2009
Popcorn Sales
To: Pack 29
PARENTS
Our pack is once again
selling POPCORN!!!. This is how our pack earns money for the fun things we get
to do throughout the year. Your son can earn his own way in scouting, and
be rewarded for it. They also get to demonstrate to those you sell how
important scouting is to you.
They will be able to earn
incentive prizes, and also earn money to pay their way to camp. They will earn
money for their ‘scout account’ (which can be used to pay for future scout activities.)
After the pack gets the money it needs for its expenses for the year, the rest
of the profits go to the scouts based on their percentage of total sales for
the pack.
We had the highest sales
per scout in the entire Gamehaven Council each of the last two years, and we
intend to win it again this year. To do this, we need EVERY SCOUT in our pack to sell at least $400 worth of
popcorn. (We all have family, neighbors, family friends, etc). And
there are MANY REASONS to sell even more. Let’s DO OUR BEST to make this a
great year.
If your FAMILY put in 1 HOUR every weekend, and a half an
hour 1 or 2 nights per week, you should have no problem getting to $400, and
likely lots more. Is that too much to ask to avoid having to pay for anything
scout related the rest of the year? If it is, perhaps you can consider a
significant ‘military donation’ which counts toward our sales as well (see your
brochure)
And if EVERYONE above the
Lion Cubs breaks $500 in sales (not average, but EACH scout), the entire pack
will get a ‘special surprise reward’.
We will also have a pizza
party before the Hometown Gratitude event if the PACK
sells $22,000. Two years ago we sold $20,049, so we can certainly do it.. Last
year, after all our Pack expenses, and covering the Pack popcorn budget, the
council earned 37%, and our boys earned
over 16% commission into their PERSONAL accounts to pay for their own scout
events (like summer camp). That is a great way to help YOU save your money, and
use that as a sales pitch. If we hit $22,000, I would think that commission
going directly to the boys will be even higher.
Prizes you can earn from
the council:
· If you sell to 25 different people by October 5th,
you earn a BONUS marshmallow blaster. Take or fax (287-1413) to the Council office.
This will be up to each scout to do themselves. (If you fill up your
sheet, you will most likely have hit your $400 minimum target)
· There is a promotion going on where all scouts who
sell popcorn $400 in popcorn receive a Minnesota Viking 2 for 1 ticket
promotion certificate. My understanding is that there are very FEW of
these tickets available for the game, so I am guessing the odds of actually
getting that are slim. So instead, every boy in our Pack who sells at
least $400 will be in a drawing for a really cool Vikings prize, and everyone
else will get some sort of "football" product.
· If you sell at least $1000.00 worth of popcorn, you
will get your choice of either 1) a Boy Scout Hiking backpack; or 2) a $50.00 Dick’s Sporting Gift Card.
· If you sell at least $1500 worth of popcorn, you can
get a BONUS $50.00 gift card (We had 1 boy do this last year, and 3 boys
did this the year before)
· If you sell at least $2500 worth of popcorn, you start
earning for a ‘college scholarship’
based on your sales this year and EVERY year after. (We had 1 boy reach this
level last year, and 2 boys the year before)
In addition our pack has the following SPECIAL incentives:
· Sell 1 of every item on the order form (all the
popcorn items and both Military donation levels) and earn a BONUS free movie
ticket.
· Special SURPRISE BONUS prize for those who sell at
least $750, unless this is your first year selling popcorn, then you need only
sell $500
·
First time $1000 sellers get to hit me in
the face with a whipped cream pie (Previous $1000 sellers must sell $1500 to
earn this incentive—namely Calvin B, Tate R, Jacob E, Ethan B, Nicholas D, and Nate C.)
·
Sell $1500 and get your BONUS choice of
either a Sony PSP, a Nintendo DSi, a 16GB Ipod Nano (with video capability), a
Garmin etrex GPS device (or similar
product based on availability) or a $100 Gift card to Gander Mountain or
Fleet Farm;
OR
·
Sell at least $2500, INSTEAD of the
$1500 BONUS prizes (you do NOT get both levels from the pack) you get your
choice of a BONUS $400 in gift cards to either Best Buy or Gander Mountain (You
could use that for getting a Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360, PS3, a laptop or
desktop, or maybe camping and fishing equipment.) and participate in applying makeup (lipstick, eye shadow, blush,
and fingernail/toenail polish to the popcorn chair-and get your picture taken
with “him” at the pizza party.)
We will NOT be using the Trails-End prizes as
we did last year. We will be offering gift cards to the boys based on their
sales levels, as follows:
$200 $5.00
Walmart Card
$300 $10.00
Walmart Card
$500 $20.00
Walmart Card
$800 $30.00
Walmart Card
$1100 $50.00
Walmart Card
$1500 $80.00
Walmart Card
$1800 $100
Walmart Card
$2200 $130
Walmart Card
$2500 $150
Walmart Card
Each additional $500 in sales gets you
another $25.00 in gift cards. We feel this is better than the prizes offered
for the boys, and they can then select what THEY want, rather than what is
available. It is certainly better monetarily for them, AND
for the PACK, so everyone wins.
We pay for the pack first, so the first $2500 in profit will go to the Pack to
pay for all the events for the year. (Meaning we have to sell at least $7500)
This is before any of the other prizes, including individual prizes. We need to have every boy DO THEIR BEST in
regards to popcorn sales. We try to make it fun and worthwhile for them, and it
is important for the pack. We also get higher commission for selling at higher
levels (We have to have over $17000 to get an increased commission). Is your
son close to the next prize level, either through our pack, or through the
council? It may be worthwhile for you to put them over the top. The military
sales items are 100% deductible, and popcorn itself is 70% deductible on your
taxes. I am not a tax pro, but this is ‘allowable’. This is one more way to
justify purchases for yourself, or to convince your customers.
We pay for things in this
order: Pack first, then prizes, then scout accounts. If we all do our job
selling, we won’t have any issues. We want to make this sale the ONLY time all
year we have to talk about money. Let’s have the boys earn their way to camp,
and the best way is to sell LOTS of popcorn.
People have asked about
internet sales so their friends and family elsewhere can support our scouts.
The payoff back to our scouts really aren’t worth the effort to do this, and
ends up being much more expensive for the purchaser with shipping and
everything. I would suggest these folks take advantage of the “military”
option, which gets them a write-off, helps our scouts with ‘full’ commissions,
and ultimately helps those serving our country.
Remember when you sell your
popcorn to have the boys wear your scouting uniform. THANK EVERYONE you talk to
even if they didn’t buy anything. And MOST IMPORTANTLY, BE SAFE. Talk to your kids about safety rules.
Remember, they should NEVER step into a stranger’s house unless they are with a
parent or someone your parent told you is safe.
7 out of 10 people
WILL BUY popcorn when asked. Also, 9 out of 10 people will buy popcorn again
the following year if they are asked. And believe it or NOT, 7 out of 10 people
have NEVER been asked to buy popcorn.
IMPORTANT DATES
·
September 25 Popcorn
sales START NOW
·
October 5
Deadline for full sheet of sales for winning ‘multi-tool’ (This would be a ‘GREAT’ challenge to see if
everyone in your den could do this) TURN THESE IN AT THE COUNCIL OFFICE.
·
October 26
Completed order sheets and prize selections need to be turned in TODAY (can be
dropped off at RCLS between 5:00 and 6:00 that night) Do NOT drop orders in the
‘scouting’ drop box outside the office. If
you have collected ALL your money, please turn it in tonight. I will send out a pack-wide
email before this to verify how you need to fill out the sheet to have things
go as smoothly as possible. (If you want
to do this electronically, I can give you a spreadsheet that will work as well,
but need it by the 25th) Email me at mblume@charter.net for this.
· November 12 PICK UP ORDERS at RCLS parking lot from 3:00-5:45pm
· Monday, November 23 All money must be turned in to Mark Blume (will be at RCLS
from 5:00pm – 6:00pm that evening). I will gladly make arrangements to pick up
money sooner. You must have your order money collected and turned
in by this time! Prizes will be held back until all money is collected.
Why should you push to sell $2500?
Besides all the things above, look what it does for your
family.
- Vikings
bonus prize (nominal dollar value)
- Backpack
or gift card ($50)
- ANOTHER
gift card ($50)
- Trails-end
scholarship account with ALL future sales earning 6% of sales (plus
interest) ($150)
- Sales
gift card ($400)
So right way, your child gets $650 in value. This does not
take into account helping the scout council, paying for our pack, and then whatever
% goes back into the boys account.
Assuming last year’s payout, it would be around another
$400, which brings it up to $1050 in REAL VALUE to you. Do you think the military donation is a
worthy cause? The tax savings there help you as well. There are LOTS of ways to help yourself and
our pack.