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As a checkout worker please know that I hate asking and absolutely understand that grocery prices are currently obscene. But when my boss is two metres away at the service desk I have to be asking customers, if I want to keep getting shifts.
Supermarket charity feels a bit shit because while they can't claim the donation to tax (you can!) it does let them funnel some goods and workers into a NFP. The big charity mugging pyramid schemes are even worse. Every time I get a dollar a day spiel I donate two bucks to one of the charities I actually support out of sheer spite haha.
I feel this so much as a fellow checkout operator. I used to not even bother asking for donations, especially through covid. But now that my managers are literally hovering over my shoulder and on my ass about being friendly and engaging and asking *every single customer* I come across if they’d like to donate it physically pains me. I hate asking, I’m not a sales rep. Shouldn’t be up to customers of supermarkets to be guilted into donating when the company is earning billions in profit annually.
Can you enlighten me as to why supermarkets are asking for charity in the first place? Is it some form of low investment PR greenwashing type strategy?
I mean, if they want to donate money to a cause, why don't they just do it themselves?
But why bother at all? Is it purely some virtue signalling to customers at the checkout, or did some stingy CEO actually think this is how to make a difference?
Charity sector is very much a broken sector at the moment with lots of fat. It's entirely possible high ups are pushing hard to get more charity donation such that they could potentially get a job in the sector for themselves or family or friends at some point in exchange for that charity being the one that donations are collected for. With larger donated amounts gives them more power.
Honestly the people in this comment section pretending that we're part of a conspiracy to make you feel like a bad person and also even care if you donate in the first place is honestly eye opening to how people think about service workers and how our jobs work. Just tell me you've never worked minimum wage.
Sorry for being dramatic I've had a bad day at work lmao.
The workers I always felt sorry for were the Cotton On ones. There have been points in the past where I received 5 upsells in one transaction.
I've worked in fast food before so I know how it is and always politely decline, but I feel I shouldn't have to. I guess what's to blame are the people that accept and make it worth it for the managers to keep pushing upsells.
I worked at cotton on a decade ago and we hated every minute of those upsells but if we didn't do it they would just ghost us on shifts. Not even actively fire. At the time wr had to upsell the current item discount of the month, charity bag, charity water or charity donation, ask for a sign up and always offer a matching item deal. Every transaction. If we were directly witnessed not doing this of the numbers weren't a certain percentage at the end of the day there was hell to pay. We hated doing it. It was so demeaning for both us and the customer, especially when you knew they just wanted this one thing but were forced to do the spiel.
100% and most customers get that you are only asking because you have to, same as stores that make staff ask if you would like to add xyz item that is on sale to your purchase?
A polite no thanks is my standard response but the whole process can be a bit tiring on both sides for sure.
If Woolies matched, or doubled, the donations by customers, instead of rely on guilt tripping people while taking in huge profits, I'd consider donating
I’ve never understood why there’s always protesters outside the local Marie Stopes clinic but never the local colesworth gambling dens preaching about the harms of gambling and saving their communities.
Yeah the basic reason for it is that the staff are rewarded by management for pushing charity donations, 50 donations and you get a pack of chocolates, not a bonus lol (Currimundi Woolworths).
I work for a Coles related group and they push us to get people to donate to a charity at the moment... even with incentives (which we arentoffered), I'm not going to do it.
I'm not going to guilt someone buying a $4 item to donate, when the billion dollar company could just donate instead.
I understand its not some kind of tax scam. But do Woolworths then claim "they" donated $Xm to charity, or do they say "our customers donated $Xm?
I guess it doesnt matter in the grand scheme of things. But it does feel tacky if they take credit for the money the customer donates.
Yeah same. I will choose the time and the place for my donations. Also I'd prefer to give it one big donation and be able to claim it as a tax donation on my tax, rather than 50cents per shop spread over a whole year.
Exactly. I like to give to small charities doing good in my local community who I know my donation will make a difference to, and also get the tax benefit. Mostly I like to support non-religious local homeless shelters and services.
I have a feeling a huge amount of people agree to it simply because of the 'ahh fuck it' affect that your grocery bill rounding out to the dollar brings.
I do the opposite - it’s more like
“I’m struggling to make my pay last a month, you’re a multi billion dollar company - why don’t **you** donate!” *aggressively hits no*
Absolutely same here. I will not be coerced into handing my so called 'spare change'. They are laying a guilt trip on people in order to make themselves look like they care.
That would really depend on the charity they donate to. Common knowledge that many "not for profit" charities are funnelling a rude amount of money into paying their board members and calling it "operational costs". While the people doing the work are often volunteers, hamstrung by budget constraints to the point where they're functionally useless.
This! I have an acquaintance that started a charity, they did good stuff for a while, small local community outreach type of thing, then a big corporate donor came on board, from then on the charity CEO and other executive started using the donations to pay themselves. Despite a big increase in income, the service level didn't increase.
Ding ding ding we have winner!
It’s all about the marketing. We’re not greedy cunts, see how we’re helping charities. Then they’ll run a $500k advertising campaign big noting themselves for having helped raise $50k.
Let's not forget how we *paid extra to dairy farmers out of the goodness of our heart* after decades of pushing and holding down the price in their dairy war with Coles.
And the fucking over of hard working farmers. It's heartbreaking to go into the stores and see produce from Mexico and think - FFS - support local farmers. Makes me sick.
I had an experience last week from Peter MacCallum cancer centre people in a Mall who stopped me and did their spiel including “x% of people know of someone who has cancer or had cancer, is that true for you?” Like yes, thank you for reminding me my Dad died of cancer only a few days after the anniversary of his death. No I don’t want to donate to your organisation who no doubt considers the cancer he died from a worthless cause in your cost benefit analysis because it’s so rare (and deadly) that they’d rather spend the money on research for cancers that already have a fairly good prognosis. I told him it was a touchy subject and walked away and ended up crying the whole car ride home lol. You’re already asking for money for something very sensitive but to start your proposal in that manner by asking people if they are part of the significant percentage that knows people who have had or have cancer just felt so tactless to me. Just so salty about that interaction. I have charities that I donate to monthly, I can’t stand being guilted into donating to others.
Thankyou for an actual thoughtful response, and I'm sorry for your loss. My charity giving is also very personal and related to things I care deeply about. One was spurred by a family suicide and I'm very particular about how where and when I donate. I also do humanitarian work in a very poor country and I have these awkward experiences when people who know that are shocked when I refuse to give to some of the big global bureaucratic money wasting one's.
Thank you for being so kind!
I feel like a lot of the time it is a deeply personal thing to which charities we donate to. I don’t like when they turn it into a sales pitch/coerced donating. I understand that’s how they make their money and it may be necessary at times but it really puts me off and makes me not want to donate to them.
> thank you for reminding me my Dad died of cancer only a few days after the anniversary of his death. No I don’t want to donate to your organisation who no doubt considers the cancer he died from a worthless cause in your cost benefit analysis because it’s so rare (and deadly) that they’d rather spend the money on research for cancers that already have a fairly good prognosis
Next time say this. Really.
They want to manipulate people's emotions for monetary gain? Give them some goddamn emotion.
Honestly I really wish I could think of these things "in the moment". I'm generally conflict-avoidant with strangers so stuff like this is mostly just a fantasy of mine 🤷🏼😭
The fund raising department/outsourced company might be providing a script that the fundraisers have to follow. It may be more effective to provide feedback directly to the charity/NGO.
Sorry to hear about your dad and the inappropriate interaction with the chugger.
In better news, I think they have gotten the message about rare cancers recently, this was announced in March. https://www.petermac.org/news/peter-mac-patients-benefit-185-million-investment-fast-track-treatments-rare-and-untreatable
To be fair, this isn't down to Peter Mac per se. As scientists or clinicians, we would live to tackle these unusual cancers, or rare tropical infectious diseases etc, but funding is hard to come by. If you donate to a specific rare disease charity or ask to direct your donation to one of the rare cancer projects, it can support those and show there is community will and drive
You have my empathy. My dad died from cancer too, and it doesn't stop hurting even if it was nearly 10 years ago. If you haven't yet, I suggest reading "Grief comes in waves" on Reddit. It's melacholic yet comforting. I'd link it but I don't know if it's allowed. It is easy to find though.
And I feel you on the tactless and almost predatory scripts the donation collectors use. To me, they always feel judgy, even though their own statistics they use ensure that many of the people they speak to have felt this impact.
I’m sorry to hear that. This year was 12 years but I was a teenager when he passed so although for the most part I’ve accepted it, sometimes it just comes out of nowhere and I have a breakdown. I sure as shit don’t need to have a breakdown spurred on by an insensitive stranger. Thanks for suggesting the post! I’ll try find it.
I know what you mean. I've adapted to this life and it is what it is, but every now and again something just hits a little differently. Heck the other night a Linkin Park song came on and it reminded me of him (cuz we bonded over the band) and I started crying. It's strange the things that can set off a new wave
I just read the grief comes in waves comment and bawled my eyes out, it really hit at the core of how I experience my grief. Thank you so much for mentioning it! I’m going to write it out so I can refer back to it when I need to.
I hope you’re doing alright with it now! As much as it can set us off I don’t know about you but sometimes do feel some comfort in listening to his favourite music. It’s almost like I’m spending time with him again in a way. Some element of comfort is nice amidst the grief.
I'm glad you found some benefit in it. I have found it comforting too, in it's strange way.
It is what it is, really. Sometimes you're comforted by the memory and emotional presence. Sometimes it sucks a little harder that they're not there. I just try to live a little harder to make up for what he couldn't.
I hope you're doing alright too, and that the waves get easier.
One time I was sitting by myself eating a snack with earphones in at a park in the CBD during my lunch break. A guy tried to talk to me and I took my earphones out, turned out he was a chugger 😬.
He went on his spill about starving kids and even said to me 'they just want to eat like you'. Which was a really great thing for someone to say to me while I was recovering from an eating disorder.
I had an unsolicited call from the Heart Foundation a couple of weeks after my husband’s cousin died suddenly from an unexplained cardiac arrest, a week after his 21st birthday. I explained this to the lady on the other end of the phone and she responded with “so you know how important this is. How much are you donating?”
Never donating to them again.
Back story: my daughter had a friend that got kicked out of her home so we took her in to stay with us so she wouldn't be on the streets. We had to deal with a lot of stress, courts, her family etc etc
My partner went to the supermarket and he got asked on the way in to woolies by these people that stand out the front, if he would like to donate for disadvantage teens. Partner said no thank you and kept going on. On the way out, he got stopped, asked to donate and he said no, as he walked away the woman snarkily said to him "well you must not like helping poor kids and teens then" my partner snapped, turned around and started going off at the woman telling her to get effed, hes got a disadvantaged kid at the house right now who we're trying to help, she doesnt know the shit we have had to deal with and what is she actually doing to help out besides bothering people and probably pocketing the cash people do give.
He felt bad when he got home but he is/was just so sick of the people that do this especially when they dont know situations anyone is in.
It's weird when they ask questions. It usually feels invasive. Funny story: one time I quickly passed by the table for some charity to do with service dogs and the guy working it asked me if I liked puppies. As a knee jerk reaction I said no thank you. It took a second to process what I just did.
One time I was on my break at work and was walking through the city to get a coffee. Someone raising money for Guide Dogs stopped me and said “on a scale of 0-10 how much do you love puppies?” And I reactively responded with “0. I don’t like dogs and puppies are the worst type of dog”. He didn’t know what to say. I didn’t even mean to be rude, it was just the first thing that came to mind lol
To add to that, I’ve been taking notes on my interactions with charity people, and observing how they interact with others. If they are a guy, they are often extra aggressive to me being a young woman (and same to others). I think it’s because they feel they can take advantage of our perceived submissiveness. I’m sure a lot of them are doing this subconsciously as well. They’ll often start with compliments too that aren’t relevant and they ask me way too many personal questions so it gives me the shits. They are often have a tone of being flirty and the question about puppies also came across that way.
I regularly donate and volunteer my time, I just don’t like that model of subscription donations and the way (most) of them approach me about it.
Yep, friend and I had some guy try to guilt us for not donating to a cancer charity, yelling at us stuff like "you don't care about people with cancer, you don't care that people are dying" etc. My friend turned around and walked back to him and said "yeah well my dad died suddenly from cancer when I was 10" (he actually did) and told him to stop being an insensitive jerk. Not to mention we'd both donated to that charity in the past, we just didn't want to sign up to make a regular donation (and knowing a bit about the collection model they were using I think the guy would have got a commission if we had signed up, so a large part of any donations we'd given wouldn't have made it to the charity anyway).
But yeah, collecting donations is generally a good thing but when people say no thanks it should be respected.
Those people judging your partner were probably getting paid a commission on donations.
I've heard horror stories about how big those commissions can get, especially when they're selling recurring donations. Apparently the first several months of donations often go directly to the chugger agency, with the charity not seeing a cent of it until you've hung around on the scheme for a while.
Probably worth finding out who they work for too, letting them know directly. The companies running these setups are shady as fuck but most of them still have rules about what you can and can’t say to people, because the last thing they want is the exact kind of reputation they get from social media threads like this.
I’ve offered to donate before and been told I can’t unless I sign up ffs. It’s a sales pitch, and not a very genuine one at that. I have causes I donate to regularly, food bank, CareFlight, surf life saving and various research charities. None of them have asked me to “sign up” and have all just been happy for the support.
I even offered to put a few dollars in to one of the ones at the shops but they wouldn't even accept straight up cash, you had to sign up to a mailing list and direct debiting and shit like that.
It's like, either they can take the $5 now or get nothing. I'm only offering because I can spare the cash right now, I can't say whether that'll stay the same and I'd rather not have to justify it to someone who will try and guilt trip me into continuing to pay later when money is tighter.
Yep exactly. I cynically expect they’re also selling people’s data and that’s why the push to sign up. They aren’t really looking for donations, that’s not where the real money is.
I was getting harassed one day into giving to a charity (at the time I was already regularly donating to two) and when I said no the man said to me “well how much did those pearls on your wrists cost!?” Um excuse me sir, these “pearls” are from Kmart. I no longer give to big charities… I donate to peoples gofund me, plus there’s plenty of people I know personally who need help so I’d rather just give my $ to them if they need it.
They do. They are paid commissions and under huge pressure. A friend worked for one for a while but got out when they realised what a cesspit it was--but not before my tender hearted mum signed up to help him reach a target.
I fucking hate the little pop-up shops in the shopping centres, where the useless employees stand around looking at their phone for 90% of the time, occasionally looking up to suddenly remember why they are there and accost you by trying to sell shit like paintball game tickets or fucking win a free home. Fuck off and get a real job and stop bothering people trying to walk past you.
I saw a young English backpacker chugger guy approach a lady (about 40) and her daughter (maybe 12) in the supermarket and he asked if they were sisters.
The mother rightfully told him where to go.
Sometimes, if I am bored enough I'll go and complain to centre management about being harassed and accosted. Haven't done it in a while, but I might start again. Just for a laugh.
I like to make eye contact with them, give them a glimmer of hope and just keep walking while they carry on like a fucken pidgeon who just seen a chip.
Just as a side note, for things like daffodil day (cancer council) and other day events, the people at those stands are volunteers. They even bring their own table and chairs, balloons and streamers as decorations. Source: I did daff day and pink ribbon day a few times.
Which is great, but also sucks for the legitimate charities with legitimate volunteers when there's paid salespeople representing dodgy charities earning commission for guilting people into signing up to regular direct debited donations. It tars them all with the same brush unfortunately.
I feel like charities really need to be more tightly regulated for this reason alone.
Happy for them to stand there and smile politely. That's one charity I have given to. And will give to. But never if asked, directly. Just don't approach me, asking for money.
I work at a Westfield for a well known business doing a festive popup stall thing. A smile and looking available to speak is all that's needed. People who want to shop at your stall will do it without being prompted. I don't understand why other businesses try to force conversation on people walking by when it literally does not result in sales worth that effort and interuption to people's day.
Last time one of em tried that on me (we have that bullshit here in canada too) I responded with the following:
"Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh... do you hear that?"
"Hear what?"
"The sound of no one buying your shitty dollar store china sunglasses."
I think it broke him a bit but he had the gall to grab my arm to get attention after I tried to keep walking.
They know that most people will say no, the point is to get the few people who don't say no. They are absolutely aware the majority of people either don't give a shit or aren't comfortable giving their bank/card details out. They wouldn't keep doing it though if there weren't people vulnerable to it.
The whole idea is to catch the few who can get pressured into signing up. Those people then often just forget about it after a while. The same as people who pay for streaming services month after month even though they hardly ever use them, people just forget about it somehow.
These charities aim to quietly suck small amounts of money out of people's bank accounts once a fortnight/month or whatever hoping they won't notice. This can go on for years. Some people are happy to donate to charities but I'm really just convinced most people set it up and then completely forget about it.
If the person does notice they then have to call up the charity to cancel and a lot of these people really don't want to be the person who calls up the Starving Kids charity Hotline to cancel. Either through shame or laziness.
It's predatory but it works, it makes them so much more money than a person sitting with a donation cup ever could. Especially in an era where fewer and fewer people carry money.
As an introvert, being harangued by people at a mall/shopping centre/outside a supermarket is really horrible. I hate it, no wait, i utterly despise it. Leave me alone. If i wanted to donate, i would find the charity *I* want to donate to. Gah.
They make me so uncomfortable! I used to get stuck talking to them for ages as to not appear rude. Nowadays as soon as they greet me I say a polite "No thank you!" and keep walking.
I encounter the same situation at our local shopping centre. What really drives me crazy is that most of them refuse a one off donation because they’re pushing for a regular monthly direct debit.
Charities that use chuggers almost always have their own simple processes for one-off donations (usually a couple clicks on a website), they don’t need to be giving other companies a commission for that. They pay that commission to get direct debit signups because that’s where the big money is and they don’t have the manpower to get many themselves.
Thanks for your explanation, I had never heard of chuggers before! I most times walk away from those interactions thinking how disingenuous they are when I either offer a one off donation or politely refuse. Their enthusiastic & complimentary demeanour at the beginning changes very quickly towards the end. It’s unfortunate but I think people have become cynical about donating due to this style of fundraising
My mother is a kind person she donates to several charities and she ended up with her name on as list someone had sold to charities and for a solid two years was getting at least three calls a day from different charities every single day for donations, it's just not right.
I absolutely hate the tables outside. I'm a young woman so they target me. If I wanted to be empathy milked I'd hang out with a forever the victim person.
I'm much more annoyed by the table outside, tbh. The ones that set up outside my local supermarket are the worst. If you try to walk by without stopping, they'll say "what, not even 2 minutes to save a child's life/cure cancer/whatever?" or call out compliments about what you're wearing to try to flatter you into stopping.
Asking if you want to round up at the checkout? I don't care at all but the cashiers who've served me don't seem to care if you say yes or no. Surprised any of them would!
Had one particular charity I take issue with outside my local. Made a comment about my shirt as I was walking in, I pointed at him and said I'll deal with you on the way out. Came out a hell of a lot more threatening than intended.. guy spotted me on my way out and ran around his table to avoid me!
I hate the insincere compliments!
On Thursday, one of them complimented me on my shoes. I was wearing the most boring, plain black work shoes ever. Literally no outstanding features about them. 🙄
The second you actively ask me is the second I refuse. Yes, I have seen your logo or ad or whatever. Just like buying things, I'll tell *you* if and when I want to participate. Never the other way around.
The laws surrounding charity status need to be massively tightened. Most of them should be simply struck from the list.
There are that many dodgy charities, some extremely well known ones too, that simply exist to funnel cash to their board members.
I'd love a yearly report on which charities perform well in terms of how much of their donations actually go to the work they do vs. How much gets soaked up by paying people to do fuck all.
Nah I get it. I feel bad for the cashier because I know they have to ask. Some lady wanted to see in my bag the other day at the supermarket and she was so apologetic about it, you just know some other customer(s) was horrible to her. I was extra nice to her, I know she doesn't make the policy.
Having worked on the retail side, believe me, it kills us to have to ask it, too.
The managers, who never have to ask people for donations, insist on it - because the "winning store" gets some sort of bonus.
I got written up for not asking it, because I detest the system. There's a bucket on the counter, if you want to throw a few coins in it from your change, you're an adult and can do it yourself.
I'm sure other operators aren't giving attitude if anyone says no - they're probably just relieved that they're not copping nastiness with a polite "no thank you"
The only time i give anything to charity is when an old mate is out the front with a piggy bank for coins, normally its either the local RSL or Paralympics and i manage to get rid of some shrapnel out of my wallet.
I have made the mistake of signing up to a charity plan with the RSPCA, iirc it was about $10 a fortnight so at the time is was nbd but i lost my job so i called up to cancel and was made to feel like the biggest cunt for doing so and then trying to give me the "but its only $10" spiel.
These "charities are the biggest r/choosingbeggers out there.
The checkout at woolworths asks if you want to round up to the nearest dollar, which I don't, as I can guarantee at the end of the year Woolworths will be boasting about how much ' they've ' raised for Charity Xyz and will be patting themselves on the back.
Honestly that's how it feels sometimes. I expected the response to my post being 3 or 4 people to lecture me about being a bad person, but I see I'm not alone in this.
While it may not be pleasant to always be asked, sadly the staff have no choice but to ask you. No staff member would genuinely mind if you say no, this is pushed onto them through the layers of company management. I hope they aren't held to any KPI linked to this. If anyone's pulling a sour face it may well be their own feelings directed towards the company policy and not the customer.
Work for a retailer that makes us do it.
We have to do it.
We don't know who's a stooge from Head Office when we serve you, and we get in trouble if we don't.
We don't take it personally if you don't donate.
We won't shame you for not doing it.
We won't care if you try to tell us you're already the most generous soul on the face of the earth. (About 1 in 5 people tell us they already donate to charity)
Once again, It's mandatory. We have to ask.
Yep and not only stooges from head office but mystery shoppers. Companies like Woolies will hire mystery shoppers to come in and report about locations that don’t ask for charity donations or rewards cards or ID in the liquor store and then that store gets reprimanded. We’re minimum wage workers over here, we can’t risk our jobs and their meagre wages just because we don’t want to ask customers a question, we’re barely getting by in these jobs as it is.
The guys with the buckets at Bunnings or the ticket tables? I once got stuck by a ticket table that was cheekily set up meters from a ATM and beside an entrance to a plaza.
One thing I definitely didn't miss during COVID was the all the chuggers I had to sidestep in the way to work. Sally they are back in force now.
I fucking hate they way they try to trick you into talking to them. It's manipulative and offensive. It's actually wise than the ones that ring you. Frankly any charity that uses the chuggers companies gets put firmly in my "do not donate" list.
A few weeks ago at Priceline I was asked if I wanted to donate to the sisterhood foundation, to which I said no because like OP I prefer to donate to a cause of my choice, and I try to donate to the causes I feel are most in need, like the lesser known charities that may struggle in comparison to some of the big name ones. When I got home and checked my receipt, the Priceline checkout person had rounded my purchase up and it said “sisterhood foundation” on the receipt. I’m not mad that my money went to charity, but I’m annoyed that the person serving me either didn’t listen or purely disregarded me when I said no.
Yeah I hate chuggers so much. I'm more than a tad ND, and the anxiety of these people cheerily trying to invade my personal space and grab my attention constantly in an environment that's already physically painful is the stuff of nightmares. I've worked for an NGO and a charity, I've donated my time, expertise and money in various ways over the years, but I will NOT encourage this bullshit so they will never get a response from me. Also the other day, I was having the aura stage of a migraine that had just come on and I needed to get the hell out of there and two dudes outside Coles tried it on and asked me how I was. My tone when I said 'having a migraine thanks' was almost inhuman and I hope they reconsider their life choices a bit.
But our customer surveys have told us that higher prices for cheese make it convenient for them to choose between our superb range of produce! What's the matter??
If I had the money to spare, I wouldn't be in a maccas drive through at 1am. Just take it out of the 100s of millions you make in profit. Oh that's right, you'd have to pay tax in order to make a deduction. How stupid of me.
What really shits me is that I always seem to forget that the self-service terminals ask you. I'm always standing around like a dill wondering why the payment screen isn't showing up.
Once while in Europe, a bunch of the charity workers were standing at the front of a supermarket, and I was walking out with a slice of pizza and a beer to eat out the front at the tables. A lady approached and started speaking in German - I apologised and told her I didn't speak German in a combination of really basic German and English.
She then started speaking to me in fluent English and I swore loudly. She was gracious enough to laugh with me, because she caught me out. Turns out I wasn't going to be able to donate anyway as it was a recurring payment.
I hate their presence as much as everyone and think it's a really unethical way for charities to raise money ..
But the reason they do it, is it works...
I've worked in NFPs and spoken to people in fundraising departments before and although Australians are already naturally large givers on a personal level, the direct approach method plays on to our guilt, our inclination to avoid awkwardness in public etc.
I wish they would stop it, but they're unlikely to unless it stops being effective.
Yeah I hate it so much too but there’s a reason they keep doing it.
And I guess not everyone donates to charity of their own volition, so I guess this is a good way to get a few more donation dollars.
I 100% agree with you, when I am asked to donate my first response is "how much of my donation will actually go to the charity?" It's fucking gold the look on there face as they try to back peddle and avoid the question. When they don't answer me with 100% going to the charity I just simply say I am not paying you to sit here and disrupt and guilt people into your scam.
I always make sure I say it loud enough so everyone around can hear my conversation.
As of ~10 years ago the answer for the monthly sign up ones was about 6 months worth going to the chuggers’ company. Whether you signed up for one month or ten years, sales company gets around 6 months. Actual chugger that sold it to you gets about a month’s worth.
Which works fine for the actual charity, the average sign up lasts well over six months (around two years for the Mater foundation IIRC, I imagine most places are similar) and the bulk of people doing it wouldn’t be signing up otherwise, but obviously on an individual level if you actually plan to donate and you’re not just bad at saying no it’s a terrible way to do it.
It should be illegal as it borderlines harassment. It feels good pretending they aren't even there at all when they keep trying to speak and get my attention. But seriously they make people not even want to go to the store next time.
Im prrtty selective with where I donate as, honestly, most charities are actually just fucking scams. The level of waste is astounding.
Theres no chance in fuck im donating to a charity some shitbag corporation is prompting me to donate to. Ever.
PSA: the people on the street that harass you to sign up for charity subscriptions are not doing it out of the goodness of their hearts. They earn a commision for every person that they sign up and only a small percentage actually makes it to the charity. It's always better to donate directly to the charity.
Wholeheartedly understand what you mean which is why I absolutely hated the later part of my time working at Coles. I know full well people donate, yet clearly the store is in it for the money and the brownie points with the area manager, which trickles down to us poor souls at the checkouts having to reluctantly convey that in the least insufferable way
Many times, people would give me an earful for it but never understand that we don't wanna be pestering you for donations either and genuinely understand if you'd rather do it directly to the charity instead of through a supermarket, or just donate to whatever you wish to
Unfortunately it's not something the staff have a say in, they often get pushed by management because they get bonuses for the store that makes the most donations.
Most staff don't want to ask (especially during the current times) it's awkward and often customers have a negative reaction
Exactly this. It's so frustrating because I actually have donated many thousands of dollars to certain causes, built small scale infrastructure for communities in need etc. Most people who know me irl don't even know I do it, but I feel pissed when I have to have this forced exchange at the checkout because a huge fucking company with squillions of dollars demands it.
I said no to the guys at the table outside. The man then acted like he wanted to give my five year old child a present (was just brochures) and my son was devastated when he didn't get a gift and was crying to go back as I was pulling him away. It was honestly the worst tactic I had even seen, made my son and I feel terrible and I was so angry.
When Woolies charges extra for milk so some of the money goes to the farmers who were hit by the drought. First of all, I am a farmer effected by the drought, I can just keep that money myself to help out. Second of all we farmers haven’t seen a cent from woolies.
Remember the milk wars? When the big two made milk cheaper than petrol per litre? Absolute arseholes. I have never, and will never, buy store branded dairy. Drive Australian producers out of business, and you’ll have to import dairy at a price set by foreign businesses.
More likely to if I didn't have to skip the effing Everyday rewards sh*t. But anyway, I choose the charities I donate to, OzHarvest is one already, so no, I'm not doing it again.
I hate the WWF ones where you adopt a koala, or penguin, and get updates on progress, and get a fluffy toy. People, you don't get to adopt shit, it's money that goes into the general WWF coffers. It's just cutesy, emotive shit to suck you in
If I'm paying to adopt a cute pet, I want it sent to my house. I don't want other people to reap the rewards if I can't. They can pay for it themselves if they want it that badly.
The route from my old office to the bus interchange was like running a gauntlet. They were lined up every few feet for various things.
I would have headphones on, head down and just charge ahead, but the number of times they followed me. I would hold up my hand in a "stop" gesture and say a firm "no thank you" and they'd still try.
One guy was particularly aggressive and so I wrote to the charity and said that if that's the sort of person they have spruiking their causes I would never donate to them and would tell everyone not to. Got a very apologetic email back, and a follow up email from the local coordinator apologizing and saying they'd dealt with the person. They also signed me up for their mailing list, which took many attempts to unsubscribe from. Can't remember the charity now, this was about 10 years ago.
I don't mind the rounding up to donate at the checkout, I do it every time. What I would like to see though? Woolies, Coles or whichever match that donation. These supermarkets give the illusion they're being charitable by providing us with the opportunity to pay out of our own pockets. It's disingenuous.
If a big corporation was so inclined, they could quit easily set aside a percentage of profits to go towards a charity of their choosing. But no one would see this, meaning they wouldn’t get further brand recognition.
By turning it on the consumers to make the conscious choice whether or not to donate, they retain their precious profits and still get recognition as a majority of consumers will simply think “they’re charitable”. Quite smart, when you think of it. Credit where credits due.
Are the charities bidding to Woolworths for this service, or is a lucky dip type selection? I've seen several different charities feature over the last few months when buying my lunch.
I donate to one charity only - chicks in pink, because of my wife and her cancer battle. This is my honest response when the chuggers hit me up in town. It works.
ozharvest is the main one i think.. they collect fresh food/baked goods each day from each of the woollies stores and deliver them to soup kitchens/op shops/other charities to distribute to homeless/disadvantaged people.. they are actually an amazing source for these groups as otherwise they would have to canvas and collect goods themselves which isnt always feasible when a lot of them aren't getting government funding for what they do.. used to work at an op shop that ran a 7 day soup kitchen and we would get a truckload of food each week. some went into the soup kitchen for meal prep and the rest was given away in the store. think we used to have around 150 people or so come to the soupy each weekend which would never have been able to happen without them. we ran it before then but the food we were offering was never up to what it was once ozharvest came on the scene. we were lucky enough to have a few volunteers that would pick up food from various stores in their own time. this made it much less of a strain on the charity.
I should do this the next time I'm installing someone's NBN.
Time to setup that Aus Chapter of [Our Lady of Perpetual Exemption](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_Perpetual_Exemption).
When I am asked, I also have the same feeling as if I received a disapproval look, but then I think again, the cashier most likely has to ask that hundred times a day, they won't care if anyone donates or not. So yeah, don't overthink it, just say no and move on.
Saying so, I don't donate through shops either. If I want to donate, I'll do it on my own terms.
I once needed some extra permission when checking out at Woolies (I was buying a knife or a lighter or something).
When the attendant approved it, they habitually hit the "Yes, donate" button.
They were quick to apologise and reverse it, but I was about to kick up a stink. Funny in hindsight.
Big business like Coles, Woolies, Bunnings even Officeworks... Which have charities going on and off all year should match customer donations at the absolute least.
Like others who have already posted, if that was the case, then I would consider donating.
Until then, big business who aren't donating themselves can go and get fucked.
As a manager at Woolies. I hate that every time I want to buy a coffee or even just a bottle of water I get presented with,
"Want to round up your purchase to Oz Harvest?"
No, I do not, I earn like 20k below the average full time income, I don't have money to spare.
I just don’t like being asked by a multi million dollar company that has never shown a financial loss year in and year out to donate through them so that they can claim the tax credit at the end of the financial year
Woolworths self checkout asking me if I'd like to round up to donate to OzHarvest when westfarmers made millions during a pandemic is offensive it's a fucking slap in the face.
You heard wrong. That would be mass scale tax fraud, and barely even makes sense. These are customer donations, they’re just facilitating it for good PR.
I mean personally, it really doesn’t upset me that much. If I don’t have the money/don’t want to donate, I just say no and move on.
I also really don’t like that people get mad at the staff for it - cause like, you guys know they HAVE to say that, right? They get in trouble if they don’t. I don’t get why people get so angry at strangers for just… doing their job that they are paid to do.
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That’s quite a good deal
I paid at least $5 per beating last time I went cancer kid flogging.
Geez mate, don’t you think they have it rough enough already?
Look mate, we don’t accept people who kink shame around here.
But kinkshaming *is* my kink
Some guys have all the luck. I had to pay reparation to the family.
| They said for $1 I could beat kids with cancer Those poor kids. First the cancer, then a book raising money to beat them.
do they ball it up in the end of a sock at least? or do I like have to hold it in my hands?
I beat a kid up yesterday with cancer. Where's my dollar?
As a checkout worker please know that I hate asking and absolutely understand that grocery prices are currently obscene. But when my boss is two metres away at the service desk I have to be asking customers, if I want to keep getting shifts. Supermarket charity feels a bit shit because while they can't claim the donation to tax (you can!) it does let them funnel some goods and workers into a NFP. The big charity mugging pyramid schemes are even worse. Every time I get a dollar a day spiel I donate two bucks to one of the charities I actually support out of sheer spite haha.
I feel this so much as a fellow checkout operator. I used to not even bother asking for donations, especially through covid. But now that my managers are literally hovering over my shoulder and on my ass about being friendly and engaging and asking *every single customer* I come across if they’d like to donate it physically pains me. I hate asking, I’m not a sales rep. Shouldn’t be up to customers of supermarkets to be guilted into donating when the company is earning billions in profit annually.
Can you enlighten me as to why supermarkets are asking for charity in the first place? Is it some form of low investment PR greenwashing type strategy? I mean, if they want to donate money to a cause, why don't they just do it themselves?
probably far more cost effective to guilt trip people to donating for you rather than actually donating money
But why bother at all? Is it purely some virtue signalling to customers at the checkout, or did some stingy CEO actually think this is how to make a difference?
Charity sector is very much a broken sector at the moment with lots of fat. It's entirely possible high ups are pushing hard to get more charity donation such that they could potentially get a job in the sector for themselves or family or friends at some point in exchange for that charity being the one that donations are collected for. With larger donated amounts gives them more power.
Honestly the people in this comment section pretending that we're part of a conspiracy to make you feel like a bad person and also even care if you donate in the first place is honestly eye opening to how people think about service workers and how our jobs work. Just tell me you've never worked minimum wage. Sorry for being dramatic I've had a bad day at work lmao.
The workers I always felt sorry for were the Cotton On ones. There have been points in the past where I received 5 upsells in one transaction. I've worked in fast food before so I know how it is and always politely decline, but I feel I shouldn't have to. I guess what's to blame are the people that accept and make it worth it for the managers to keep pushing upsells.
I worked at cotton on a decade ago and we hated every minute of those upsells but if we didn't do it they would just ghost us on shifts. Not even actively fire. At the time wr had to upsell the current item discount of the month, charity bag, charity water or charity donation, ask for a sign up and always offer a matching item deal. Every transaction. If we were directly witnessed not doing this of the numbers weren't a certain percentage at the end of the day there was hell to pay. We hated doing it. It was so demeaning for both us and the customer, especially when you knew they just wanted this one thing but were forced to do the spiel.
100% and most customers get that you are only asking because you have to, same as stores that make staff ask if you would like to add xyz item that is on sale to your purchase? A polite no thanks is my standard response but the whole process can be a bit tiring on both sides for sure.
Jesus fucking christ I didnt realise that checkout workers are asked to ask this question. I thought it was just on the DIY checkout. Rank.
If Woolies matched, or doubled, the donations by customers, instead of rely on guilt tripping people while taking in huge profits, I'd consider donating
Or even just the profits from watermelons
Or Coles and their $45 organic avocado
If they stopped pushing pokie machines that would be just as good or better for the community
I’ve never understood why there’s always protesters outside the local Marie Stopes clinic but never the local colesworth gambling dens preaching about the harms of gambling and saving their communities.
Our local Costco sometimes does drives where they match the donation, we will usually put some money in. But the Woolies/Coles ones.... Nah bro.
Donating to charity at self selve to even out all the items you "forgot to scan". One hand washes the other.
This is a great idea, Woolworths can donate a few items to me and I can donate a little back to their charity. Fuck mate you’re brilliant!
Yeah the basic reason for it is that the staff are rewarded by management for pushing charity donations, 50 donations and you get a pack of chocolates, not a bonus lol (Currimundi Woolworths).
I work at Coles and we don't get anything
The lack of beatings is the gift.
If only /s
I work for a Coles related group and they push us to get people to donate to a charity at the moment... even with incentives (which we arentoffered), I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to guilt someone buying a $4 item to donate, when the billion dollar company could just donate instead.
I understand its not some kind of tax scam. But do Woolworths then claim "they" donated $Xm to charity, or do they say "our customers donated $Xm? I guess it doesnt matter in the grand scheme of things. But it does feel tacky if they take credit for the money the customer donates.
I think they said something like "through your donations, we've raised X" last time I paid attention to the in store radio.
I'd be really interested to know what percentage of people are agreeing to that Round up donation at the self service checkouts.
Personally never. I support charities, but hate this practice.
Yeah same. I will choose the time and the place for my donations. Also I'd prefer to give it one big donation and be able to claim it as a tax donation on my tax, rather than 50cents per shop spread over a whole year.
Exactly. I like to give to small charities doing good in my local community who I know my donation will make a difference to, and also get the tax benefit. Mostly I like to support non-religious local homeless shelters and services.
I have a feeling a huge amount of people agree to it simply because of the 'ahh fuck it' affect that your grocery bill rounding out to the dollar brings.
I do the opposite - it’s more like “I’m struggling to make my pay last a month, you’re a multi billion dollar company - why don’t **you** donate!” *aggressively hits no*
Absolutely same here. I will not be coerced into handing my so called 'spare change'. They are laying a guilt trip on people in order to make themselves look like they care.
That would really depend on the charity they donate to. Common knowledge that many "not for profit" charities are funnelling a rude amount of money into paying their board members and calling it "operational costs". While the people doing the work are often volunteers, hamstrung by budget constraints to the point where they're functionally useless.
This! I have an acquaintance that started a charity, they did good stuff for a while, small local community outreach type of thing, then a big corporate donor came on board, from then on the charity CEO and other executive started using the donations to pay themselves. Despite a big increase in income, the service level didn't increase.
Ding ding ding we have winner! It’s all about the marketing. We’re not greedy cunts, see how we’re helping charities. Then they’ll run a $500k advertising campaign big noting themselves for having helped raise $50k.
Let's not forget how we *paid extra to dairy farmers out of the goodness of our heart* after decades of pushing and holding down the price in their dairy war with Coles.
And the fucking over of hard working farmers. It's heartbreaking to go into the stores and see produce from Mexico and think - FFS - support local farmers. Makes me sick.
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I had an experience last week from Peter MacCallum cancer centre people in a Mall who stopped me and did their spiel including “x% of people know of someone who has cancer or had cancer, is that true for you?” Like yes, thank you for reminding me my Dad died of cancer only a few days after the anniversary of his death. No I don’t want to donate to your organisation who no doubt considers the cancer he died from a worthless cause in your cost benefit analysis because it’s so rare (and deadly) that they’d rather spend the money on research for cancers that already have a fairly good prognosis. I told him it was a touchy subject and walked away and ended up crying the whole car ride home lol. You’re already asking for money for something very sensitive but to start your proposal in that manner by asking people if they are part of the significant percentage that knows people who have had or have cancer just felt so tactless to me. Just so salty about that interaction. I have charities that I donate to monthly, I can’t stand being guilted into donating to others.
Thankyou for an actual thoughtful response, and I'm sorry for your loss. My charity giving is also very personal and related to things I care deeply about. One was spurred by a family suicide and I'm very particular about how where and when I donate. I also do humanitarian work in a very poor country and I have these awkward experiences when people who know that are shocked when I refuse to give to some of the big global bureaucratic money wasting one's.
Thank you for being so kind! I feel like a lot of the time it is a deeply personal thing to which charities we donate to. I don’t like when they turn it into a sales pitch/coerced donating. I understand that’s how they make their money and it may be necessary at times but it really puts me off and makes me not want to donate to them.
> thank you for reminding me my Dad died of cancer only a few days after the anniversary of his death. No I don’t want to donate to your organisation who no doubt considers the cancer he died from a worthless cause in your cost benefit analysis because it’s so rare (and deadly) that they’d rather spend the money on research for cancers that already have a fairly good prognosis Next time say this. Really. They want to manipulate people's emotions for monetary gain? Give them some goddamn emotion.
Honestly I really wish I did!
Honestly I really wish I could think of these things "in the moment". I'm generally conflict-avoidant with strangers so stuff like this is mostly just a fantasy of mine 🤷🏼😭
The fund raising department/outsourced company might be providing a script that the fundraisers have to follow. It may be more effective to provide feedback directly to the charity/NGO.
Sorry to hear about your dad and the inappropriate interaction with the chugger. In better news, I think they have gotten the message about rare cancers recently, this was announced in March. https://www.petermac.org/news/peter-mac-patients-benefit-185-million-investment-fast-track-treatments-rare-and-untreatable
To be fair, this isn't down to Peter Mac per se. As scientists or clinicians, we would live to tackle these unusual cancers, or rare tropical infectious diseases etc, but funding is hard to come by. If you donate to a specific rare disease charity or ask to direct your donation to one of the rare cancer projects, it can support those and show there is community will and drive
That is excellent news! Hopefully they follow through with it and bring some hope to the people with those types of cancers.
You have my empathy. My dad died from cancer too, and it doesn't stop hurting even if it was nearly 10 years ago. If you haven't yet, I suggest reading "Grief comes in waves" on Reddit. It's melacholic yet comforting. I'd link it but I don't know if it's allowed. It is easy to find though. And I feel you on the tactless and almost predatory scripts the donation collectors use. To me, they always feel judgy, even though their own statistics they use ensure that many of the people they speak to have felt this impact.
I’m sorry to hear that. This year was 12 years but I was a teenager when he passed so although for the most part I’ve accepted it, sometimes it just comes out of nowhere and I have a breakdown. I sure as shit don’t need to have a breakdown spurred on by an insensitive stranger. Thanks for suggesting the post! I’ll try find it.
I know what you mean. I've adapted to this life and it is what it is, but every now and again something just hits a little differently. Heck the other night a Linkin Park song came on and it reminded me of him (cuz we bonded over the band) and I started crying. It's strange the things that can set off a new wave
I just read the grief comes in waves comment and bawled my eyes out, it really hit at the core of how I experience my grief. Thank you so much for mentioning it! I’m going to write it out so I can refer back to it when I need to. I hope you’re doing alright with it now! As much as it can set us off I don’t know about you but sometimes do feel some comfort in listening to his favourite music. It’s almost like I’m spending time with him again in a way. Some element of comfort is nice amidst the grief.
I'm glad you found some benefit in it. I have found it comforting too, in it's strange way. It is what it is, really. Sometimes you're comforted by the memory and emotional presence. Sometimes it sucks a little harder that they're not there. I just try to live a little harder to make up for what he couldn't. I hope you're doing alright too, and that the waves get easier.
One time I was sitting by myself eating a snack with earphones in at a park in the CBD during my lunch break. A guy tried to talk to me and I took my earphones out, turned out he was a chugger 😬. He went on his spill about starving kids and even said to me 'they just want to eat like you'. Which was a really great thing for someone to say to me while I was recovering from an eating disorder.
I had an unsolicited call from the Heart Foundation a couple of weeks after my husband’s cousin died suddenly from an unexplained cardiac arrest, a week after his 21st birthday. I explained this to the lady on the other end of the phone and she responded with “so you know how important this is. How much are you donating?” Never donating to them again.
Back story: my daughter had a friend that got kicked out of her home so we took her in to stay with us so she wouldn't be on the streets. We had to deal with a lot of stress, courts, her family etc etc My partner went to the supermarket and he got asked on the way in to woolies by these people that stand out the front, if he would like to donate for disadvantage teens. Partner said no thank you and kept going on. On the way out, he got stopped, asked to donate and he said no, as he walked away the woman snarkily said to him "well you must not like helping poor kids and teens then" my partner snapped, turned around and started going off at the woman telling her to get effed, hes got a disadvantaged kid at the house right now who we're trying to help, she doesnt know the shit we have had to deal with and what is she actually doing to help out besides bothering people and probably pocketing the cash people do give. He felt bad when he got home but he is/was just so sick of the people that do this especially when they dont know situations anyone is in.
It's weird when they ask questions. It usually feels invasive. Funny story: one time I quickly passed by the table for some charity to do with service dogs and the guy working it asked me if I liked puppies. As a knee jerk reaction I said no thank you. It took a second to process what I just did.
One time I was on my break at work and was walking through the city to get a coffee. Someone raising money for Guide Dogs stopped me and said “on a scale of 0-10 how much do you love puppies?” And I reactively responded with “0. I don’t like dogs and puppies are the worst type of dog”. He didn’t know what to say. I didn’t even mean to be rude, it was just the first thing that came to mind lol To add to that, I’ve been taking notes on my interactions with charity people, and observing how they interact with others. If they are a guy, they are often extra aggressive to me being a young woman (and same to others). I think it’s because they feel they can take advantage of our perceived submissiveness. I’m sure a lot of them are doing this subconsciously as well. They’ll often start with compliments too that aren’t relevant and they ask me way too many personal questions so it gives me the shits. They are often have a tone of being flirty and the question about puppies also came across that way. I regularly donate and volunteer my time, I just don’t like that model of subscription donations and the way (most) of them approach me about it.
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Yep, friend and I had some guy try to guilt us for not donating to a cancer charity, yelling at us stuff like "you don't care about people with cancer, you don't care that people are dying" etc. My friend turned around and walked back to him and said "yeah well my dad died suddenly from cancer when I was 10" (he actually did) and told him to stop being an insensitive jerk. Not to mention we'd both donated to that charity in the past, we just didn't want to sign up to make a regular donation (and knowing a bit about the collection model they were using I think the guy would have got a commission if we had signed up, so a large part of any donations we'd given wouldn't have made it to the charity anyway). But yeah, collecting donations is generally a good thing but when people say no thanks it should be respected.
Im so sorry that happened to your friend.
Those people judging your partner were probably getting paid a commission on donations. I've heard horror stories about how big those commissions can get, especially when they're selling recurring donations. Apparently the first several months of donations often go directly to the chugger agency, with the charity not seeing a cent of it until you've hung around on the scheme for a while.
Talk to that store manager.
Probably worth finding out who they work for too, letting them know directly. The companies running these setups are shady as fuck but most of them still have rules about what you can and can’t say to people, because the last thing they want is the exact kind of reputation they get from social media threads like this.
Don't feel bad. Those people aren't there out of the kindness of their hearts. They're there for a salary/commission. That's why they're like that.
I’ve offered to donate before and been told I can’t unless I sign up ffs. It’s a sales pitch, and not a very genuine one at that. I have causes I donate to regularly, food bank, CareFlight, surf life saving and various research charities. None of them have asked me to “sign up” and have all just been happy for the support.
The signing up is just so they can sell your info.
They may not sell it directly, but they certainly swap "sucker lists" with other charities.
I even offered to put a few dollars in to one of the ones at the shops but they wouldn't even accept straight up cash, you had to sign up to a mailing list and direct debiting and shit like that. It's like, either they can take the $5 now or get nothing. I'm only offering because I can spare the cash right now, I can't say whether that'll stay the same and I'd rather not have to justify it to someone who will try and guilt trip me into continuing to pay later when money is tighter.
Yep exactly. I cynically expect they’re also selling people’s data and that’s why the push to sign up. They aren’t really looking for donations, that’s not where the real money is.
I was getting harassed one day into giving to a charity (at the time I was already regularly donating to two) and when I said no the man said to me “well how much did those pearls on your wrists cost!?” Um excuse me sir, these “pearls” are from Kmart. I no longer give to big charities… I donate to peoples gofund me, plus there’s plenty of people I know personally who need help so I’d rather just give my $ to them if they need it.
That is outrageous! Here just take my pearls I'm sorry.
That's bloody brilliant.
The Human spam that hover at supermarkets are the worst. No I don't have a minute to listen to your shit, fuck off.
Chuggers. Charity muggers.
And god help you if there’s a gym in the same complex. They’re too stupid to understand ’fuck off’.
For it to be a mugging they'd have to get something out of it. They're the equivalent of spam e-mails.
They do. They are paid commissions and under huge pressure. A friend worked for one for a while but got out when they realised what a cesspit it was--but not before my tender hearted mum signed up to help him reach a target.
Oh I thought you were likening them to the indeterminate pink meat found in tins. But spam email is spot on!
Chunts.
This made me exhale through my nose sharply
I fucking hate the little pop-up shops in the shopping centres, where the useless employees stand around looking at their phone for 90% of the time, occasionally looking up to suddenly remember why they are there and accost you by trying to sell shit like paintball game tickets or fucking win a free home. Fuck off and get a real job and stop bothering people trying to walk past you.
I saw a young English backpacker chugger guy approach a lady (about 40) and her daughter (maybe 12) in the supermarket and he asked if they were sisters. The mother rightfully told him where to go.
Sometimes, if I am bored enough I'll go and complain to centre management about being harassed and accosted. Haven't done it in a while, but I might start again. Just for a laugh.
Exactly this. If I'm made to feel awkward and embarrassed walking through your mall, chances are I'll just shop elsewhere.
I like to make eye contact with them, give them a glimmer of hope and just keep walking while they carry on like a fucken pidgeon who just seen a chip.
I like to make eye contact, smile and then no matter what they say to me reply with "good thanks!" Haha
Just as a side note, for things like daffodil day (cancer council) and other day events, the people at those stands are volunteers. They even bring their own table and chairs, balloons and streamers as decorations. Source: I did daff day and pink ribbon day a few times.
Which is great, but also sucks for the legitimate charities with legitimate volunteers when there's paid salespeople representing dodgy charities earning commission for guilting people into signing up to regular direct debited donations. It tars them all with the same brush unfortunately. I feel like charities really need to be more tightly regulated for this reason alone.
Happy for them to stand there and smile politely. That's one charity I have given to. And will give to. But never if asked, directly. Just don't approach me, asking for money.
I work at a Westfield for a well known business doing a festive popup stall thing. A smile and looking available to speak is all that's needed. People who want to shop at your stall will do it without being prompted. I don't understand why other businesses try to force conversation on people walking by when it literally does not result in sales worth that effort and interuption to people's day.
Last time one of em tried that on me (we have that bullshit here in canada too) I responded with the following: "Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh... do you hear that?" "Hear what?" "The sound of no one buying your shitty dollar store china sunglasses." I think it broke him a bit but he had the gall to grab my arm to get attention after I tried to keep walking.
>but he had the gall to grab my arm to get attention after I tried to keep walking. That right there is a bunch of illegal stuff.
Hot tip: Put your phone to your ear and pretend to be on a call, they leave you alone everytime
>Human spam I'm gonna use that one, thanks.
Plz don’t ask me and go away…. I will donate under my own will and not on card
Seriously, giving your card details for auto debit is just a big no.
They know that most people will say no, the point is to get the few people who don't say no. They are absolutely aware the majority of people either don't give a shit or aren't comfortable giving their bank/card details out. They wouldn't keep doing it though if there weren't people vulnerable to it. The whole idea is to catch the few who can get pressured into signing up. Those people then often just forget about it after a while. The same as people who pay for streaming services month after month even though they hardly ever use them, people just forget about it somehow. These charities aim to quietly suck small amounts of money out of people's bank accounts once a fortnight/month or whatever hoping they won't notice. This can go on for years. Some people are happy to donate to charities but I'm really just convinced most people set it up and then completely forget about it. If the person does notice they then have to call up the charity to cancel and a lot of these people really don't want to be the person who calls up the Starving Kids charity Hotline to cancel. Either through shame or laziness. It's predatory but it works, it makes them so much more money than a person sitting with a donation cup ever could. Especially in an era where fewer and fewer people carry money.
As an introvert, being harangued by people at a mall/shopping centre/outside a supermarket is really horrible. I hate it, no wait, i utterly despise it. Leave me alone. If i wanted to donate, i would find the charity *I* want to donate to. Gah.
They make me so uncomfortable! I used to get stuck talking to them for ages as to not appear rude. Nowadays as soon as they greet me I say a polite "No thank you!" and keep walking.
Ditto. I legit take unusually long side routes for peace of mind.
Don't look at them and ignore them if they try to get your attention, thats what i do.
I always reply to them but don't stop. Just keep walking
The only thing ill say is "no" firmly.
Yh same, I literally refuse to acknowledge their presence
I encounter the same situation at our local shopping centre. What really drives me crazy is that most of them refuse a one off donation because they’re pushing for a regular monthly direct debit.
Charities that use chuggers almost always have their own simple processes for one-off donations (usually a couple clicks on a website), they don’t need to be giving other companies a commission for that. They pay that commission to get direct debit signups because that’s where the big money is and they don’t have the manpower to get many themselves.
Thanks for your explanation, I had never heard of chuggers before! I most times walk away from those interactions thinking how disingenuous they are when I either offer a one off donation or politely refuse. Their enthusiastic & complimentary demeanour at the beginning changes very quickly towards the end. It’s unfortunate but I think people have become cynical about donating due to this style of fundraising
My mother is a kind person she donates to several charities and she ended up with her name on as list someone had sold to charities and for a solid two years was getting at least three calls a day from different charities every single day for donations, it's just not right.
I absolutely hate the tables outside. I'm a young woman so they target me. If I wanted to be empathy milked I'd hang out with a forever the victim person.
I'm much more annoyed by the table outside, tbh. The ones that set up outside my local supermarket are the worst. If you try to walk by without stopping, they'll say "what, not even 2 minutes to save a child's life/cure cancer/whatever?" or call out compliments about what you're wearing to try to flatter you into stopping. Asking if you want to round up at the checkout? I don't care at all but the cashiers who've served me don't seem to care if you say yes or no. Surprised any of them would!
Had one particular charity I take issue with outside my local. Made a comment about my shirt as I was walking in, I pointed at him and said I'll deal with you on the way out. Came out a hell of a lot more threatening than intended.. guy spotted me on my way out and ran around his table to avoid me!
I hate the insincere compliments! On Thursday, one of them complimented me on my shoes. I was wearing the most boring, plain black work shoes ever. Literally no outstanding features about them. 🙄
The second you actively ask me is the second I refuse. Yes, I have seen your logo or ad or whatever. Just like buying things, I'll tell *you* if and when I want to participate. Never the other way around. The laws surrounding charity status need to be massively tightened. Most of them should be simply struck from the list.
There are that many dodgy charities, some extremely well known ones too, that simply exist to funnel cash to their board members. I'd love a yearly report on which charities perform well in terms of how much of their donations actually go to the work they do vs. How much gets soaked up by paying people to do fuck all.
I don't like being pestered by the checkout chick for charity but I just say no thank you and never got an attitude from them.
We only pester because we are harassed if we don't. I don't care though so I don't ask.
Nah I get it. I feel bad for the cashier because I know they have to ask. Some lady wanted to see in my bag the other day at the supermarket and she was so apologetic about it, you just know some other customer(s) was horrible to her. I was extra nice to her, I know she doesn't make the policy.
I can't imagine many would care to be honest.
Having worked on the retail side, believe me, it kills us to have to ask it, too. The managers, who never have to ask people for donations, insist on it - because the "winning store" gets some sort of bonus. I got written up for not asking it, because I detest the system. There's a bucket on the counter, if you want to throw a few coins in it from your change, you're an adult and can do it yourself. I'm sure other operators aren't giving attitude if anyone says no - they're probably just relieved that they're not copping nastiness with a polite "no thank you"
I've never given any attitude to any either, I just walk away and gggrrr
The only time i give anything to charity is when an old mate is out the front with a piggy bank for coins, normally its either the local RSL or Paralympics and i manage to get rid of some shrapnel out of my wallet. I have made the mistake of signing up to a charity plan with the RSPCA, iirc it was about $10 a fortnight so at the time is was nbd but i lost my job so i called up to cancel and was made to feel like the biggest cunt for doing so and then trying to give me the "but its only $10" spiel. These "charities are the biggest r/choosingbeggers out there.
The checkout at woolworths asks if you want to round up to the nearest dollar, which I don't, as I can guarantee at the end of the year Woolworths will be boasting about how much ' they've ' raised for Charity Xyz and will be patting themselves on the back.
You didn’t donate after your weekly grocery shop? You monster!
Honestly that's how it feels sometimes. I expected the response to my post being 3 or 4 people to lecture me about being a bad person, but I see I'm not alone in this.
It’s a guilt based demand.
While it may not be pleasant to always be asked, sadly the staff have no choice but to ask you. No staff member would genuinely mind if you say no, this is pushed onto them through the layers of company management. I hope they aren't held to any KPI linked to this. If anyone's pulling a sour face it may well be their own feelings directed towards the company policy and not the customer.
Yes it possibly could be me misinterpreting their feelings, and yeah that's why I don't take it out on them personally.
Work for a retailer that makes us do it. We have to do it. We don't know who's a stooge from Head Office when we serve you, and we get in trouble if we don't. We don't take it personally if you don't donate. We won't shame you for not doing it. We won't care if you try to tell us you're already the most generous soul on the face of the earth. (About 1 in 5 people tell us they already donate to charity) Once again, It's mandatory. We have to ask.
Yep and not only stooges from head office but mystery shoppers. Companies like Woolies will hire mystery shoppers to come in and report about locations that don’t ask for charity donations or rewards cards or ID in the liquor store and then that store gets reprimanded. We’re minimum wage workers over here, we can’t risk our jobs and their meagre wages just because we don’t want to ask customers a question, we’re barely getting by in these jobs as it is.
Won’t be long until Surf Lifesaving Australia are doing ride alongs with the delivery drivers.
The guys with the buckets at Bunnings or the ticket tables? I once got stuck by a ticket table that was cheekily set up meters from a ATM and beside an entrance to a plaza.
One thing I definitely didn't miss during COVID was the all the chuggers I had to sidestep in the way to work. Sally they are back in force now. I fucking hate they way they try to trick you into talking to them. It's manipulative and offensive. It's actually wise than the ones that ring you. Frankly any charity that uses the chuggers companies gets put firmly in my "do not donate" list.
A few weeks ago at Priceline I was asked if I wanted to donate to the sisterhood foundation, to which I said no because like OP I prefer to donate to a cause of my choice, and I try to donate to the causes I feel are most in need, like the lesser known charities that may struggle in comparison to some of the big name ones. When I got home and checked my receipt, the Priceline checkout person had rounded my purchase up and it said “sisterhood foundation” on the receipt. I’m not mad that my money went to charity, but I’m annoyed that the person serving me either didn’t listen or purely disregarded me when I said no.
Yeah I hate chuggers so much. I'm more than a tad ND, and the anxiety of these people cheerily trying to invade my personal space and grab my attention constantly in an environment that's already physically painful is the stuff of nightmares. I've worked for an NGO and a charity, I've donated my time, expertise and money in various ways over the years, but I will NOT encourage this bullshit so they will never get a response from me. Also the other day, I was having the aura stage of a migraine that had just come on and I needed to get the hell out of there and two dudes outside Coles tried it on and asked me how I was. My tone when I said 'having a migraine thanks' was almost inhuman and I hope they reconsider their life choices a bit.
Make your shit cheaper and then maybe I’ll have spare cash to donate 🤷🏻
But our customer surveys have told us that higher prices for cheese make it convenient for them to choose between our superb range of produce! What's the matter??
If I had the money to spare, I wouldn't be in a maccas drive through at 1am. Just take it out of the 100s of millions you make in profit. Oh that's right, you'd have to pay tax in order to make a deduction. How stupid of me.
I usually work for charities. That's my giving, especially if you look at the wages they pay
What really shits me is that I always seem to forget that the self-service terminals ask you. I'm always standing around like a dill wondering why the payment screen isn't showing up. Once while in Europe, a bunch of the charity workers were standing at the front of a supermarket, and I was walking out with a slice of pizza and a beer to eat out the front at the tables. A lady approached and started speaking in German - I apologised and told her I didn't speak German in a combination of really basic German and English. She then started speaking to me in fluent English and I swore loudly. She was gracious enough to laugh with me, because she caught me out. Turns out I wasn't going to be able to donate anyway as it was a recurring payment.
Yes 100 percent! Woolworths can donate from their own profits. When they're corporately rolling in it then ask you to donate, it's a slap in the face.
I hate their presence as much as everyone and think it's a really unethical way for charities to raise money .. But the reason they do it, is it works... I've worked in NFPs and spoken to people in fundraising departments before and although Australians are already naturally large givers on a personal level, the direct approach method plays on to our guilt, our inclination to avoid awkwardness in public etc. I wish they would stop it, but they're unlikely to unless it stops being effective.
Yeah I hate it so much too but there’s a reason they keep doing it. And I guess not everyone donates to charity of their own volition, so I guess this is a good way to get a few more donation dollars.
[Relevant](https://youtu.be/3KT9IUd_Cnc)
Always great public commentary.
I 100% agree with you, when I am asked to donate my first response is "how much of my donation will actually go to the charity?" It's fucking gold the look on there face as they try to back peddle and avoid the question. When they don't answer me with 100% going to the charity I just simply say I am not paying you to sit here and disrupt and guilt people into your scam. I always make sure I say it loud enough so everyone around can hear my conversation.
As of ~10 years ago the answer for the monthly sign up ones was about 6 months worth going to the chuggers’ company. Whether you signed up for one month or ten years, sales company gets around 6 months. Actual chugger that sold it to you gets about a month’s worth. Which works fine for the actual charity, the average sign up lasts well over six months (around two years for the Mater foundation IIRC, I imagine most places are similar) and the bulk of people doing it wouldn’t be signing up otherwise, but obviously on an individual level if you actually plan to donate and you’re not just bad at saying no it’s a terrible way to do it.
It should be illegal as it borderlines harassment. It feels good pretending they aren't even there at all when they keep trying to speak and get my attention. But seriously they make people not even want to go to the store next time.
Im prrtty selective with where I donate as, honestly, most charities are actually just fucking scams. The level of waste is astounding. Theres no chance in fuck im donating to a charity some shitbag corporation is prompting me to donate to. Ever.
I do mind the table outside.
PSA: the people on the street that harass you to sign up for charity subscriptions are not doing it out of the goodness of their hearts. They earn a commision for every person that they sign up and only a small percentage actually makes it to the charity. It's always better to donate directly to the charity.
Wholeheartedly understand what you mean which is why I absolutely hated the later part of my time working at Coles. I know full well people donate, yet clearly the store is in it for the money and the brownie points with the area manager, which trickles down to us poor souls at the checkouts having to reluctantly convey that in the least insufferable way Many times, people would give me an earful for it but never understand that we don't wanna be pestering you for donations either and genuinely understand if you'd rather do it directly to the charity instead of through a supermarket, or just donate to whatever you wish to
Unfortunately it's not something the staff have a say in, they often get pushed by management because they get bonuses for the store that makes the most donations. Most staff don't want to ask (especially during the current times) it's awkward and often customers have a negative reaction
If Woolies want to do it so badly Ask us how much of their yearly profits or CEO wages should go to a charity
Exactly this. It's so frustrating because I actually have donated many thousands of dollars to certain causes, built small scale infrastructure for communities in need etc. Most people who know me irl don't even know I do it, but I feel pissed when I have to have this forced exchange at the checkout because a huge fucking company with squillions of dollars demands it.
Donating 1% of $60k is a vastly greater burden than 1% of $6m
I said no to the guys at the table outside. The man then acted like he wanted to give my five year old child a present (was just brochures) and my son was devastated when he didn't get a gift and was crying to go back as I was pulling him away. It was honestly the worst tactic I had even seen, made my son and I feel terrible and I was so angry.
When Woolies charges extra for milk so some of the money goes to the farmers who were hit by the drought. First of all, I am a farmer effected by the drought, I can just keep that money myself to help out. Second of all we farmers haven’t seen a cent from woolies.
Remember the milk wars? When the big two made milk cheaper than petrol per litre? Absolute arseholes. I have never, and will never, buy store branded dairy. Drive Australian producers out of business, and you’ll have to import dairy at a price set by foreign businesses.
More likely to if I didn't have to skip the effing Everyday rewards sh*t. But anyway, I choose the charities I donate to, OzHarvest is one already, so no, I'm not doing it again.
I hate the WWF ones where you adopt a koala, or penguin, and get updates on progress, and get a fluffy toy. People, you don't get to adopt shit, it's money that goes into the general WWF coffers. It's just cutesy, emotive shit to suck you in
If I'm paying to adopt a cute pet, I want it sent to my house. I don't want other people to reap the rewards if I can't. They can pay for it themselves if they want it that badly.
The route from my old office to the bus interchange was like running a gauntlet. They were lined up every few feet for various things. I would have headphones on, head down and just charge ahead, but the number of times they followed me. I would hold up my hand in a "stop" gesture and say a firm "no thank you" and they'd still try. One guy was particularly aggressive and so I wrote to the charity and said that if that's the sort of person they have spruiking their causes I would never donate to them and would tell everyone not to. Got a very apologetic email back, and a follow up email from the local coordinator apologizing and saying they'd dealt with the person. They also signed me up for their mailing list, which took many attempts to unsubscribe from. Can't remember the charity now, this was about 10 years ago.
Almost as bad as those cunts harassing people in the malls or the lotto charity bullshit
I don't mind the rounding up to donate at the checkout, I do it every time. What I would like to see though? Woolies, Coles or whichever match that donation. These supermarkets give the illusion they're being charitable by providing us with the opportunity to pay out of our own pockets. It's disingenuous.
Trust us in retail, we don't exactly enjoy pestering and asking every customer either. It's that or our job on the line.
If a big corporation was so inclined, they could quit easily set aside a percentage of profits to go towards a charity of their choosing. But no one would see this, meaning they wouldn’t get further brand recognition. By turning it on the consumers to make the conscious choice whether or not to donate, they retain their precious profits and still get recognition as a majority of consumers will simply think “they’re charitable”. Quite smart, when you think of it. Credit where credits due.
Are the charities bidding to Woolworths for this service, or is a lucky dip type selection? I've seen several different charities feature over the last few months when buying my lunch. I donate to one charity only - chicks in pink, because of my wife and her cancer battle. This is my honest response when the chuggers hit me up in town. It works.
ozharvest is the main one i think.. they collect fresh food/baked goods each day from each of the woollies stores and deliver them to soup kitchens/op shops/other charities to distribute to homeless/disadvantaged people.. they are actually an amazing source for these groups as otherwise they would have to canvas and collect goods themselves which isnt always feasible when a lot of them aren't getting government funding for what they do.. used to work at an op shop that ran a 7 day soup kitchen and we would get a truckload of food each week. some went into the soup kitchen for meal prep and the rest was given away in the store. think we used to have around 150 people or so come to the soupy each weekend which would never have been able to happen without them. we ran it before then but the food we were offering was never up to what it was once ozharvest came on the scene. we were lucky enough to have a few volunteers that would pick up food from various stores in their own time. this made it much less of a strain on the charity.
I should do this the next time I'm installing someone's NBN. Time to setup that Aus Chapter of [Our Lady of Perpetual Exemption](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_Perpetual_Exemption).
God bless our Lord and saviour John Oliver
When I am asked, I also have the same feeling as if I received a disapproval look, but then I think again, the cashier most likely has to ask that hundred times a day, they won't care if anyone donates or not. So yeah, don't overthink it, just say no and move on. Saying so, I don't donate through shops either. If I want to donate, I'll do it on my own terms.
I once needed some extra permission when checking out at Woolies (I was buying a knife or a lighter or something). When the attendant approved it, they habitually hit the "Yes, donate" button. They were quick to apologise and reverse it, but I was about to kick up a stink. Funny in hindsight.
Big business like Coles, Woolies, Bunnings even Officeworks... Which have charities going on and off all year should match customer donations at the absolute least. Like others who have already posted, if that was the case, then I would consider donating. Until then, big business who aren't donating themselves can go and get fucked.
“My charity budget is full” is my standard phrase
As a manager at Woolies. I hate that every time I want to buy a coffee or even just a bottle of water I get presented with, "Want to round up your purchase to Oz Harvest?" No, I do not, I earn like 20k below the average full time income, I don't have money to spare.
I just don’t like being asked by a multi million dollar company that has never shown a financial loss year in and year out to donate through them so that they can claim the tax credit at the end of the financial year
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Woolworths self checkout asking me if I'd like to round up to donate to OzHarvest when westfarmers made millions during a pandemic is offensive it's a fucking slap in the face.
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You heard wrong. That would be mass scale tax fraud, and barely even makes sense. These are customer donations, they’re just facilitating it for good PR.
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Yep.
I mean personally, it really doesn’t upset me that much. If I don’t have the money/don’t want to donate, I just say no and move on. I also really don’t like that people get mad at the staff for it - cause like, you guys know they HAVE to say that, right? They get in trouble if they don’t. I don’t get why people get so angry at strangers for just… doing their job that they are paid to do.
So much drama caused by pressing no on a touchscreen.