Girls Scout Cookie season is here, but don’t expect in-person sales

Girls Scout Cookie season is here, but don’t expect in-person salesImage: Girl Scouts of Northen California
Joe Kukura
Published on January 26, 2021

Smart cookies noticed that a big date just arrived this weekend. The 2021 Girl Scout Cookie season started this past Saturday, and continues until mid-March. Because of pandemic public health restrictions, you will not see Girls Scout Cookie booths at BART stations, Safeway storefronts, or other popular public gathering places. But the girls still have goals, and you can still help them taste sweet success while meeting your own shelter-in-place snacking needs.

Your local chapter is the Girl Scouts of Northern California, which covers 19 counties,  and their dedicated website ILoveCookies.org is this year’s virtual Girl Scout Cookies sales platform. They’ve also partnered with GrubHub to deliver Girl Scout Cookies to your doorstep every Sunday between Super Bowl Sunday (Feb. 7) and March 14.

But the direct online cookie sales option is available seven days a week for the next couple months. Their cookie sales website asks you to enter your email and zip code to set you up with a local Girl Scout seller.  You do need to select an “objective” for your Girl Scout salesperson, like “Developing an entrepreneurial mindset” or “Supporting and serving my local community,” and then you are sent an email link to the online store of a Girl Scout near you.

The link will be to the online shop of an actual scout in the Bay Area. You’ll see her sales goals, and a menu of the cookies available. You’ll also have the option of buying extra boxes to donate to a food bank service for families in need, though the organization providing the food donations is Care To Share, which only serves the Portland-area city of Beaverton, Oregon. But hey, food assistance for a family somewhere during tough economic times!

You’ll then have the option of having your cookies shipped, though that comes with a four-box minimum order, and delivery fees depend on how many boxes you buy. Delivery is estimated at  2-15 business days. You can also choose for your individual Girl Scout vendor to do an in-person delivery, but that requires approval from the Girl Scout’s parent, and also comes with a disclaimer that “There will be a delay in the arrival of your cookies until such time as it is deemed safe for girls and parents to make in-person deliveries in your local community.” 

But most importantly — what are the Girl Scout Cookie flavors available this year? Regrettably, the newest French toast-inspired variety Toast-Yay is not available in the Bay Area. The new-ish Girl Scout S'mores were introduced in 2017 according to the New York Times, and those are available here at $7 a box. The gluten-free option Toffee-tastic is available for its sixth consecutive year here in the Bay Area, also at the more premium price level of $7 a box. But it’s still just $5 a box for the traditional favorites Do-si-dos, Lemon-ups, Samoas, Tagalongs, Thin Mints, and Trefoils.

Yes, there are already hucksters reselling Girls Scout Cookies on eBay and Craigslist. But you have no guarantee those sales benefit the Girls Scouts of Northern California, nor their programs that teach young women entrepreneurial skills and the value of giving back to the community. Do buy your Girl Scout Cookies online directly from the official source, and sales continue until March 14.