Every year, between January and April, the troops mobilize on American soil.

They march door to door, wearing green and brown vests.

They set up booths at schools, small businesses, supermarket parking lots,

and they arm themselves with sales pitches that even the coldest hearts

among us cannot deny.

My name's Isla, and I'm seven years old.

Ila spoke with our producer, Sarah Lilly.

There would be like samosas. They look like a tiny donut and they have chocolates covered over it and they have

coconut on top. My second favorite is thin mince. How would you sell me a cookie? I would say like,

do you want this one or this one? And then you would choose.

For the Freakonomics Radio Network, this is the economics of everyday things.

I'm Zachary Crockett.

Today, Girl Scout Cookies.

The salespeople may be small, but Girl Scout cookies are a big business.

Every year, the Girl Scouts of the United States of America, that's their official name,

collectively sell around 200 million boxes of cookies.

That works out to one box for every adult in the country. And it all happens

within a sales season that lasts just a couple months. The Girl Scouts have ordained two corporate

bakeries to make all those cookies, ABC Bakers, part of the conglomerate that owns Wonderbread,

and Little Brownie Bakers, a subsidiary of Keebler.

During Girl Scout cookie season, other cookie manufacturers often dial back their advertising

and lower their sales expectations.

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