The Girl Scout Council of the Nation's Capital have a new method to get more Samoas into the hands of cookie-loving customers: mobile payment technology. The chapter, which sells the second highest amount of cookies in the country, is using Spark Pay by Capital One. That means credit cards will now be used, which is almost guaranteed to increase sales. The question is by how much, says Nation’s Capital CEO Lidia Soto-Harmon. (The group, which has 90,000 members, sold 4 million boxes last year.) Over 500 troops have signed up so far to use the technology for sales through the end of March.

Lidia says the new system will also help the Girl Scouts learn technology and finances. (So if we eat Thin Mints, we're basically a business school professor?) Capital One national small business SVP Brian Hamilton says the financial company's Spark Pay technology recently tested new features with several large organizations, and now it’s ready to roll them out. He says businesses using the technology, including the Girl Scouts, have liked the fact that inventory can be pre-loaded into the system.