Girl Scout Cookie Shortage 2023: Why Popular, Limited Flavors Are Hard To Get

Girl Scout Cookie Season is the best time of the year for fans of the treats sold by members of troops around the country, but 2023 has been a bit rough, with shortages of some of the more popular and limited-edition flavors, and unfortunately, it doesn't seem the issue will be fully rectified any time soon.

According to CNBC, the issues have largely been attributed to Little Brownie Bakers, a baking partner for the Girl Scouts of the USA that is owned by the Italian confection company Ferrero. In addition to production delays the company had cited as causing issues since the start of the cookie-selling season in January, production has been further delayed following weather-induced power outages at a Louisville, Kentucky factory last week.

"Global supply chain issues, local labor shortages, and even unforeseen severe weather have all impacted the selling season, but Little Brownie Bakers is on track to fulfill initial orders," Ferrero told the publication in a statement, sharing that they also had teams working overtime to ensure orders would be fulfilled.

The flavors that have been largely impacted by the issues have mainly been the newest limited-edition flavor, Raspberry Rally, which features thin cookies infused with raspberry flavor and dipped in chocolate, and Samoas, which feature caramel, coconut and chocolate stripes. With the cookies hard to come by, their resale value has sky-rocketed online. Typically $5 a box online and at Girl Scout Cookie booths, Raspberry Rallies are now popping up on eBay for as high as $35 a box. One listing for Samoas sees them going for $10, though most listings for those are on par with regular prices.

Several flavors are still expected to be available, such as Caramel Chocolate Chip, Do-Si-Dos, Lemonades, Lemon-Ups, Tagalongs, Toast-Yay, Toffee-tastic and Trefoils. According to CNBC, for online purchases in some places like New York, New Jersey, Georgia, Alabama and Oregon, the only flavors available are Adventurefuls (brownie cookies topped with caramel crème and sea salt), S'mores (Graham sandwich cookies with chocolate and marshmallow filling) and Thin Mints (chocolate cookies dipped in a mint-chocolate coating). However, boxes of flavors could still be available in person at local Girl-Scout cookie-selling booths.

Those eager to see options available to them can use the locator app on the Girl Scout Website to find booths near them.