store fronts, and door to door sales. You will need the Trails End App- Text APP to 62771 to get a link to download. It only takes ONE MINUTE to register!
Here are some Tips, Pointers, Recommendations and Notices to make 2023 your best year yet!
- Treat all sales as Wagon Sales – the Storefront option was very glitchy and did not reduce the Scout’s inventory for sales done during these sessions. PLEASE use Wagon Sales even though you may have registered for a timeslot at Lowes, Captain Steve’s, or Food Lion.
- If someone wants to pay in cash – DO NOT RECORD SALES IN THE APP AS “CASH” Pack 108’s policy for the last 2 years (this year will be Year #3) has been to only accept credit card sales. The best practice is to 1) accept the cash from the customer, 2) put it in your pocket, 3) pull your own debit/credit card from another pocket, 4) record the sale as “Credit.” Your Scout gets extra points, there’s nothing to account for and turn in weeks later, and you get reward points/cash back from your credit card. I even take the cash to the bank on Monday and make a payment right away to wash the transactions out. Or if credit cards in general are a problem, one family used their debit card in the app and paid for groceries with the cash they had collected.
- Encourage folks to “round up” – I rarely make change for customers when they pay cash. Same with credit. If their order comes to $23, ask a simple question “Would you like to round up to $30 as a popcorn donation to first responders?” Most say “Sure” Regardless of the price, ask the question. The worst they say is no and several $5-10 round up’s is another $100 in sales since donations count the same as popcorn sales.
- Track your Inventory – To be honest, the Trail’s End app stinks. The alternative vendors don’t offer an app at all so it’s our only option. Last year we had several parents complain that their app inventory was wholly different from what they had in their garage. Each time you do a big sale, take a few minutes and compare the ending inventory in the app to what you actually have. This will help you avoid marking something as delivered/undelivered when the opposite is true. It will also help me troubleshoot the issue if we can limit the error to a certain day. At the end of a 5-week sale it’s virtually impossible to figure out where an error occurred unless you kept a separate ledger on paper. Plus, you run the risk of shorting someone for the popcorn they bought but didn’t receive that day.
- Record all sales immediately – don’t wait and write them down on the back of a napkin. Just do it in the app. We had several Scouts with no sales and when I asked them to return the inventory the reply was “Oh, we sold a lot of it, let me go ahead and enter them into the app.”
- Return inventory if you don’t plan to sell – Other folks in the Pack want to sell and need inventory. There is not a limitless supply of inventory from the district and the Pack is stuck with unsold inventory. This means sitting on inventory you don’t plan to sell reduces how much your fellow Scouts can sell. Returning that inventory to the Pack at the end of the sale means our Pack is stuck with it. Please do the right thing and please return unused or unneeded inventory to me ASAP so I can get it to others who are short.
