To be annoyed the charity shop called me rude

[ohmydays37]

I donated two huge bags of clothes to local charity shop. Before I could even ask a question the woman who worked there demand my postcode for gift aid. I said my husband deals with that and I explained I wasn't comfortable giving his details without his permission. She then said, I was extremely rude and it was for gift aid and she was running a business. In no way was I being rude (which I told her).

I guess my AIBU to think you can't just ambush people for gift aid without knowing if 1) they pay tax and 2) you need to explain the details of it. Which she didn't.

Gift aid is attached to a person, not a postcode. The next question would have been full name, etc...

I personally would have taken the bags back and told her she was extremely rude, and that I was going to donate to a different charity shop!

I agree the charity shop staff member was the rude one, it is annoying you are donating your stuff to the charity shop. You always get the questions about gift aid ! If you politely say I can't/don't want to, you get but why ?? I gift aid in multiple places charity shops also brownies for example and if they claim more gift aid than you pay in tax you are liable to pay that extra yourself.

@Moonshiners
I do it in DH name, but the first time he had to sign the card, 'cos if more is gift-aided than the tax take, you have to refund HMRC.

😂

It was that Merrill I imagine.

Always that Merrill, dear! Asking for a postcode...should be looking for the special mark!

🤣🤣🤣

And she doesn’t work Thurzdiz dear!

A bit concerning that you feel you need your husbands permission to give out the postcode of the property you presumably also live in?

Just a simple, "Oh, I'm not a tax payer." Would have done. Alternatively, make up a postcode!

I've lost count of the number of made up email addresses I've given out over the years!

It's not the postcode, it would have to be in her DH's name as he's the taxpayer in the household.

I wouldn't want my DH to sign me up for Gift Aid.

@surreygirl1987 there might be more legitimacy in the argument that gift aid was a redirection of taxes from the government (and hence public purse) if charities didn't plug such a massive gap in social provisions. true not every single one does but thousands upon thousands do. The government is reliant upon these organisation both as service providers and as vehicles to generate the necessary funding. There are reciprocal benefits here. The government does not give away revenue out of the goodness of its heart.. it makes good business sense to. hence tax breaks to the individual to donate. Of all the tax breaks to get worked up about Gift aid really shouldn't be one of them. Not whilst as a society we are reliant on charities to house, feed and care for us.

The initial comment I was replying to was 'I don't ga to charities because of (percieved) fat cat CEOs'...hence the question of is there the same moral objection to consumerism that actually feed fat cat CEOs (and shareholders) - where a whole host of other tax breaks which can apply ...and there are deliberate and highly orchestrated structures in place precisely to avoid paying tax

Also as someone who has had to spent a lot of work hours thinking about gift aid...this thread has surprised me in just how many people don't understand how it works. I can only assume that this is the same for people's understanding of the charity sector as a whole in the UK.

When I said I couldn't do gift aid as I don't lay tax, the woman in the charity shop pulled a face and sighed.

Today I was arranging for some baby equipment to be picked up. He was so rude on the phone I made an excuse. He said the pick up slot might go so I said that's fine if it does, I'll ring someone else where the phone call doesn't go as this one had.

Gift Aid is given by the government. Guess where they get the money from.

I hate going into the shops when donating, eventhough it is good stuff. We have charity drop off bins at the recycling stops dotted around, which is SO much quicker and easier to use and no people to talk to 😉

I pay tax but I don't gift aid -it's my choice. I want the usual percent of my income to go to tax, and on top of that I donate to charity. Gift aid is a choice (if you pay tax) but charity shop staff/volunteers often get arsey when I say no thanks.

You what? ! " Sorry, I'm not a tax payer but my husband is, here are his details" is a reasonable response assuming you knew you were taking a large donation to a charity shop. It is definitely annoying when a charity shop doesn't ask if you'd like to gift aud, they are missing a significant income because the person on the till can't do the paperwork or the menager doesn't have time.
This trip didn't take you by surprise.
Woman up

In my experience, charities tend to sell on personal information about donors, subscribe to one and a perpetual flood of demands from one and all hits you. So now I never give my name and address to any of them.

She has no right to sign her husband up to anything, including gift aid , without his permission.

That's not womaning up.

Assuming the OP is allowed to speak before being spoken to by her dh, the conversation would have been something like

• I'm going to the chazza today, can I pass on your details for gift aid?

• yeah, that's fine love, thanks for keeping on top of this stuff.

Job done.

It’s been a while but by signing a gift aid declaration you are making a legal declaration that you are that person. It’s a form of fraud / misrepresentation to sign it on someone else’s behalf. Fair enough if they’ve previously registered for gift aid and you are dropping stuff off with their knowledge.

People should be very careful signing up for gift aid anyway, you shouldn't be repeatedly giving charities permission to write off against tax you've paid without understanding how much tax you've paid and how much gift aid total is being claimed in a tax year, particularly for people who are self employed and do their own taxes. Charity shops I've found can be extremely pushy about it. But I agree, I've known adults with learning disabilities I volunteered with who went on to work in charity shops

😧😧😧

Missing the point.

The woman at the school was rude and quite frankly quite peculiar calling a costumer/donator rude for simply not wanting to share details. It's the OPs prerogative

That doesn't make her rude. The shop person on the other hand

Because it's not HER tax details. How can you not understand this?

I was in a charity shop yesterday and overheard an exchange between one of the volunteers and a would-be donor (it was all very polite). The volunteer expressed reluctance to accept the bag and said 'Unless you're gift-aiding it? We can accept it if you're gift-aiding?'

Not sure whether to be or sad that it appears not worth the charity's time to sort through all the old crap they get given without having to prioritise gift aided donations in order to offset that. So perhaps those who gift-aid are subsidising the lazy buggers who use charity shops to offload any old crap (i.e. they should be going to the tip instead)?

What I don't understand is why she didn't just say "I'm not eligible for gift aid" rather than going through all that nonsense about gift aid being something her husband deals with.