Instead of the home-baked goodies of 90 years ago, the cookies that today's Scouts sell are made by two commercial bakers licensed by the national Girl Scouts office: Little Brownie Bakers and ABC Bakers. These companies may have cutesy images and names, but they're actually subsidiaries of industry giants Keebler and Interbake Foods, respectively. They compete for business, in part, by providing a wide array of marketing materials, from cookie costumes to car magnets to Going Places with Cookies Sales, a career-exploration web tool offered by ABC Bakers to help older Scouts translate cookie-sale skills into career goals.

The bakers provide the all-important cookie slate (see "How the Cookie Crumbles," below) and national marketing themes each year, but all other aspects of the sale are determined by the 300-plus councils, the regional bodies that govern groups of 600 to 65,000 members. Each council independently sets its sales period (usually January through March) and the per-box sales price. That's why the Thin Mints that Victoria sells for $4 in Coronado cost only $3 in St. Louis.

Whatever the sales price, local Scouts, troops, and councils receive 100 percent of the proceeds, which are used to maintain camp facilities, train volunteers, and put on programs. Every penny is prized and long planned for.

ONE WORD POPS up repeatedly throughout the cookie sale: goals. Each Girl Scout writes her personal and troop goals on her cookie order form so that she can keep them in front of herself and her customers. "Research shows that girls who set goals and share them [with their customers] sell more cookies," says Mona Sullivan, communications manager for Tres Condados Council in Santa Barbara, California.