Would you like to round up to £1? No I fucking wouldnt.

Chuggars are easily ignorable. They try to make eye contact and say "hello, how are you?". I reply with a cheerful "fine thanks" and don't stop walking.

I’m also sick and tired of chuggars in my town. I’m trying to nip for a sandwich in my lunch break. I do not want to spend any of that time talking to them. Sometimes there are so many of them it’s hard to avoid them. One positioned in the doorway of Home bargains. One positioned in the doorway of Boots. Yet another few directly outside M&S. Leave me alone!
If it’s not bloody charities it’s EE or some utility company.
Sod off.
Last week I was leaving work and heading towards where dh had arranged to park to give me a lift home. A bloke shouted from 20 yards away to try and get my attention. I said I was in a hurry, going to get a lift. Oh what time is your lift? I won’t keep you long, all the while walking towards me trying to cut me off and block my path. No ! Piss off. Wtf has it got to do with you?
No wonder people get stroppy with them or just completely ignore them.
Then you have the beggars asking for money. They all do a lot of damage to the town as it really puts people off going into town.

Apologies for the slight derail. I had also signed up to "gift aiding my donation" i then received a letter from the charity saying " it was my responsibility to inforn HMRC if i no longer becane a tax payer. As i know at some point if and when this happens i will most likely forget. I didnt fancy being chased by HRMC for failing to do so plus the potential costs of my contributions (that had already been taxed) being incurred (when i could potentially be mor3 financially vulnerable) it took numerous emails and me having then to be adamant for them to confirm my name haf been removed.

I agree OP. Plus I have a setting on my bank accounts to ‘save the change’ where my bank rounds up any card payments to the nearest pound and puts that money into my savings account so paying round numbers for things does me out of that! I make my own donations to charities I choose.

There is a certain shop I visit regularly- well actually not anymore because of this donation thing they have at the tills.
There are 2 sales assistants who are both on the till every single day. When paying they will ask if you would like to donate to what ever charity they support. If someone does they make such a scene with their thank you’s and ‘your so kind’ comments so that everyone in the queue can hear.
When someone says no which I have done before there is comments such as ‘oh such a shame, maybe next time you will help our charity’ comments, again so the whole shop can hear.
I stopped going in there because of this and a few other people I know have mentioned they now only go there as a last resort and shop elsewhere, So they have definitely lost a few customers with their charity tactics.

this happened to me last week! Would I like to round up my £10 purchase to £11.
I confess I did laugh and point out that wasn’t exactly rounding up. She wasn’t very impressed.

bloody ridiculous.

I recently went to a gastropub who did this with tap water—charged us for it as a donation to charity. They donate the money under their name to make their restaurant look altruistic. There’s no indication on the menu, and the customer is only notified once the bill arrives. Of course you can ask them to take it off the bill, but it makes you look like a dick. I paid it, but will never go back to this restaurant. I don’t appreciate their sneaky way to make themselves look/feel all warm and fuzzy.

I don't mind at all being asked, I might say yes or no according to the charity or how flush I feel at the time. What would be inappropriate is if there were any follow up remark by the shop assistant.

I often wonder what would happen if lots of shoppers 'accidentally misunderstood' (or even genuinely did so) and took food off the shelves past the tills (without paying for it) and thereby 'helped' the supermarket to gather donations for worthy foodbanks in the area.

Obviously not shoplifting, as no un-paid for food is leaving the store; but I'd like to see the huge multi-billion-pound supermarkets having to explain that they want little old US to pay for food to donate to the good causes that they are promoting, rather than THEM giving it.

It's particularly in poor taste when you consider that they will have made a profit on all of the food that they've urged customers to buy and donate to their chosen charities. At the very least, if they're expecting us to fund their chosen giving, could they not at least have two prices on the shelves containing the kind of staple foods that foodbanks are always requesting: the standard price (including their element of profit) to buy it for yourself; and a lower price (excluding their profit, and possibly even an extra donation from them) if you buy it to put in their foodbank trolley?

I find GOSH a bit of a mystery, to be honest. Yes, of course, on the face of it, they are a benevolent charity that supports sick children, so how could you quibble at that?

But aren't they also an NHS hospital? Do they not get a shedload of financing from the NHS for a lot of the work that they do?

They stopped me outside Home Bargains the other day - in my town in the Midlands - and said something about having a new project for which they're hoping to raise £300m. Just on one new initiative - so they're obviously already confident of getting a phenomenally high income and are planning with it in mind, in spite of the pleas that they desperately need your few quid every month.

I may be being unfair, but they also seem to want to promote themselves as the only charity doing what they do. Where I live, a lot of people give charitably to Birmingham Children's Hospital, for extra projects and equipment that are not funded by the NHS. It seemed kind of cheeky for a London-based charity to seek to extend its reach so much, at the obvious expense of other similar regional charities doing similar work elsewhere.

Could the shareholders not... you know... give plenty of their own money to the charities that they passionately support?

And then leave business to function as business, and allow other people to make their own free charitable giving decisions independently, without being urged, cajoled or tricked into giving to their favourites?

It's the same with the Big Issue now. Many people who buy one (and let's face it, if it were sitting on the shelf in WHS without any 'good cause' connection, how many of those would ever consider buying it on its own strengths?) assume that all sellers are still homeless people, or those who have recently left homelessness and are getting themselves established.

Not a bit of it. The criteria for being allowed to sell the BI are now pretty much 'if you want to earn money by selling it, you can'. Many sellers now - even in smaller towns - are trafficked to the UK by gangmasters and made to sell the BI on a specific patch. A suspiciously high proportion of sellers have foreign (usually East European) accents - and it isn't because they had already moved here and then fell on hard times, which would very much be in the spirit of the scheme, but because they are specifically brought over here to sell it.

It's purely treated as (exploitative) business now. Genuine homeless people don't get a look-in - they're probably frightened away by the gangmasters if they try to become a seller in what could be a profitable pitch near where they stay.

I always say No now, as by buying the BI, you're effectively doing the same thing as giving money direct to beggars - which, as has been said, is what charities always strongly warn you not to do.

The USA is the worst. The lady at the airport was horrified when i awnsered the question "woud you like to give a dollar to the troops" with "no thanks, they are not my troops and i dont support the majority of what your army has done in the last 20 years"

She looked like she might combust.

If shaking coins in tins is now banned outside shops then why are shops now pressuring us when we pay?
It's vulnerable people who I feel the most sorry for and whom are most likely to press yes to feel they can promptly leave.

It depends what charity, as someone who has worked in the charity sector I am very selective about who I support. I prefer to support my local charities who use as much of my donation as possible for the actual cause and don’t have the budget to advertise. I abhor large fund-holding charities that have millions in the bank and have head offices in expensive postcodes (like London) and pay huge salaries to staff. Having worked for a charity that offered money to other causes (not having a cause of their own as it was a radio station) I was aware that some of these big charities have a team of people sniffing out organisations that will grant money. I used to ask for their accounts - anything less than 75p in the pound that is going to the actual cause and I’m out. Yes, RSPCA (National not local branches), Guide Dogs for the Blind and Clic Sargeant - I’m talking to you as an example. Ask me to support a local a school running a breakfast club for children who don’t get breakfast at home and I’m all over it. Same for Hospices who are dramatically under-funded and provide such an essential service. Rant over.

I'm amazed to read that this is a thing!

The closest I've come to such a request is when I do my online grocery shopping and get asked if I want to give £1 to charity. I never tick that box, as I don't know which charity is involved.

If I'm in a shop, paying cash, and the amount is (say) £9.90, I may well hand over a tenner and tell the cashier to put the change in the charity box. But I've never been actually asked to do this!

Is it just that I don't get out much? Or is this a thing that mostly happens in certain places, e.g. big cities? (I live in a small town in south-east England.)

I’d rather choose the charity and donate in a way that allows them to claim gift aid.

Where did this tricky little racket come from..Either the good old USA, or from.some bright young, slimey thing in marketing. Trying to gallop up to being a top manager.

It is up to the individual, if they wish to make a charitable donation but not through Tesco.

Also may be being used to boost Tesco' cash flow..An interest free loan?
Poor show Tesco. Shame on you!!
Scheme has backfired.
Total lack.of integrity???

You know in the way Energy Companies 'used to have massive cash surpluses some years ago. Due to not refunding or decreasing excess monthly dd payments on cusomers already sizeable account balances.

Tut Tut Tut

You have lost my goodwill.

I went into a cafe yesterday where you queue up and order. I waited in line and then ordered two coffees. I was asked at the till whether I wanted to leave a tip. I had to physically press no before I could pay. What service exactly was I supposed to be tipping for? I did all the work myself ffs!!

I think Ocado do. If you add a food bank donation to your online basket they will match it.

I’ve found, through talking to community groups, schemes like the Coop one work best. On the app you select what local group you want to support and they get a share of their local communities fund.

John Lewis do something similar but I think it’s mostly bigger charities. I think I chose SANDS. I think something like that is much better where if I choose to spend my money at a certain shop then they donate on my behalf rather than asking additional money from the customer and getting the tax relief as people have said and taking the credit.

This is why it’s better to use Cooperatives and Building Societies where possible.

I think charities should vet the companies they use for canvassing better. I’ve had some serious misogynistic s**t from the blokes that stop you in the street in the past. Getting referred to as ‘mum,’ asked personal questions, trying to shake hands etc It’s hard to explain, but it’s unpleasant and mildly intimidating. I won’t stop anymore. I think if they genuinely cared about donations they would have a collection tin (as I’d happily give loose change) but they just want you to sign up to direct debits.

I also have a friend who was a bit vulnerable who was convinced to ‘make out’ with a charity canvasser in the early 2000. Hopefully that sort of thing doesn’t go on nowadays.

Literally every shop from Asda to Mc Donald’s to boots now do this . It’s ridiculous

I was overcharged in a UK charity shop by £7.90 AFTER i"d already spent £34. Didn't realise and left.
I went back in after calculations..🤔
Pointed out their mistake and was met with " oh sorry, but I can't work the till properly for refunds without the manager. . Perhaps you'd like to donate the £7.90?"
No I wouldn't. Refund please. I got it.