What could those poor, precious little Girl Scouts have done to deserve this?

Absolutely nothing.

The annual scrumptious cookie sale season has been under way for a little more than a month. And like just about everyone in our embattled country, the scouts have been victimized by major economic hiccups.  

Let’s start with supply-chain problems. They’ve resulted in huge supply shortages. Scouts that have established highly commendable goals of personally selling hundreds and hundreds of boxes have been forced to scale back their goals.

According to the Girl Scouts of the USA, the Louisville-based bakery that provides cookies to 75 out of the 111 geographic areas, or scout councils, is having manufacturing delays.

“We anticipate some councils will be largely unaffected, while other councils and girls may not reach their cookie goals,” the group stated.

That means not as many Thin Mint boxes to go around. Fewer packages are hitting the Scouts hard. Those regional councils depend dramatically on fundraisers for about 70% of their incomes, amounting to roughly $800-millon annually.

Some customers might be forced to wait out a delay, not get their desired cookies, or possibly not get cookies at all.

“There’s been a chain of troop leaders saying, ‘I heard from this other troop leader that you have cookies. Do you have cookies you can spare?’ ” one scout mom said. Her troop has helped 5 different teams who didn’t have enough cookies.

“It’s part of the Girl Scout Law,” she said.

Another tactic has been a different type of sell job: Try to convince customers to select less popular flavors. For example, the new 2022 Girl Scout cookie, a brownie-inspired dessert known as an Adventureful, has been difficult for scouts to get their hands on.

Can you imagine? Sweet Face says, “Well I don’t have the Adventurefuls, but I do have the Lemon Ups available?”

 “We encourage everyone to try different flavors if their first choice isn’t available, and we appreciate their support of girls’ entrepreneurship,” Girl Scouts of the USA said.

No word on whether that approach has been widely accepted or has led to Girl Scout Derangement Syndrome.

And quite possibly the cruelest impact on the 2022 Girl Scouts.

Did you take Economics 101? I did, and one of the basic principles is quite memorable. When demand exceeds supply, prices tend to rise. The Girl Scouts are not invulnerable to this simple rule. Welcome to Biden-flation ladies.

Unfortunately, folks have given kids a hard time about cookie price increases. Shame on them.

East Rochester, N.Y., troop chief Samantha Cipolla has given her group of 10- and 11-year-olds classes on inflation to clarify why cookies have gotten costlier.

“It’s insane to watch adults interrogate children about pricing,” the 30-year-old dwelling well-being aide says of potential consumers hectoring little women. “We just told them there’s a large demand for cookies and there’s only so many you can sell in a period of time. So when you need more of something, there actually has to be some.” Her daughter, Lily Cipolla, says her mom’s economics lesson has been “boring.”

Look. You don’t wanna buy cookies? Don’t buy ‘em. Just keep your yap shut.

As for me, bring on the Peanut Butter Patties. How much? Don’t tell me. Doesn’t matter.