2009-2010 Cookie Drop Plan

Drop Summary

We had a very successful cookie drop on Feb 2th, 2010! From 4-8PM we had 49 troops pickup 25,128 (2,094 cases) of cookies, arriving every 4 minutes.

A few photos are available here.

A special thanks goes out to our Cookie Chair of Reading, Samantha Bullock, for managing the entire sale, and who continues to work hard as the cookies move out to the public. Also, thanks to the Cookie Managers of the troops and the troop members who helped in the cookie pickup process.

Also, we also heartily thank those dedicated volunteers who worked during the cookie drop to assemble the orders as troops arrived in scheduled slots. In order of signup: Rhona White, Anne Korwan, Samantha Bullock, Melinda Richardson, Kristen Shutt, Ruth Rousseaux, Jennifer Delaney, Barbie Travis, Beth D'Arezzo, Amy Cole, and Peter Doucette. Without such a dedicated group, this event would not be possible.

This page documents the operation of our cookie drop on February 2 at Camp Rice Moody in Reading. Although the drop runs from 3:45 PM until 7:30 PM, consult the table below for your troop's assigned arrival time. You must arrive at your assigned time to prevent a traffic jam. Also, cookies cannot be left at Camp Rice Moody after the drop, as well will clean and vacate the facility.

Volunteers Needed! - We still need more volunteers as shown in the Volunteer Schedule. This drop cannot run smoothly without enough people to build the orders. The job is easy to execute. You work individually at your own pace, using a build sheet to create each troop's order in a single pile.

Hand trucks needed! - we need to borrow sturdy hand trucks for the cookie drop. Contact ralph@vinci.org if you can loan them. These are tracked in the Volunteer Schedule.

Girls who sell 85 boxes of cookies will also receive an eco-tote bag. These will be handed our with the troop pickup upon checkout. The GS organization suggests that the girls deliver their cookies using the eco-tote bag.

Also, we have been told to suggest ordering more boxes for Town Delivery, rather than cupboards. They are emphasizing instead of girls walking around with an order card, have them order more cookies and sell direct. They are also suggesting to place larger town delivery orders for booth sales, rather than travelling back and forth to cookie cupboards.

This is a very busy event, so a set of procedures have been designed to make this event run smoothly and efficiently. Consult the Drop Floor Plan (PNG, PDF) for the layout and traffic flow. You will follow a marked path through the building to pick up all your cookies from a single pile and put them into enough vehicle capacity to haul them away.

Please note that children and scouts cannot attend the drop or assist. This is due to insurance liability issues. If they are with you, they must stay in the car outside while you load, but we do not recommend having them with you at all. If you do bring them, keep them in the car, since there are many vehicles loading and backing up, and it is a risky environment for children.

We expect each troop to able able to gather their order in about 15 minutes, and the chart below shows each troop's starting time. The arrival times are every 4 minutes so we expect 3-4 troops overlapped at a time. However, any delays could increase the number of troops overlapped, and may require you to wait a short time before starting if the traffic flow jams.

If your slot is unworkable, and you cannot find any troop volunteers to assist, contact the Drop Coordinator ralph@vinci.org for special arrangements. We have designed the troop arrival times to balance the cookie pickup load, interleaving small orders with large orders, after starting with a batch of small orders. Trading slots between Troops or to empty slots is possible. Contact the coordinator.

Arrival Time / Troop Number / Number of Boxes 
03:45 PM  Volunteer Training
          and Initial Assembly
---
04:13 PM / 73702 / 582
04:15 PM / 73728 / 82
04:19 PM / 71304 / 118
04:23 PM / 71269 / 153
04:27 PM / 71610 / 211
04:31 PM / 71279 / 553
04:35 PM / 73712 / 234
04:39 PM / 71264 / 248
04:43 PM / 71291 / 292
04:47 PM / 71299 / 1064
04:51 PM / 71285 / 305
04:55 PM / 71611 / 930
04:59 PM / 73719 / 313
        
05:03 PM / 71290 / 877
05:07 PM / 73707 / 713
05:11 PM / 71287 / 868
05:15 PM / 73716 / 350
05:19 PM / 71275 / 849
05:23 PM / 73735 / 376
05:27 PM / 71300 / 759
05:31 PM / 73291 / 387
05:35 PM / 73299 / 226
05:39 PM / 71620 / 388
05:43 PM / 71616 / 732
05:47 PM / 71305 / 399
05:51 PM / 71283 / 728
05:55 PM / 73700 / 400
05:59 PM / 71303 / 720
        
06:03 PM / 73723 / 409
06:07 PM / 73736 / 717
06:11 PM / 71267 / 418
06:15 PM / available
06:19 PM / 71270 / 457
06:23 PM / 71289 / 684
06:27 PM / 71295 / 459
06:31 PM / 71286 / 638
06:35 PM / 71272 / 461
06:39 PM / 71298 / 621
06:43 PM / 71288 / 474
06:47 PM / 71273 / 615
06:51 PM / 73737 / 501
06:55 PM / 71301 / 319
06:59 PM / 71265 / 511
        
07:03 PM / 71302 / 565
07:07 PM / 73734 / 523
07:11 PM / 73290 / 555
07:15 PM / 71274 / 525
07:19 PM / available
07:23 PM / 73298 / 540
07:27 PM / 71278 / 542
07:31 PM / 71263 / 737

Troop Pickup Procedure
  1. Read about the cookie drop in your Troop Cookie Manager "2009 Cookie Book"
  2. Enlist one or more assistants (children must wait in the car if they are riding with you). Bring your own handtrucks if you have them.
  3. Arrive at your assigned time promptly and with a vehicle (or two) large enough to fit your cookies. See the vehicle capacity chart for details.
  4. Check in with the Cookie Drop Coordinator at the "Check In Table" and get a Order Page that lists exactly how many cases and boxes of each type to expect. This should match your own numbers. This is what is being sorted for you. If we are overloaded you may be asked to wait for a few minutes.
  5. Borrow a handtruck or two at this time if you need them.
  6. Follow the traffic plan to make your way along the cookie pickup path, looking for a single pile of all your cookies marked with your troop number. There are several "assembly stations" and yours will be in one of them.
  7. At the assembly station, please verify that your order is complete and accurate based on the "Order Page". These are generated directly from Quickbase, and this is what is being built. We cannot provide additional boxes. Use Cookie Cupboards for that.
  8. Start loading your cases and boxes until your hand truck is full, and then transport it to your car, and loop back for more. Please obey the one-way traffic flow in the building.
  9. When your vehicle is fully loaded, return handtrucks if you borrowed them.
  10. Check out with the Cookie Drop Coordinator. You will be provided with a Receipt for your complete order, which you will need to sign. You will receive a copy.
  11. Exit the premises.
Order Page


Receipt

Volunteers: The first crew should arrive as early as 3:45, and no later than 4PM and receive directions on how the cookie drop will proceed. It's an easy, work at your own pace, make a pile of boxes from a build sheet type of task. The current volunteer schedule is here.

Volunteer Procedure
  1. Arrive promptly at 4 PM for training. If you have a later time slot you will receive "on the job" training.
  2. A central stack of "Order Pages", one per troop, lists each order. When one of the "assembly stations" is clear, grab the next available "Order Page" and build the order in the assembly station. The pages are in troop arrival order, so you must build orders forward in time.
  3. Each troop may also have some loose boxes, so be careful to build the order with the correct number of cases and boxes. Maintain a single open case in the supply piles to provide individual boxes as needed.
  4. When a troop's order is completely assembled, grab another volunteer to check the counts, and if accurate, attach the "Order Page" to the stack facing towards the oncoming troops to indicating this order is ready for pickup.
  5. As troops come through, "assembly stations" will free up to assemble more orders. We hope you will be able to work ahead for 2 or 3 assembly stations so that troops coming through will not be waiting for you.
  6. If an "assembly station" is blocked by a missing or delayed troop, you can push that order to the "Delayed Pickup" area. Make sure the "Order Page" is affixed to the pile.

Order Page

Extra details have been recorded by the drop coordinator for the benefit of future drops.

Reading Girl Scouts : Cookie Sale : Drop Plan