The actual popcorn sale takes place during the fall.  Unit signups occur in the late spring, there is a popcorn rally with information and free resources in late July or early August, and then most units hold a unit kickoff shortly thereafter to start their sale.  The sale runs until mid-October with final popcorn being delivered the first week of November.

A storefront sale is actually one way to do Show & Sell.  

Show & Sell is a portion of the early part of the popcorn sale where you can receive the popcorn in advance of selling it so that you have it with you to show (and sell) it to the customer.  Whereas Take Order is when you collect orders on an order form, order the popcorn, and then deliver it to them at a future date.  

A storefront sale is where your unit has received permission to sell popcorn outside of a local store or retailer. This provides you with a new customer base as compared with other typical fundraisers. It is a type of Show & Sell because you have the popcorn with you and sell it on the spot.  Remaining popcorn at the end of the storefront shift is usually returned to your unit along with any records of sales.

If your unit receives damaged/ defective product, we’ll be happy to exchange this product out for like product, at one of our weekly warehouse days. To help facilitate this, please set this product aside, placing it into a bag keeping the popcorn from spilling out.

In the Trails-End mobile app, Scouts must complete the transaction by taking credit card or cash/ check. If payment isn’t collected at that time, a note should be made that this customer still owes.

When completing a sale using the Trail’s-End App, scouts will have the option to mark the sale as “delivered/ undelivered”. If your Scout sells to a customer via Take Order, you’ll want to urge this Scout to mark the customer as “undelivered”, collecting the customer’s information (address, phone, email) so they can deliver the product at a later date.

Scouts have three options when selling Popcorn, all of which when combined leads to a successful sale.

Show & Sell is a selling strategy where Scouts sell product they have on-hand that has been issued to them, directly to the customer. The most common Show & Sell technique is where a unit sells Popcorn at a local retail store – known as Storefront Show & Sell.

Take Order is a selling strategy where Scouts take / record orders to then fulfill at a later point. A few of the best ways to do this include door-to-door sales, or parents take the order form to their workplace.

Selling Online provides the opportunity for the Scout to boost their sale, selling to friends and family that may not live in the immediate area.

Units should follow all Youth Protection Policies and Guidelines outlined by the Boy Scouts of America. In summary, (2) registered adult leaders 21 years of age or over are required at all Scouting activities, including a unit Show & Sell. There must be a registered female adult leader 21 years of age or over in every unit serving females. A registered female adult leader 21 years of age or over must be present for any activity involving female youth. Notwithstanding the minimum leader requirements, age- and program appropriate supervision must always be provided

The Trail’s-End Mobile App allows your unit to process a sale, recording the transaction while accepting a credit card, cash or check. When units process a credit card through the Trail’s-End app, your unit avoids common credit card processing fees. Credit card sales accepted through the Trail’s-End app are applied directly against the units invoice due to Council, reducing the amount due for the product ordered by the unit.

When a unit accepts a credit card through the Trail’s-End app, the full retail value of the product is applied against the units popcorn invoice. After two business days, a credit will be applied to your units popcorn account. A detailed list of daily applied credits can be seen from the Transaction History section on the Account Summary page of the Unit Leader Dashboard. When a invoice is generated from the Leader Dashboard, all daily credits will be lumped into one line item on your invoice and will be denoted with “System credit applied”.

Throughout the Popcorn Sale, units are encouraged to transfer product among other Dan Beard Council units. The idea behind unit-to-unit product transfers is get product that your unit might be running short on or is selling a lot of, and to get rid of product that isn’t selling. Units can transfer product by the full case or individual container.

Unit Popcorn Kernels should consider joining the Dan Beard Council Popcorn Sale Facebook page, making other Dan Beard Council units aware of product they need more of or product that isn’t selling.

After the unit Popcorn Kernel meets up with another unit Popcorn Kernel, the “giving” unit should initiate the transfer from their unit’s Trail’s-End Leader Dashboard on trails-end.com. When a transfer is initiated by the giving unit, the receiving unit will receive an email notifying the unit of the transfer, to then be accepted.

All units selling popcorn will receive a base commission of 29%. If a unit representative attends (1) of the Dan Beard Council’s Popcorn Rallies the unit will receive an additional 3% commission, for a total of 32% Units have the opportunity to earn additional bonus commission by selling $20,000+. Bonus commission will be reflected on the units popcorn invoice prior to the final payment.

Units who sell Popcorn Online receive 32% commission for the sale. Example: if a Scout sells $100 online, the unit receives $32. The commission earned is applied directly against the units traditional sale, reducing the amount due to Council. Any commission earned that exceeds the traditional sale invoice will be available for a payout, directly from Trail’s-End to the unit. 

During a typical sale, the Popcorn Festival is an event hosted by the Council in early September that is free for Scouts to attend and is at the Cincinnati Zoo. Scouts will attend several popcorn booths where they will have fun and learn about popcorn.  Then all attendees will get to explore the Zoo throughout the rest of the day. We’ll also be giving out fun prizes and giveaways throughout the event.

Starting this year these donations in the App will be automatically processed nightly & reflected on Unit orders, elminating manual ordering at the end of the sale, and saving time. The Council will fulfill these Military Donations, delivering the product to local Military and Food Pantries.

Due to IRS guidelines and the BSA’s Policy on Fundraising, individual Scout units may not accept donations. Units may not solicit cash donations for general use. However, while selling popcorn, cash donations are often received. Units should turn in donated cash in the form of Military Donation orders –for example, for every $30 received, enter (1) $30 Military Donation or use the $1 Misc. Military Donation to capture these.

No, you cannot add Scouts on their behalf. This is due to youth protection laws such as COPPA (Children’s Online Privacy Protection). Trail’s-End cannot store information on a Scout unless they create an account. We recommend using the Invite a Scout feature or bringing a laptop, tablet, or phone to your kickoff and have Scouts register an account before they leave.

After your unit has placed and picked-up the initial Show & Sell order, you’ll have the opportunity to order additional popcorn to supplement your existing popcorn on-hand throughout the sale at our weekly warehouse days.To place an a supplemental warehouse add-on order, please do so from the Trail’s-End Leader Dashboard, by selecting the warehouse location and day you wish to pick-up. Walk-up orders can be done however encourage units to place orders through the Leader Dashboard so that we can pull the items and have it ready for you when you arrive. Product must be ordered in full cases.

The best way to ensure all of your Scouts get registered under the correct unit is to use the “Invite Scouts” tool, located at the top of the Unit Leader Dashboard and share your Units NEW unique PIN #. This feature allows you to send an email invite directly to this Scout family, with the details of creating an account and your unit information. For many new Scout families, this can especially be helpful if there is confusion between the program level their Scout is registered (example: Pack, Troop, Crew).

When you view your unit invoice, you’ll notice that each order (Show & Sell, Take Order, and Supplemental Warehouse Add-Ons) are each expressed in groupings. The product ordered for each grouping is expressed by the individual container.

To put it simply, your Unit Invoice = Product Ordered, less unit commission percentage, less full credit card sales amount, less online sales commission.

The Initial Show & Sell Order is due: Monday, August 12th at 11:59pm

When you place your units order, your order will temporarily show as pending. Additionally, you will receive an email from the Trail’s-End system, notifying you that your order is pending and under review. The approval process typically occurs a few days after the order deadline date.

When placing your units popcorn order, you may notice at the bottom of the Trail’s-End order form, the commission is shown at 29%. With that said, this is not necessarily your units commission rate. If your unit attended (1) of the Dan Beard Council’s Popcorn Rallies, your commission rate will be 32%, but will be shown on this page as 29%. No action is required, as this is only the base commission rate.

Warehouse Pick-Up Locations

Vehicle Size

Do I need to rent a U-Haul vs. Enterprise vs. Penske Truck?

Schedule a pick-up time

Storage location and distribution to Scouts.

Units are encouraged to send a representative to one of the Popcorn Rallies for a number of reasons.

• The first of these is that by simply attending the Popcorn Rally, your unit will earn an additional 3% commission, taking your unit automatically from the base commission of 29% to 32%.
• Another reason why it’s important to attend the Popcorn Rally is that we provide your unit with a number of FREE resources, including a Show & Sell table banner, military donation bucket, Scout product checkout forms, discounted sample popcorn to be used at your unit’s kickoff event, and more!
• While attending this event, you’ll learn about any changes along with the roll-out of new items for the upcoming sale! This is also a great opportunity to ask questions to our Popcorn Team, and establish best practices from talking to other ‘seasoned’ Popcorn Kernels.

Units will have the opportunity to earn an additional 3% commission, increasing their commission from a base rate of 29% to 32% by attending our Popcorn Rally. To qualify for this additional 3% commission, a unit representative is required to attend (1) Dan Beard Council Popcorn Rallies.

The Popcorn Rally Commission will be applied to each units Trail’s-End account during the week of Oct 28.