Are you ready for Girl Scout Cookie season?

Have you been hit up to buy Girl Scout Cookies yet? I bought six boxes at work yesterday, which is a lot less than the 1,000 boxes Ellen Degeneres bought from a troop in Ashtabula, Ohio.

The group put out a press release Monday which says Americans purchase approximately 200 million boxes of Girl Scout cookies each year. This is the program's 90th year and not only does the program instill inventory, sales, and marketing skills... it also listens to customers. In the early 1990s, Girl Scouts added low-fat and sugar- free varieties. For the 2006-2007 season, all varieties of Girl Scout cookies are now zero trans fat per serving.

Girl Scouts of the USA, approves and currently licenses two bakers: ABC/Interbake Foods and Little Brownie Bakers. The bakers employ American labor union members using American-grown agricultural products and American-made packaging materials.

Their own website includes an FAQ page saying:

Nationwide, an individual troop/group receives from 12-17% of the purchase price of each box sold. The troop holds the money earned in its treasury, and its girl members vote on how to use that money.

That would be between $0.42 and $0.60 from each $3.50 box of cookies goes to the individual troop/group.

In your a numbers geek like me, you might also be interested to know that the biggest sellers are Thin Mints, which makes up 25% of sales, followed by Samoas at 19% and those peanut butter patties ("Tagalongs") at 11%.