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Top 5 Reasons to buy Popcorn from a Cub Scout

Cub Scout popcorn sales don’t just raise money for theirs pack. They also give our sons opportunities to practice important life skills.

#1: Goal Setting Skills

– Caleb’s goal this year is $10,000. Where did he get that number? He wants to triple his sales from last year . Why did he set such a high goal? He wants to help his new Scouts in his pack with their Annual Fee (nearly $200 per Scout this year) The most he’s ever sold in a year is about $3,500.

Caleb will sell $10, 000, but so far, he’s sold over $3,500–double his previous record. He’s doing that because HE set the goal and HE wants to work toward it.

Our Cub Scouts might not hit their goals, but I’ll bet they work hard at trying to!

#2: Persuasion Skills

– Because the popcorn is a bit on the expensive side, a boy has to be persuasive. In our pack, the boys are taught to say, “Would you like to support Scouting by buying some popcorn?” He’s selling your support of a great organization–not just some popcorn. I admit, this is how I did it when I was a Scout, it works.
They learn little tricks like telling people that our best seller is the caramel corn and that the best value is the microwave popcorn. Caleb also figured out that the bag of premium caramel corn has twice as many ounces as the regular caramel corn, but “it has a special treat of pecans, almonds, and cashews.”

Part of being persuasive is overcoming objections. When someone tells the boys that they don’t have any cash, he tells them that we can take debit and credit cards through our Square account. If they don’t eat popcorn, he asks them to make a military donation. When they say it’s expensive, he tells them that over 70% of the price stays in our area to support local scouting.

Even if our Scouts don’t grow up to be a salesperson, persuasion skills are necessary for almost every job.

#3: Handling Rejection Skills

- Yep, those little guys are going to be turned down. They will knock on doors where no one is home. Sometimes at show and sells, they’re going to be ignored.

(Side note: This is a huge pet peeve of mine. If a young boy is trying to sell you something that you don’t want, just say “no.” Don’t walk past him without even acknowledging him.)

So, they will get a lot of practice handling rejection. When we don’t sell much Cub Scout popcorn, Josiah will say, “It’s a slow night,” but he usually doesn’t complain about it. I think that’s because he’s been told "NO", many times before, so he realizes that getting upset doesn’t change anything

#4: Perseverance Skills

– Selling popcorn is a huge lesson in perseverance. If you don’t sell at this house, you just go on to the next house. If that person leaving the store doesn’t stop and buy, you just ask the next person. Being tenacious is important–it’s what gets you through big school projects and big work projects.

#5: Math Skills

– Oh, my! There are so many ways to practice math with your son during the popcorn sale! Here are just a few of the calculations he can do:

Add up order totals

Make change

Calculate how much more popcorn he needs to sell to get to his goal

Figure out how much he sells in an hour

Divide the sales at a show and sell to determine how much credit each boy will get

You may have to walk him through some of these, especially if he’s a younger Scout. Not only is he practicing his math, he is also seeing how we use math in everyday life.

I love that selling Cub Scout popcorn is helping our sons learn some great life skills!