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When a Scout arrives at summer camp with our troop he deposits all of his money in the troop bank.
He’s been told to bring his money in one dollar bills to keep things simple. The troop scribe collects all the money and records deposits in a small notebook. The cash and the notebook go into a metal strongbox that is locked with a padlock and placed in an inconspicuous place (usually under a tent platform) and the padlock key, on a lanyard, is placed in another inconspicuous spot.
After each meal the bank is opened and the troop scribe keeps record of withdrawals. He has been trained to ask younger Scouts what they are planning to do with their money and may suggest that they need two, rather than five, dollars to get a soda and a candy bar. This curbs the notorious trading post binge that often results in some sort of gastric irregularity.
Scouts are told to redeposit any currency they have left at the end of the day but can hold onto any coins. If the scribe is doing his job no one has withdrawn more than they need.
During my time as a camp director we would end the summer with two or three hundred dollars in lost money. The most common currency was tens and twenties. We would accept the bills from the finder, attach a note to indicate where it was found and wait for the owner to pick it up; one out of ten would. (We put the lost money towards a staff banquet.)
We’ve had a troop bank for fifteen years or more. We get a few complaints from Scouts (mostly older Scouts) who bridle at having to put their money in the bank. We’ve never had money lost or stolen from the bank. We never have a Scout loose their twenty dollar bill (“Somebody stole my money!”). We don’t have Scouts spending all their money on the first two days and borrowing from their friends and the tensions that creates.
Shouldn’t Scouts learn to handle money? Shouldn’t they be trusted not to steal money from others? Of course. Is a week at camp the best place to do this? Maybe; but I would rather they focus on other things. Loosing money or having it burn a hole in your pocket are distractions I’d rather not deal with at camp.
Most Scout camps now feature a well-appointed air conditioned trading post that is an important enhancement to the camp’s revenue stream. I have no problem with that. Most of our younger Scouts end the week at camp having spent all of their money; if they didn’t they would likely spend it on the way home. Most of our older Scouts go home with home with some money in their pockets
Our troop bank helps Scouts keep the trading post in perspective and focus on what they came to camp to accomplish.
We have two added rules to our summer camp bank:
1). After the main deposit, no more deposit, we want the scouts to think ahead what they want to use the money for.
2). After camp is over, we will not tell the parents what was returned as a balance to the scout, it’s his money. Parents love the rule because it makes the scout think about saving, a scout is Thrifty.
We have a banker at camp, but only for depositing money the Scouts don’t want to lose. On Saturday morning we are driving up to Camp Daniel Boone for a week at camp. Each Scout will bring three sets of cash with him:
1. Saturday travel money. This is for lunch and dinner on the way up. Lunch is something like Subway. We adults have lunch at the Smoking Pig in Richmond Hill, Georgia. A Subway is next door and the Scouts seem to prefer that. So much for taste 🙂 Dinner is at Golden Corral in Hendersonville, NC. Scouts usually bring $20.00 or $25.00 for the day. The Troop leaders do not monitor their spending in any way. A Scout is Thrifty.
2. An envelope with his spending money at camp to give to the banker. He can also carry his spending money with him if he wants to. The banker keeps no account of the Scout’s money at camp. Once or twice a day the bank is open. The banker gives the Scout his envelope and then puts it back into the bank when the Scout returns it. The banker does not look into the envelopes or monitor the Scouts spending in any way. A Scout is Thrifty.
3. Required. Each Scout brings an envelope to the banker for the trip home the next Saturday. Each Scout will be given his envelope that Saturday morning. Lunch is Burger King or Wendy’s on the road and then Pizza Hut in Jacksonville, FL. We stop at the Florida Welcome Station and call in our order to the Pizza Hut on University Blvd. and dinner is already when we get there. Usually about $5.00 or $6.00 per Scout and Adult. The Scoutmaster is Thrifty 🙂 (The adults in the troop bought too many meals on the way home from camp because too many Scouts were NOT thrifty at camp, therefore this rule. I don’t like it much but it seems necessary.)
We stop for breakfast or lunch Sunday morning on our way home from weekend campouts at least 2 or 3 times a year. We always stop at a sit down place with wait staff and the Patrol Leaders and SPL are responsible for making sure the Scouts leave an appropriate tip. For breakfast it’s often Gram’s Kitchen in Deland. For lunch it’s BBQ. Sonny’s, Ryan’s, Brian’s, Ken’s, Dustin’s, Bubba Lou’s Bodacious or SR 46 BBQ depending on what route we come back on. The Scouts bring their own money, pay for their own food and tip. The Scouts go in first with their Patrol Leaders and the SPL, distribute themselves at tables and then we go in and get ourselves a table. My eleven and twelve year olds handle the whole thing just fine after the first time.
Clarke: “Shouldn’t Scouts learn to handle money? Shouldn’t they be trusted not to steal money from others? Of course. Is a week at camp the best place to do this? Maybe; but I would rather they focus on other things. Loosing money or having it burn a hole in your pocket are distractions I’d rather not deal with at camp.”
Larry: Shouldn’t Scouts learn to handle money? Shouldn’t they be trusted not to steal money from others? Of course. Is a week at camp the best place to do this? Yes! Loosing money or having it burn a hole in your pocket are distractions that I think that every young man should learn to handle early on and have lots of opportunities to practice, like at camp. This is exactly the kind of skill and experience that I want Scouts to learn about at camp. Ok, as usual, I’ll say the “crazy thing”, way more important and useful than merit badges. YMMV
I think this is a good example of different practices – there’s no real right and wrong way to do this, just different ways.
I like Larry’s approach to travelling meals. Once or twice a year we have a trip where we are stopping to eat at a restaurant. On these trips every Scout is responsible for his own money. We just set a time limit for our stop and tell everyone they have one trip to the counter (almost always a fast food place).
On our trips to Canada we stop a few times for meals and the Scouts sit at their own tables, learn to split checks or get separate checks, tip wait staff etc. The adults are sitting at another table (usually as far away as we can – twelve hours in a van is enough togetherness). I monitor the situation at the Scout tables from afar and ask the wait staff if he boys left them the proper tip before we leave. They invariably answer that the boys were very polite and generous.
I have been a Scout Master for over 14 years and have taken my troops to many numerous and different camps. While a “Troop Bank” is a great Idea I have my Committee Chair hold all the money for the scouts and then after dinner they go to her and get the money. This elevates any kids from not having money left over. They have to bring her back a receipt for what they bough and then this shows them responsibility, it can also start them on the personnel management Merit badge. While I am all for a “Camp Store” they also need to be responsible and teach the kids good nutrition, too many times I go into the stores and its filled with nothing but junk food and as you said this can lead to an “accident” because for some of the new scouts this is the first time they are away from home and they have to binge and stuff their face with all the garbage from the shop. I have had to help clean out many tents after a scout has eaten 12 snicker bars that he just had to have. So a “Troop Bank” however you run it is a great idea.
Before camp starts I contact the camp advisor and ask them how much camp T-shirts are and if they have anything else that is unique to that camp, this is figured into the camp budget and everyone comes back from camp with something. The reason for this is twofold. In my troops you can only where class B shirts at scouting functions when the “class A” is not required. We go to many different camps here in Europe and while the new scouts coming up might not have as many t-shirts they will soon build their supply of shirts through all the camps we go to.
Iron Rhino Scout Master