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2019 Popcorn Sales 

The App!

• Available for phones and tablets in the Apple App Store or Google Play Store as ‘Trail’s End’.
• Allows processing of credit card payments in real time for no cost to the BSA, Trail’s End is picking up the fees for processing.
  • Requires Square card reader attached to the device, Apple devices require an Apple Adapter if there is no headphone jack on the phone. After-market/off-brand adapters don’t consistently work correctly for the card readers. Other types of card readers (PayAnywhere, PayPal, etc) won’t work with the Trail’s End system. 
  • 5 card readers are available within the troop. 1 will be made available for any storefronts. They can also be purchased for $6-12 on Amazon or from Square. 
• Scouts can set up their online page, check progress to their goal, sign up for and cancel storefront sales time. 
• All scouts should have access to it on a device (theirs or their parents) while selling, 
  • Test groups have seen significant increases in sales with card usage.
  • Inventory and sales tracking is automatic through the app. This includes cash sales – if not entered through the app these must be manually entered afterwards to reflect inventory correctly.

The Web Portal

• Available online at: https://www.trails-end.com
• Primarily used by popcorn kernels and Council staff to view & manage inventory and sales, make changes, schedule storefronts.
• Can be accessed to manually add cash sales made by the scout.
• Uses the same sign on as the app, register once and access both methods.
• Storefront scheduling can be managed through the app up to 24 hours prior to appointment time.

Online Sales

• FREE SHIPPING! All online sales will receive free shipping no matter what the total amount of the sale is. This is at no cost to the scout, Trail’s End is absorbing this cost.
• ADDITIONAL PRODUCTS! The online pages will carry items not sold by individual scouts. 
  • The product prices are not the same as in-person sales. They are based on national product pricing which is higher in many cases than our Omaha area.
• Each scout has the opportunity to sell product online through a personal sales page. 
  • Scout should complete the 400 character ‘About Me’ section, this personalizes the page and what is shared with others. 
    • Example: Remember the 400 character limit! This one is 393 characters.

Check out my popcorn page! Lots of fun and yummy things you’ll love, scout promise. 

At Cedars scout camp this year, I had a great time & got 4 merit badges. Next year I’m going to T-Shab, 5 days of canoeing down the Mighty Mo! Next, I’m off to the 2021 National Jamboree in West Virginia.

My popcorn commissions help pay for all these things and my monthly troop campouts, uniforms and scout gear.

Your purchase here helps make that happen: 

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT and SCOUT ON!

• Page can be shared via a email, text or social media link functions in the app or portal.
• Select your favorite product to appear on your page.
• Share Scout photos & videos – remember the rules on sharing pics!
• Encourage ‘Sharing Sunday’ – share with people via 2 platforms once per week. This has shown to be an effective way to boost sales to people such as family & friends outside of your local area.
• All online orders can receive a ‘Thank You’ email personalized directly from the scout, a great way to follow-up, build repeat customers and check in with family far away.

Popcorn Season & Rules

• Dates: 
  • September 14 – October 31 are personal sales dates: Storefronts and Wagon Sales
  • August 1 – October 31 are the online sales dates. Online pages can be shared & sales made year-round but the incentives for popcorn season will not apply. 
    • One exception: See the Scholarship Incentive, this may have year-round benefit
  • September 8 from 2-4 PM Scout Popcorn Sales training workshop at Beveridge Middle School, 1616 S 120th St, Omaha. 
    • Storefront set up for scouts to practice talking to people walking by
    • Front door/Wagon sale set up to role-play ringing a doorbell to sell popcorn.
• Storefronts:
  • Find ‘em, book ‘em, get ‘em logged!
    • Send an email to Adam & Kat with location, dates, times 
    • Include the shifts your scout wants to cover. 
    • Your help is needed here, anywhere there is foot traffic is a good place to try!
  • Shifts: 2 hours long with one scout and one parent
    • See Troop 308 Storefront Sales Code of Conduct
    • Keeps scouts on task & parents from ‘social hour’
    • Average sales are $125/hour
    • Book and cancel shifts in the app up to 24 hours in advance. 
    • Within 24 hours, if there is an emergency and you need to cancel, contact Kat or Adam via phone call or text to make changes.
      • NO EMAILS! We need time to offer the time to someone else & to coordinate with the active selling scout for turnover.
      • Bring cash with you to make change. $40 is generally sufficient in one $10 and six $5 bills. Don’t expect the store to make change for us. 
• Wagon Sales: 
  • Walk your neighborhood! Your grandparents neighborhood! Established neighborhoods don’t always have scouts there and people report buying just because they have never had a scout ring their doorbell before. 
  • Track all your sales in the app, including cash and checks, take the card payments, hit your goals!
  • Have product in a wagon or car with you to provide to customers. 
    • Careful with heat & chocolate products, NEVER leave them in the car.
  • Returns can be managed within 48 hours within the app. No returns after 48 hours.
• Direct Orders:
  • These still work and the app can help you manage them. Great for parents taking flyers to work to sell to co-workers.
  • Add the order to the app with the name & email of the buyer. 
  • Mark the order as paid/unpaid and delivered/undelivered.
  • Deliver and collect payment as needed. 
  • Can print a report of items to be delivered from the web portal. 
• Sales Goals:
  • BSA National goal is $1000 per scout in popcorn sales.
  • Troop 308 requires popcorn sales or a Troop Support Fee. The sales and Fee amounts are being reviewed by the Committee and will be made available shortly. Camp Card sales only support the scout and the MAC in a 50/50 split, there is no allocation to the Troop. 
  • Scouts can set their own goals in the app and watch their sales grow to meet it!
• How to increase Sales:
  • Create labels to attach to products as delivered with info on how to get more. 
    • Example:

Thanks for your purchase and for supporting Scouting through Troop 308!

If you need more delicious popcorn (and who doesn’t!), please contact Scout J Smith’s mom at 402-555-5555 or go online to: InsertLinkToScoutOnlineSalesPage.com and we will be happy to deliver it to you personally or with free shipping!

• Do not place labels on unsold product as it cannot be returned with labels attached. 
• Log your sales in the app. This handles inventory and sales totals for you and lets you see your progress to your goal. 
• If people are willing to give you a name and email address, all the better, just ask. They will not be put on a large scout mailing list, it is only for the scout’s information. This will be available in future years so scouts can revisit previous customers. 

Product Changes and Donations

• The sheet is different, fold it outward so the products show and either place into a sheet protector or separate the pages and laminate it. Strongly recommend separating the incentives sheet from what customers see. Helps with longevity!
• NOTE: No sports tins this year. For some this will be a drawback but understand that returns were not easy to re-sell and the licensing fees and inventory management of these products were becoming cost prohibitive. This change feeds into our improved processes and increased incentives for the scouts and parents. 
• Fewer items overall – only 10 total, more in the lower price points ($10-25 range).
• All pre-popped products are bagged except: Chocolate Lover’s Collection Tin and Cheese Lover’s Collection Box. The microwave packs are boxed as well: Kettle Corn and Unbelievable Butter, both in an 18-pack. 
• White Cheddar has increased in price but the size of the bag has also. 
• 2 Chocolate products, be aware that these cannot be returned: Chocolate Lover’s Collection and Chocolatey Caramel Crunch.
• Red dots show the price, portion of cost that contributes to scouting is shown directly below the price. Sell scouting! The popcorn is a ‘thank  you’ for their donation. 
• Bottom of page has suggested donation levels to Popcorn for Our Troops. These are suggestions, the $ amount can be adjusted in the app to whatever is received.
  • BSA Rule: Scouts never solicit direct donations for their activities.
  • Free Will Donation jars can be placed at storefronts with the dollars collected added as a single donation amount at the end of the shift. 
  • All donations should be entered into the app as a sale and count towards your scout’s commissions. Donations are NOT to go into the scout or parent pocket for any reason. 
  • Last year over $45 million in donations to troops were provided nationally. Donations of popcorn products by the Mid-America Council were sent to Offutt Air Force Base, the Sioux City National Guard Armory and to one other location within the district.  MAC tries to distribute locally and only provide to each unit what they really want/need/can use. 

Rewards, Incentives, Prizes, Challenges and Drawings!

This is where the scouts can get excited and incentivized to sell more corn. There are multiple levels and multiple streams of rewards. Most are detailed on the product pages so we will not repeat the dollar values here, but will focus on understanding how they all work together and what the weekly, monthly and seasonal drawings bring to the sales.

• Two streams for rewards and incentives: Trail’s End (TE) and Mid-America Council (MAC).
• One additional stream for prizes and drawings: Black Hawk and Iron Horse Districts.
• Scout’s must be registered for a Trail’s End account to receive the Amazon gift card rewards. 
• MAC distributes Visa gift card rewards and event experiences. 
• Prizes are not cumulative. Gift cards/experiences are tied to the total sales level. This covers cumulative sales totals as shown in the TE app and web portal: Storefront, Online, Direct and Wagon. 
• Rewards prizes shown on the sheets are examples of what could be purchased with the gift card at that level. 
• MAC is currently building an Amazon store to allow scouts to use their Amazon gift cards to pay for High Adventure trips and other scout shop items. 
• Drawings for specific prizes provided by the districts:
  • Fill it up! One entry per scout for every 30 completed sales (not products).
    • Approximate prize value: $50, weekly drawings throughout popcorn season.
    • Scout or parent must email 326popcorn@mac-bsa.org to enter, sales will be verified on the app. This is not an automatic entry. 
  • Online Sale drawing: make one online sale and receive one entry for a $25 gift card to Let’s Go Putt. Your entry is done automatically. 
• TE has a Mt. Adventure Rewards (MAR) with additional prize drawings for scouts 
  • Runs 8/12-11/2
  • One entry for every $100 in credit card sales via app or online
  • Weekly vacation giveaways and $10 Amazon gift cards
  • Details on the TE MAR website for scouts to review. MAR.trails-end.com
• Scholarship fund: TE is providing a scholarship fund reward of 6% of all sales. This percentage will apply to all future popcorn sales as well as the current year. 
• To qualify a scout must:
  • Sell $2500 in popcorn in one year, combined through any method.
  • Have an account on the Trail’s End site. 
• Example payout: Here we will take the ‘sweet spot’ of $2500 in total sales and look at what the individual scout and the troop will actually receive.
  • For the Scout – over $1000 in commissions and rewards, net result is over 30% of total sales:
    • 30% commission (30% received for more than $500 in sales) on sales: $2500 X 30% = $750 direct to scout account.
    • $150 Amazon e-gift card from TE
    • $75 Visa gift card from MAC – this ‘Pick Your Adventure’ item encourages using the card for an experience.
    • Popcorn Ball Invite – Omaha/Creighton or Morningside College Basketball game
    • VIP Experience Invite – UNO Hockey game
    • 6% of sales ($150) to the TE Scholarship Fund and all future popcorn sales will also receive 6% contributions. Even if they never hit $2500 again. 
    • 1 entry into the Online Sale for a $25 gift card to Let’s Go Putt (assuming one online sale was made)
    • 3 entries into the Fill It Up weekly drawing for choice of prizes (assuming $2500 in sales requires at least 90 total sales – 90 X $25 = $2250 AND the scout submitted their name each time they qualified) 

Consider what the troop could do if this were repeated multiple times each year? Sponsoring a portion of a crew for a High Adventure or additional Troop Mid-Level Adventures is certainly a possibility. 

• What if I don’t want to sell popcorn? That’s easy, write a check for the Troop Support Fee and be done. HOWEVER! You may want to make the comparison…
• What would it take to earn the same amount for the Troop? What would the scout earn with these sales?

Inventory, Pre-Orders, Returns & Settling Up

Inventory

There are new rules for inventory this year, this includes pre-orders, additional product requests and inventory turn-in at the end of season. 

1. All units can receive pre-ordered popcorn up to 100% of previous year’s sales. 
2. All units will be able to order popcorn during the sales season on a weekly basis.
   1. Requests need to be into the Troop’s popcorn team by Sundays at noon.
   2. Available inventory throughout the troop will be reviewed and orders submitted to the Council on Sundays.
   3. Pickup of additional requested products will be available on Thursdays/Fridays. 
3. Popcorn returns at the end of the season are not to exceed 10% of all popcorn ordered, combined from both initial pre-order and throughout the season.
4. All returns must be unmarked, unopened and undamaged in original case boxes. NOTE: Only full case boxes can be returned.
5. Units will be able to sell leftover inventory after the popcorn season at cost to unit families. There will be no additional commission and no markup on the popcorn. This is strictly being allowed for the troop to recover the cost of product inventory. 

Pre-Orders

With all these changes to how inventory is handled, we are asking that scouts who wish to pre-order popcorn order about 2-3 weeks worth of sales in the beginning. The remainder of the popcorn will be held for storefronts. 

This will allow scouts to sell out of their own inventory for wagon sales, placing orders for more as needed. Storefronts will have inventory issued for them and scouts scheduled for those storefronts will sell out of that inventory.

In the app, the sale selected will be ‘Storefront’ and the is decremented and the scout is credited for the sale. 

The first scout to go to a storefront will need to pick up the inventory. The last one will need to pack it up and bring it back in. 

There are storefronts being built in the app now, not all shifts have been added yet. 

Pre-orders are due August 19, 2019. 

Popcorn delivery is September 11-14. We do not have our exact date, but it will be within that window. Once it is received, you will be notified that your pre-order is ready for pick-up.

Popcorn Storefront, Wagon and Direct Sales begin Saturday, August 14, 2019. 

No popcorn can be sold (no money can exchange hands) prior to that date. You CAN let your friends, family, neighbors and regular customers know that it is coming and that you will be selling. Ask them to hold out and buy from you!

Returns and Settling Up 

You app will track and handle all credit card sales and receipts. There is nothing to turn in for these sales.

Cash sales from Storefronts should be turned in at the end of the Storefront shift with the inventory return. 

Cash sales from Wagon and Direct sales will be turned in at the end or you can make intermittent deposits with Mrs. Carlson. The app will show what cash is owed. 

Have all checks made out to ‘TROOP 308’. 

Inventory remaining will be listed in the app as well. This is what you should turn in. 

Contacts & Resources

www.troop308omaha.com 

the Troop site, this document is loaded under the ‘Popcorn’ drop down menu, there are lots of other resources there as well, including the following:

Troop 308 Popcorn Team: popcorn@troop308.com

• Adam Koch – Popcorn inventory & website
• Kat Leffler – Communications & support 
• Debora Faulkinburg – Social media & inter-unit transfers
• Nancy Carlson – Troop Treasurer

Websites & Social Media:

• Facebook Groups:
  • Iron Horse Popcorn – this is our district’s page
  • Mid-America Boy Scouts – Popcorn/Camp Cards – the council fundraising page
  • Trail’s End Popcorn Community – a national page for scouters
• www.trails-end.com – Trail’s End popcorn web site