At our recent cookie trainings, we've been discussing the importance of communicating clearly with the parents in your troop and sharing expectations before the cookie sale begins.  I strongly recommend troop leaders or cookie managers share a flyer/letter with each family, outlining the timeline of the cookie sale, describing the troop's goals, giving payment due dates, and explaining the troop's policy for handling unsold cookies that families may have.  It will help the parents to have something in writing that they can put on their fridge or near their calendar for reference.  When each family has received a clear schedule and directions before the cookie sale begins, you can hold them to those expectations.  If each parent has seen in writing that the deadline for returning unsold cookies to the troop is March 1, it is fair if you are not able to accept a return from a family on March 15.  As you know, each unsold package takes a bite out of the troop's profits and affects ALL the girls in the troop. 

Here is a sample of a parent letter that you can download.  It opens as a Microsoft Word document.  You can "save as" to your computer and customize with your own troop's goals, schedule, and guidelines.  If you're using it after you've already placed the initial order, you can delete those lines and still use it at a family meeting held in January. 

Thanks to troop leader Kelly Martin from Hinckley for the template that was my starting point for this letter!