Girl Scout Cookie Season is the best time of the year, but Ronnie Backenstoe is the brand's biggest fan. After 88 years, Ronnie is still a troop member, and because of this, she is still selling girl scout cookies at 98 years old. She started her sales in 1932 and has stuck by every year since. Her retirement community is famous for cookie tables any girl scout would be envious of.
"Girl Scouting teaches you how to live. It guides you," said Ronnie in an interview, "They teach you what is right and what is wrong.” Back when Ronnie started, the cookies only cost 15 cents per box, though today they're typically about $5 per box. "The little girls who I tell that to today, they giggle and laugh because [selling cookies for 15 cents] sounds so impossible, but it was the Depression."
Ronnie is also impressed by the various new kinds of cookies since only 3 were around in her youth. Back in the day, troops also baked their cookies themselves. Now there are many varieties, some even coming in gluten-free options. Ronnie is a fan of the program and thinks everyone would benefit from it. "The purpose is to teach the girls a little salesmanship, for one thing. They learn to balance their budgets. They learn to be courteous when they go to the doors and introduce themselves. It’s all that little detail."