Moral blackmail

Thejobcenter makes people take these "jobs" and the cold calling phoneones, or else lose benefits, trouble is they are commision only which might be why some are so persistant, they are desperate. The whole thing is wrong on every level

Some card issuers automatically decline the transactions where a charity donation is included. I think this is a good idea as some people could feel obliged to include this in their payment. I don’t personally like this way of collecting for charity although I understand the reasons for it.

JenniferEccles

We get the Jehovah’s Witnesses sometimes too Pamela. Annoying but at least they don’t ask for money!

No one should feel obliged to say anything to these charity collectors other than a firm “no thank you”.
We don’t have to justify to them why we will not be donating.

We had a Jehovas Witness as a lodger for a while, a nice quiet young man, we chucked him out for growing cannabis in the bathroom.
Takes all kinds!.

I have a “no cold calling” Sticker on the front door but still people knock. I don’t answer!
I feel guilty after being approached when coming out of the supermarket when I say no and getting annoyed with the donate button in the supermarket when paying by card My DH belongs to a certain organisation/group of men that raises a lot of money for many charities so I feel we do our bit. The guilt saying no tho persists.

I feel that 'Cold calling' stickers advertise that someone elderly lives in the house, so could be an advertisement for vulnerability if anyone with eveil intent saw it.

Our small local High Street, all of 150 meters long, has had at least one table of “Chuggers” from a different charity every day for the last fortnight they are hard to avoid. They usually begin with “can I ask you a question”. I always respond “no” and either ignore or keep saying “no” in my best “teacher voice “. It usually works.
Telephone people from charities I donate to get “thank you for considering my donation inadequate …. I will now cancel my DD” and I do.
The thing that gets me cross is being asked to “round up” at the till. I always refuse. I used to automatically pop the change into the collection tin if I agreed with the charity, and still do IF I am NOT asked. I know the volunteers at my local charity shops have been told that they must ask and hate doing it. I’ve even written to Oxfam and cancelled my DD to them because of this. It might only be pennies today, but if it works I am sure they’ll be asking to round up to the nearest £10 in a short while.
My local favourite charities without the money to hassle people, or who still have one off volunteer collections have won big time from this 🙂

I used to feel guilty but I don’t anymore. I found trying to justify my financial decisions simply gave them something to work with. They are trained to guilt trip as this thread proves.
I’ve found younger chuggers (charity muggers for those who don’t recognise the term) do get flustered if you use phrases they relate to - I won’t give because “you are invading my space”, “you are disrespecting my choice” and “you are choosing to make me uncomfortable “.

My feathers get ruffled when I get two young kids at the end of the checkout offering to put my shopping into bags for a donation to one group or another they're raising money for. How can you say no to those hopeful little faces?
Last time I succumbed though, they had put my eggs and bread underneath the tins and that didn't end well 😏
(Message to self: don't be drawn in by a sweet little face)

I have reservations about some other ways charities collect too.

1. Cancer Research - errr - that research includes animal experiments. That's a no then to me...

2. RNLI - in the area I'm in now it's deemed a very worthy cause generally. Well I know I'm in West Wales (the side facing America) and so presumably the ones in this area only go out on genuine callouts (ie not acting as unpaid taxi service across the Channel to Britain) but I gather the RNLI gets "lots" of money anyway. So that's two reasons I won't give to them.

Mibsy

Thejobcenter makes people take these "jobs" and the cold calling phoneones, or else lose benefits, trouble is they are commision only which might be why some are so persistant, they are desperate. The whole thing is wrong on every level

I didnt know that one....

I do remember that there was quite a bit of pressure all the way back in the 1980s (before all the cuts started) that I was starting to feel personally when I got a couple of so-called "redundancies" and landed up unemployed for a couple of times lasting months.

So I could have some sympathy with people in that sort of circumstances - as there wasn't too much pressure back then by the JobCentre and I just had to remember to give them the answers they "wanted" on their query forms. For instance "What type of job will you do?" meant "Tell us you'll do any type of job - even if it's very different to your own type of job. So I put "any" - though I meant "I'm an office worker". "How far are you prepared to travel" and one put "Anywhere" - whilst meaning "I don't have any transport - so I walk to work or would take a short public transport journey". The one that concerned me most was "What times/days are you prepared to work?" and I knew the correct answer was "Any" - whilst I was thinking "I'm an office worker - and so thats about 9am-5pm Monday to Friday".

These days I gather applying for a job is a full-time job of itself and having to prove it and being expected to have a smartphone (even if you're useless at modern technology).

But I gather it's all got a lot harsher since the early 1980s.

M0nica

I feel that 'Cold calling' stickers advertise that someone elderly lives in the house, so could be an advertisement for vulnerability if anyone with eveil intent saw it.

I’ve had one since I was in my 40’s MOnica, they’ve always annoyed me.

I have one of those no cold calls stickers next to my front door. Since I put it up I have only had one person (who claimed they didn’t see it) and when I pointed it out they apologised and left.

I think these charities should not guilt trip people for donations. It's a continuous barage of begging letters, phone calls and being accosted in the street. I donate what I want to and no more, but it really concerns me that a lot of older people especially will feel so guilty that they will sign up for shat they can't afford and that is awful.

I answered the door to two little boys offering to sell me a small, used, cushion for £3, the proceeds to be shared between them and a “local dog shelter”. I had a lengthy discussion with them about the rights and wrongs of their venture and they went away to think about it.

About an hour later they returned to tell me that, as they had been unable to find a local dog shelter they had decided instead to support Oxfam, again keeping half the proceeds for themselves. I had another discussion with them, resulting in them deciding to go away and have another think about it (dream up another scheme). It’s a tiny village, I know them and they’re nice boys, but they’re budding little con artists - they’ll be busily polishing up their act for the next attempt.

M0nica

I feel that 'Cold calling' stickers advertise that someone elderly lives in the house, so could be an advertisement for vulnerability if anyone with eveil intent saw it.

My neighbours had a brass plate.

They were in their 40s and both quite able to defend themselves if needs be.

A group of neighbours near us must have got a job lot of big stickers saying “no cold callers, no flyers, no junk mail, no charities”, etc, etc. The whole street has them and I just have a welcome break walking along it when I’m out posting leaflets through letterboxes for our annual charity jigsaw festival. One lady was gardening last year and asked me what I was delivering. She was very cross that she knew nothing about the festival, that’s been running for years. I got the impression it was all my fault.

If GOS knocked my door, I would tell them exactly why I didn’t want to donate. Parents with children with the congenital condition my children have, have been reported to Social Services quite wrongly. They also won’t diagnose the condition because they don’t want children labelled. Nope, I’ll keep my money in the bank ready to give to other charities who I value more.

Great Ormond Street Hospital is, of course, a very worthy cause, and particularly pulls at people's heart strings. I believe they do very well so far as donations are concerned, and there are probably many similarly worthy charities which can't afford their vast advertising campaigns.

sassenach512
I always say thank you, I’ll give you a donation but do my own packing.

I get annoyed when charities send me begging letters and include a free gift. I always bin them but, even if the gifts only cost them pennies, it’s still wasted money.

When paying by card in a shop yesterday I had to press red on the screen to actively reject adding a charity donation to my purchase. I could easily have just tapped my card and ended up having paid the larger sum. I get really annoyed at being asked to donate every time I purchase something.

Rosieroe

When paying by card in a shop yesterday I had to press red on the screen to actively reject adding a charity donation to my purchase. I could easily have just tapped my card and ended up having paid the larger sum. I get really annoyed at being asked to donate every time I purchase something.

Me too.

I’m staying in my daughter’s house for a few days . Had a young man at the door this afternoon from the make a wish charity. I told him I don’t live here and he said well you live somewhere in the uk don’t you.
I just told him I don’t want to talk to you and closed the door.
Last week I was approached in the super market by canvassers for cancer research. I told them I already donate to Marie curie. They wanted to explain what they did that was different. I think I already know that.
Nearly every week there is someone there asking for money. If they took
One off donations I would be happy to help.

There are a group of chuggers that like to hang around near to Cabot Circus Shopping Centre in Bristol.
It is something to do with the homeless (alledgedly) and the other week my teenager and her friends were hounded for the last of their money (this "charity" took cash) after they had told the man they had no spare cash. He said they "couldn't care about homeless people" if they didn't donate.
This week he was there again. My daughter told him that she and her friends had spent all their money and wouldn't be donating today!
These people really wind me up.

I have found the latest thing is when you pay by debit card you are asked if you want to donate a sum of money to a charity, it usually rounds the amount up to the nearest pound but it can happen several times a day and I feel mean when I press the decline button.

Over the last couple of weeks, every supermarket I've visited has a charity desk set up right in the entrance. The people running them are approaching everyone who goes into or comes out of the store. I find this more than irritating and have to restrain myself from being unpleasant. I thought it was against the law for these charity reps to approach people.