Chuggers

I'd be glad to see the end of them. Having to do a body-swerve when they (chuggers) try to pounce is becoming quite a common practice. I, like many, give what I can to the charities of my choice. These people can be quite intimidating. One day in a local town, I saw one of these people asking for more money than a young woman was preparing to give, saying - "Oh, come on, you can do better than that - I can see you've got a fiver there in your purse!" The young girl handed him the money - probably having to do without her lunch.

It's important to check up on charities and how can you possibly do that if you are stopped in the street. It encourages criminal behaviour which in turn steals from real charities that would otherwise get your money. I thought there was a law already that says you can stand with a collecting tin but are not allowed to approach or talk or ask or make a noise - just needs enforcing like so much of our law which is good but ignored.

I do think the Big Issue people should still be allowed though.

I used to work in the Town Centre were I live and got fed up of being hijacked every time I went out of work for my lunch break, so much so I started staying in work instead. I also donate to my chosen charities.

They don't just shake cans. Very often they have clip-boards and try to persuade the unwary to sign up for direct debited donations.

greenmossgiel is this a scottish term because I've never heard it before?
I can't say that I've every been accosted in the manner that you and Annika described.

I read somewhere that the company that organises the chuggers for the various charities, keeps the first years direct debits to cover their costs!!! So you could cancel your direct debit after a year and the charity wouldn't receive a penny.
Somehow, thankfully, they seem to ignore anybody over 60.

Chuggers is a portmanteau word combining the beginning of the word 'charity and the ending of the word 'muggers'. Says it all really.

Hattie64 I never knew that about the direct debit , do the "chuggers " who work for the company know that the first year direct debits are kept with out a penny going to charity. any one out there know a "chugger " I wonder ?

Worthwhile asking one about that when next accosted, perhaps?

When approached I say that I already give to 'my' charities and that they benefit from Gift Aid. This has happened occasionally but is not a big problem here.

I find them very hard to avoid and yes they can be intimidating,I also find it difficult to avoid the rep's from the gas/electric company's who try to stop you in town,they have even positioned a lady at the top of the esculator's in M&S in Liverpool,how stupid is that.?We have had "chuggers" knock on the door of an evening asking for the family to sign up and the "chuggers" had been bused in from other region's to do a three day "hit" in the area.

I`ve never heard the expression "chuggers" before. I almost always put in collections in town, some I give more than others, depending on who they are, but I will never sign up for regular payments to any charity, as I would like to give to them all, but there has to be a limit, especially on a reduced income, which we`re now on.

Thanx grannyactivist ...I learnt something new today!

I detest charity mugging and think it is all part of the corporate creep I complained about in another thread. I'm not willing to give money to any charity that uses such intimidating tactics, whatever their cause. I think the practice should be banned. I have held collection cans for various charities and I was always told that it is actually illegal to rattle the can, never mind approach people.

It is hard to say no charity but as numberplease said we are on reduced income so it is getting harder to make ends meet

I have lost count of the times I have been asked to sign up for direct debits for charity. Do they really think that I would give my bank details to a stranger in a town centre ? I have stopped shopping for food in M&S on a saturday because of people wanting to pack your bag so you feel obliged to fill their bucket. I know this sounds mean but I am feeling less charitable by the week. I send cheques to charities of my choice several times a year.

harrigran I have been stopped in M&S and asked to I want to change my gas / electricty supplier, no not while I am in the middle of buying knickers there is a time and place for everything !

I do resent being pestered on a daily basis by these chuggers who try to shame me into giving something or signing up to their particular cause. I just say "not today thank you" firmly with a smile. I often see elderly people opening their purses as they are approached as they feel obliged to give something. I do give to charities of my choice but even if I didn't or couldn't, I shouldn't need to explain myself to total strangers in the street. The trouble is, you still always feel mean-spirited.

gkal, "you still always feel mean-spirited"

Because of that feeling, chugging is bullying in my view and should be outlawed. Charities will lose support if they don't pull out of this disgusting comercialisation. When a charities behave like bullies, I begin to wonder at their motives and I look for other ways to support noble causes. From information I've had from friends who have raised money for charities through sponsorship, I also have reservations about that method now. The people raising the money are sometimes put under a lot of pressure by the charities to reach 'target' amounts, and this in turn leads to the people wanting sponsorship putting pressure on friends, relatives and work-mates. I think that is wrong, in principle.

Agree Baggy I got stopped three times today, they seem to do a mass targeting here, with seven or eight of them interspersed down one street. It is bullying and they are playing to the natural kindness of people who want to help,and are embarrassed to say no. It should be illegal.

We should not forget that the word chugging comes from "charity mugging". People feel mugged. Not nice. Why is it taking charities so long to cotton on to this? When I complained, a year or so ago, about a charity that was pestering me by email, their 'excuse' was that it was "effective", as if that was justification enough. Hah! Slavery was "effective". Effectiveness doesn't make bad behaviour right whatever the ultimate 'justification' for it is.

No, it wasn't email, it was by phone.

My sister-in-law, aged 83, is regularly called on the phone by Cancer Research. They keep asking her if she could possibly give more money each month. She's always paid an amount by direct debit each month, and what makes it even more upsetting for her is that she lost her own son 3 years ago to cancer. He was only 54 and I think she feels that if she gives even more money to the charity, then others may not have to suffer like her son. Obviously, in an ideal world that would be the case, but her 'widow's mite' would be just a drop in the ocean. She worries about the calls, and tries to explain that she cannot afford any more. It falls on deaf ears however, and before long she receives yet another call, which is so upsetting for her. Bullying tactics, indeed.

green, that's terrible for your SIL! It is utterly gross behaviour.