When I was a Girl Scout, and admittedly this was a long time ago, we took orders for the cookies, and then went around delivering the cookies after they arrived. As many boxes of cookies as were ordered, that's how many were sent to the troop for distribution. No more, no less.
Nobody ordered boxes and boxes of cookies in order to set up a stand on the street and HOPEFULLY get all their money back by selling them.
So unless the Girl Scouts have changed a lot, something's funny here, and it ain't the police...
my daughter was a brownie and sold GS cookies up to a year or so ago. Yes, you deliver only what has been ordered, but the troops themselves can order more than that and they will set up (with permission) in front of the Safeway or elsewhere, with a table and sell cookies on the spot. i have NEVER seen anyone set up in a neighborhood though. it is generally in a commercial strip area and the troop has to obtain permission.
Of course they do. Just because you didn't doesn't mean no one else did it. It's the common approach in my area.
Who pays for the cookies and when? The moms pay up front? They collect when?
Well, it been quite a while since I was a Brownie Dad.
I used to take orders at work for my daughter and then deliver like you probably did. After a year or two of having people tell me, "I wish I knew. I want some," when I was delivering, I just ordered the boxes myself and then sold them when they came. I would just put out a "free samples" box each day until the cookies were gone. The good will was almost palpable, and we sold a lot more cookies this way.
ML/NJ