Popcorn Volunteer Team

Overview:  This document has anything and everything we (Mary and Heather) did and learned from popcorn sales in 2017 & 2018.  The job may appear challenging, but there are 3 great things about it:

1. Everything is written down, you can re-use all the documents we’ve created, and you can benefit from all the screw-ups/learning from prior years.  

2. The busy period, while intense, is very short.

3. You won’t be expected to lift a finger for the rest of the year for the pack. You’ve fulfilled your obligation. 🙂

Proposed change to 2019 popcorn:  Mary and I recommend a change in the way show & sell sales could work.  In the past, every Saturday and Sunday (and some weekdays) for ~6 weeks was a sale day at a different grocery store.  This is a lot of logistics to manage. Customers tire of popcorn (they just stop buying!). We instead propose a very short, but intense show & sell period — two weekends and that’s it.  If 10 dens participate, we find 10 stores to book for two weekends in September and every scout in the pack sells for a two-hour shift.  Every den would offer up a lead parent – to fill a large car with popcorn the night before and manage the shifts for their den for the day.  This requires us to book a LOT of stores for a short period of time, but we think this could work.

We are not proposing any changes to online sales or take-order sales.

Timeline:

May

• Start calling stores! Los Gatos stores are extremely popular locations and they fill up early. Some stores are great about writing our specific information down (specifically “PACK 556”) and making sure you are on their store calendar. Some tell you “yes,” but we’ve been double-booked with other packs.  We would suggest sending a follow-up letter to the store with contact information, thanking and reminding them that we will be there on date/time. We called stores the week before to remind them, too!

• Given the proposed change to show & sell, calling stores in early May is critically important.  We need to book the best spots we can for two weekends in a row for this plan to work.

June

• In order to get additional sales commission for our pack, we need to have a representative at the district popcorn meeting.  The meeting is usually in June and typically lasts an hour or two. You should receive order forms, promotional materials, and other guides.  Get at least 100 order forms so we have enough to distribute and replace lost forms.

July

• Coordinate with pack leadership on dates.

  • Popcorn kickoff at the first pack meeting in September.

  • Determine when popcorn money is due to pack

  • Determine when popcorn can be distributed to pack

  • Determine when popcorn awards can be distributed to pack

August

• Prep sales materials (1-pager to hand out to pack members;  can re-use from previous year)

• Set-up google spreadsheet for tracking purposes (can re-use from previous year)

• Submit first show & sell order to council

September/October

• Kick off popcorn sales at the first pack meeting

  • A den may want to do a skit showing the “proper” and “improper” ways to sell popcorn

  • We handed out this information page as an overview

• Pick up popcorn at warehouse Friday nights — this popcorn is used to sell at show & sell

• Manage show & sell sales at stores

• Encourage online sales

• Answer questions about take order sales

October

• Show & sell money due to council

• “Take order” quantities due to council

• Collect prize requests from Scouts

November

• Pick up final popcorn quantity from warehouse to fulfill take orders

• Distribute take order popcorn to scouts

• Final money due to council

• Turn in forms for top sellers for council prizes

• Order prizes from district

December

• Distribute prizes to Scouts  

Other:

• Jobs.  Last year, two of us did this job.  It would be more manageable with 4 people.   You might consider breaking up the jobs this way:

  • contact stores and follow-up with stores for show & sell dates

  • store popcorn and track inventory

  • tracking:  set-up and maintain spreadsheets

  • pick-up popcorn from warehouse as needed

• Tracking  

  • You want a detailed and patient person doing this part of the job, as it can be a challenge to keep the orders and details straight.

  • We created an elaborate google sheet to track inventory, scout sales, prize selections, warehouse pick-ups, show & sell schedule, show & sell sales, and final numbers.  

  • EXCEPTIONS:  The trickiest thing to track are the ‘exceptions.’ Parents want something early, they made a mistake on their order form, the warehouse runs out of something, etc.  These exceptions are what complicate things, takes time, and makes you crazy! You can choose to be as accommodating as you want, but just know that being overly flexible may cost you time.

  • Scouts report take order sales via a Google form (can re-use from previous year).

  • Online sales are super duper easy.  Scouts sell online, the popcorn is shipped directly to the buyer, and the pack gets the credit for the sale.  We don’t need to deal with the money or the popcorn. It’s good to find out what the minimum order is to obtain free shipping. That can be a sales point when promoting online sales.

  • We don’t recommend having scouts pick-up popcorn and then carry it around to their neighborhoods to sell.  Popcorn melts and then we’re stuck with it. If any scouts want to do that, they need to purchase all that popcorn up front when they pick it up from you and you need to track that sale.  It is one of those “exceptions” that makes this job complicated.

• Ordering and Quantities

  • All popcorn is picked up at a warehouse (often in north San Jose).  The warehouse is only open for pick-ups Fridays after 5pm. They do run out of popular flavors, so it is best to get there early.

  • You do not pay for popcorn when you pick it up from the warehouse.  They note your pack # and will bill us for it later. Our treasurer will write a check.

  • The very first pick-up is pre-ordered. You enter an order online and they have it ready for you at the warehouse.  After that, you show up on any given Friday with your pack # in hand, and take what you want and what they have in stock.  

  • Keep good records! Check the invoice before you leave and double-check against your inventory. Sometimes I just pulled over outside the warehouse and checked because it was easier than going all the way home and finding out something was wrong. There are students helping and a lot going on at pick-up so mistakes happen.

  • You are allowed to return unused cases (up to 10% of your sales) but cannot return chocolate.  So, we would suggest not ordering too much chocolate up front. On the other hand, sometimes they run out of popcorn at the warehouse, so you are not prepared for your weekend sales that week if you run out the week before.

• Show & Sell

  • (See proposal at top of this doc for changes to show & sell)

  • Typically show & sells are done by dens.  We try to provide enough show & sell dates for each den to participate at least once. The den leaders should sign up for show & sell dates and have their scouts sign up for shifts (we used a sheet like this).

  • One parent for each show & sell period is designated as the contact or lead.  That person picked up a “show and sell kit” with instructions.

  • Affix price tags to sample bags on the table so prices are clear.

  • In 2017, we sold chocolate at show & sell days.  Unfortunately, it melts so you need to have many coolers handy.  In 2018, we didn’t sell chocolate.  That was easier.  We do not recommend pre-purchasing ANY cheese lovers or chocolate tins for show & sell.  Those are too expensive for the average passer-by and do NOT sell well.

  • As popcorn is sold, the large cardboard cases should be kept to distribute take-order popcorn later in the season.  Having those boxes is very helpful!

• Donations

  • The scout organization accepts military donations in the form of $30 and $50 donations.  Most people walking by love to give a few dollars to the pack (in fact, almost 30% of our income was donations to the pack!).  Those donations are not passed on to the military. Military donations require a completed “receipt” with tracking.

• Popcorn Distribution & Money Collection

  • Take order popcorn can be distributed at a pack meeting or you can request that parents come to your house to pick it up.  It helps to have it sorted by scout, in piles, ready to go.

  • Each scout should have a printed slip with the amount of popcorn they sold and how much money they owe.  If the warehouse runs out of inventory, an IOU must be created to keep track.

  • If scouts have personal checks from their buyers, the checks must be made out to “Pack 556.”  If a scout collects cash from their buyers, they can submit that. Or, the scout’s parent can write one big check (to Pack 556) or PayPal the full amount and keep the cash.  

  • Note:  Payment is due at the time the popcorn is distributed to scouts.  Therefore scouts should collect money at the time of sale, not at the time of delivery.

• Prizes

  • It is fun to have a bigger prize for the top selling scout.  The pack would need to purchase that. We’ve reimbursed for an ice-cream party for the top-selling den (highest average sales / scout).

  • Prizes:  Scouts get to choose prizes based on their sales (typically if they sold more than some minimum amount).  Some scouts merged with siblings or friends to get bigger prizes. Some scouts wanted multiple smaller prizes.  You can decide how flexible you want to be. Just remember:  the more exceptions, the more complicated the process becomes.  To keep things simple, you can just say no!

  • We grouped scouts by “prize level” and sent emails out asking which prize was desired.  Then we recorded that on the tracking sheet. Every scout that sells anything typically gets at least a patch.