To not give a minimum of a fiver to charity?

[OnePound]

Bought something in New Look earlier, it cost £11. Haven't bought new clothes in over 12 months.

Got to the till, and the gist went like this:

Cashier: We're raising money for a local children's charity, and asking all the customers if they could donate something towards it today, would you like to donate?
Me: Yeah sure.
Her: How much would you like to donate today?
Me: Erm, a pound?
Her: We do have a variety of options available for people to donate, £5, £10, £15, £20? How much would you like?
Me: A pound?
Her: Oh okay, so just a pound?
Me: Yes?
Her: Okay then, so that's just £12 in total then please.

So I paid and off I went. But I was actually quite annoyed at her pushy attitude to try to make me donate more than that. I have no idea what the charity was actually for, other than it was "a local children's charity", there was no posters up or anything advertising the name of it or what it does. I'm not against children or charity, I've fundraised for Winston's Wish in the past, and have a monthly direct debit of £5 to the National Deaf Children's Charity (though that's my only regular charity donation). But since when did shops like New Look start to randomly ambush you for charity donations at the tills?!

I don't mind giving a quid or two, but surely a big company like that could raise awareness of a charity by putting their details up in store, or fundraise for them by donating a portion of their profits towards it? Not try to talk customers into donating at least a fiver at the tills?

Yeah that’s really annoying. Tesco asked me at the self service till if I wanted to ‘round up’ what I was paying and I thought ‘no, fuck you, YOU give the money’.

It would certainly discourage me from shopping there again.

Yeah I know someone who works for a retailer and they are forced to do this and have targets apparently. One of the many reasons why said person is now seeking another job.

I'd have just said 'No, thanks'. I don't donate to charities I know nothing about.

I agree with @Howeverdoyouneedme about Tesco paying the donation if they’re wanting to donate!!!! There’ll be a self-congratulating advert out at some point with “Tesco/ New Look have raised £X for Local Charity”. No, your customers donated that to the charity - you donate yourselves if you want to.

So many shops are doing this. Had it when I bought my sofas a few months ago, I did donate but it felt odd in the midst of discussing materials and colours. My local petrol station does it on their debit card machine.

Yes, I had this recently in a store. Just asked if I’d like to make a donation to ‘charity’. Not even a specific charity. I donate a lot each month to a variety to charities which is more tax efficient for them.

Let the stores make donations and at a push let them ask if you would like to but certainly don’t push it and definitely name that charity. If the customer says yes, 10p say thank you that’s very generous.

That is a total cheek. You should have refused to give a penny. This happened to me in an overseas country. I didnt give anything and told them it was a ridiculous practice. Hope it doesn't become the norm here.

I'm all for giving to charities but I personally donate occasionally to homeless charities and the food bank.

I hate all of the pushy charity payment goings on wherever you go. And yes £5 is too high as a starting donation.

I wouldn’t have donated at all I don’t think

If you give to a charity - directly - then you can gift-aid it. This means that every £1.00 you give ends up being worth £1.25 to the charity. Doing something through the till doesn't have this benefit so it's actually counter-productive.

@ClariceQuiff

I'd have just said 'No, thanks'. I don't donate to charities I know nothing about.

This is what I usually do

I don't think shops should be allowed to do this.

Thing is I always feel I need to justify myself, I donate via direct debit to two charities so I am not being difficult when I say no.

I always say, Oh I’ve a direct debit to that charity already 😂.

@bonfireheart

Thing is I always feel I need to justify myself, I donate via direct debit to two charities so I am not being difficult when I say no.

You don't need to justify yourself. The poor cashier is probably cringing at having to make the request; and in any case will know nothing about your personal circumstances and charitable giving habits.

All sorts of places do this now. I always say no, and I don't tend to go back.

Relevant South Park link:

m.youtube.com/watch?v=3KT9IUd_Cnc

I'm sure I saw a tiktok video about how big businesses are doing this to decrease the amount of tax they pay.

Cancer Research Shops are currently doing it. Their prices are very expensive for secondhand clothes anyway. At the till they ask if you want to round your payment up 'for cancer'. I complained to Cancer Research about it. I'm already donating 'to cancer' by buying in their shop in the first place!

Reminded me of this video from the entertainers founder, where apparently shoppers write in to thank him for doing this at the till.

Yeah it’s annoying being pushed to donate more than you’ve offered. Any small amount is generous as you don’t have to give anything!

I will say don’t judge her attitude too quickly - I’ve worked in retail and when we have ‘pushes’ we literally get given a script of things to say and have to say it. Like the workers at the cinema who are always pushing you to get popcorn and a drink and a sweet or the people pushing you to get a store card. We don’t actually want you to, or at least we really don’t care. But if managers catch you not doing it you can be penalised.

I always say not today thank you someone tried pushing me about it once I just stared at her card in hand until she put it through

@Queeniepies

Cancer Research Shops are currently doing it. Their prices are very expensive for secondhand clothes anyway. At the till they ask if you want to round your payment up 'for cancer'. I complained to Cancer Research about it. I'm already donating 'to cancer' by buying in their shop in the first place!

I haven't been asked this (and I'm a regular) but I usually pay cash in charity shops so perhaps that's why. If the change is pennies I'll drop it in their box anyway.

McDonald's does it too when you use their self service screens, but at least they give you tyd option to round up to the nearest pound and make it clear its for their hospital housing charity. I remember they used to have collection boxes on the till for it but they seem to be discouraging people from using manned tills and paying in cash now so I suppose it makes sense. I wouldn't like being pressured into it by a sales assistant, though I bet they hate having to ask as much as customers hate being asked.