Every so often, a story comes along that captures both the tenor and tone of the times as well as the speculative fears and concerns that people have for the future. It’s a story that cuts both ways, so to speak, and is truly a “sign of the times.”

Yes, you may have heard of this yourself, but I read about it today in USA Today, and the headline said it all: “Girl Scout cookie sales crumbling.” 

Here’s the hook to the story: “National numbers are not yet in, but regional Girl Scout councils nationwide are seeing the impact of the down economy, as well as bad winter weather, in declines as large as 19 percent in pre-order sales, which took place January through early February.”

Yes, the economy is down and that is clearly a factor, but here are two bigger reasons that the USA Today story completely misses:

1. A dramatic drop in workplace sales due to the huge job cutbacks (2.3 million) since September. Anyone who has been in the workplace very long knows that a lot of Girl Scout cookies get sold by workers who put their daughter’s order form out in the break room or up on the office bulletin board.

With pre-order sales (mostly door-to-door and in the workplace) making up around 70 percent of cookie sales, according to the Girl Scouts, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that a lot fewer people in the workplace due to job cuts means a lot fewer people to buy and sell Girl Scout cookies. Yes, the overall economy has certainly reduced how many boxes of Thin Mints or Tagalongs people buy, but the big reduction in workers since the recession kicked into gear is a much bigger factor. After all, how many Girl Scout cookie order forms did you see this year compared with past seasons?

2. Fears over workplace solicitation policies in light of the looming battle over the deceptively named Employee Free Choice Act. Workforce Management contributing editor Kris Dunn wrote about this last month in his HR Capitalist blog, and he discussed the problem HR professionals face when it comes to Girl Scout cookie sales in the workplace. “I hate saying no to the sale of Girl Scout cookies,” he wrote, “but every time I see one of these cases, it always perks up my sensitivity to solicitation in the workplace.”

And, I believe that the issue of the Employee Free Choice Act has helped to clamp down on all workplace solicitations for Girl Scout cookies or anything else. Ohio attorney Eric Johnson wrote a Workforce.com article on this very topic recently, and he hit the issue square on the head when he discussed the need for HR pros to update their employee handbooks to deal with this matter:

“Employers often permit charitable solicitations (United Way, Girl Scout cookies, etc.) in the workplace,” he said. “While serving a good purpose, permitting that to occur can subsequently preclude the employer from prohibiting union solicitation or materials in the workplace. Given the looming presence of the proposed Employee Free Choice Act and renewed union organizing momentum, the employer must revisit the phrasing of this policy.”

In my mind, simply blaming a drop-off in Girl Scout cookie sales on the terrible economy is a cheap and easy way out. There’s a lot more to it than that, and like most things occurring in our current workplace, there’s no one single factor to pin it on.

The drop in Girl Scout cookie sales is one of those lagging economic indicators you sometimes hear about. Yes, it’s a sign of the times, but it reflects what has already happened, not where we might be going. And, it tells me that we probably have a whole lot more to go through before our workplaces get back to anything that passes for normal.

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