New This Year!

Girl Scouts of Eastern Pennsylvania is excited to divulge our fresh ideas for the 2012 Cookie Program.

• While the cost of Girl Scout Cookies is rising across the nation, we are happy to report that our cookies will remain $3.50/package.

• Look for more information to be posted about two new contests we are running this year: The 100th Anniversary Challenge—2012 in 2012 and the Bling Your Booth Contest.

This year we are piloting several initiatives:

• ACH (Automated Clearing House): 21 Service Units are participating in this pilot. ACH will be launched as a council-wide project starting with the 2012 Nuts About Reading Program.

• District Booths: 
• District Booths are booths that are being managed by a location manager who will be distributing booth timeslots and overseeing the location. The District Booth Pilot Project is an attempt by GSEP to see if there may be a viable solution to the inequality of booth distribution, as is sometimes the case with the snap™ lottery system. This will involve four Council-sponsored Booth Locations: Palmer Park Mall, Crayola Factory, Lehigh Valley Service Center, Plymouth Meeting Mall. The link for troops to enter their requests for a District Booth will be posted on the “Cookie Booth” web page on December 2, 2011.

• As Girl Scouts start to celebrate our 100th Anniversary, so too will the packaging on our traditional Shortbread cookie! Keep an eye out for this special packaging to be revealed.

• Last year we received several comments that the 500 package qualification level for Adventure Credits to was too steep, so we made a change. This year in order to qualify for Adventure Credits, girls will need to sell 300 packages of cookies to receive a $25.00 Adventure Credit Voucher.

New This Year!

We are excited to offer new features and products to the 2011 Nuts About Reading Program.

New Products:

6 oz Mint Treasures: A mix of chocolate and mint that will melt in your mouth offered in the “Journey of a Lifetime 100th Anniversary Girl Scout” tin. Price $8.00

6 oz Blueberry Pomegranate Nut Crunch: A combination of sweet blueberries and crunchy nuts offered in a new stand-up, re-sealable bag. Price: $6.00 

Pop Top Three Pack: 5 oz Honey Roasted Cashews; 5 oz Spicy Peanuts; 5 oz Wasabi Almonds, packed together to create a perfect holiday gift. Price: $10.00

 

7 oz Holiday School House Village Tin: This collector’s tin contains a favorite sweet and salty snack—Chocolate Covered Pretzels. Price: $8.00

Digital Subscriptions 

We are pleased to be offering more than 60 digital magazines on qsp.com this fall!  Leading titles for Fall 2011 include Woman’s Day, Good Housekeeping, Oprah, Seventeen, and Parenting.   People, Time, and Sports Illustrated plan to give print subscribers free access to a digital version of the magazines as well. Most of the digital magazines QSP offers will be fulfilled via the Zinio platform, which is device-neutral.  That means subscribers can access their digital content from computers, iPads, other tablet devices, mobile phones, etc. 


New Features

Pay Up Front Magazine Forms: During the order taking period, girls will collect money for magazine orders. Customers will then keep the pink copies of the QSP subscription forms. Please keep in mind that girls do NOT collect money upfront for nuts and candy. This process of paying up front for magazines will allow customers to receive their magazines sooner.

ACH Pilot: ACH stands for Automated Clearing House (ACH) and is the process used for direct deposit and electronic bill payment. As GSEP moves toward a Council-wide implementation of ACH for both Product Programs during the 2012-2013 Product Program year, we are going to be piloting ACH with a select group of Service Units for the 2011 Nuts About Reading year.

NAR Bucks (Voucher): This year a girl will be given the option to choose whether she would prefer to receive NAR Bucks (a voucher good for use at GSEP Retail Shops, GSEP Programs/Events, GSEP Summer Camps, Neighobrhood Day Camps or for Gold/Silver Award expenses) or an incentive such as a plush arctic fox or ribbon tote for combined Nut/Candy and Magazine sales.

Launch of "Nuts About Cookies" Blog

GSEP Product Program Department asked for your help through our GSEP Thin Mints Facebook account to create a name for our Product Program Blog. Congratulations to CoraLee Jones Kline for coming up with the winning blog name, "Nuts About Cookies!" She will receive a $10.00 voucher that can be redeemed at any GSEP Retail Store.