To not want to be asked for charity donations every time I pay for something in a shop?

[pennyHD]

It’s happening everywhere; even at a self serve check out we’re asked if we want to ‘round up’ for charity.

Every single charity shop I go in now does it at the till. I’m always polite and say no, not today when they ask for more money, but a man who works in one of the shops I go in takes a no very personally and starts slamming the till around and shoves my receipt in my hand whilst glaring at me. He once shouted at me for not wanting to ‘help people’ when I said no.

I give a lot to charity but I want to donate when and how I choose to, and not be put on the spot.

And as for shops like Tesco asking for charity donations, they can fuck right off and donate out of their hefty profits.

And actually my local Waitrose did used to support local charities. They chose three each month and people got counters to put into a plastic bin thing underneath the charity they wanted the money to go to. So it might be something like a local wildlife trust, the scouts or the local hospice.

Better than chugging at the PIN machine.

And WH Smith still have something for coins where I am as well.

I wouldn't assume small local charities are more efficient, tbh. Having worked in more than one. It can go either way there.

Yes, I like those counter things. Because it means supermarkets paying in themselves, rather than trying to extract payment from customers.

Yeah, I'm still not giving. I had this begging at the checkout nonsense happening in Superdrug today too. Had no hesitation whatsoever in pressing the red button. IDGAF what the cashier thinks of me.

Re; your posts... there are 170,000 charities in the UK, no WAY can they all be important viable charities that people NEED. 🙄

And what a rude and unpleasant passive-aggressive comment from you by the way... 'I hope none of you ever need help from a charity.' Behave yourself. Do you think this passive-aggressive, manipulative type of comment is going to work on the good women of Mumsnet?! LOL. Dream on!

And what a rude and unpleasant passive-aggressive comment from you by the way...

Not to mention the “maybe it’s a generational thing” comment

And if someone on the till asks me (if they don’t have a card reader button), I just clearly say “no thank you”.

One of the reasons that many people don't want to answer the door when they're not expecting anyone/anything. I can see chuggers/survey people/religious callers coming up the road from my home, as it's elevated 6 feet or so above the road/public footpath, and I can see all up (and down) the road. I lock the door and ignore them when they knock my door.

They can bore off. They are not invited, or welcome, or wanted in my home/on my property. As you said, it's bad enough being badgered by these fuckers in the streets/when you're on the way out the supermarket with a big shop/ at the bloody checkouts.

Like fucking hell am I dealing the the c*nts on my doorstep!

I know right. So RUDE! People give soooooooooo much less than they used to to charities apparently. Oh I wonder why?!

Maybe because people have so little spare money these days, and people have cottoned on to the fact that many charities use much of the money collected to line the pockets of the people at the top, and for 'admin costs.' Upshot is, many people are not easily-led, and gullible anymore!

Another one sick to back teeth of it all, if it's not at the checkout it's the constant bombardment on the TV, it's non fucking stop, I used to get tearful at some charity ads but not anymore, they show them so much I think I've become desensitized to them all...

You’re BUYING an item that has been DONATED. That IS charity

Yes, @Worralorra, and there's every likelihood the person serving is doing it for nothing too
Of course I realise there are (reduced) rents to pay, utilities, administration and so on, but come on ... just how much more blood do they want?

People give soooooooooo much less than they used to to charities apparently. Oh I wonder why?!

As you suggested, @Zov, the main reason is obvious when many can't afford to, but it's not for want of charities trying
I no longer have direct debits and now donate what I choose when I choose, but experience teaches that once one's been signed you'll be harangued endlessly with requests to increase it ... and the scripts used aren't always pleasant

I only give if I want to. I have no problem saying" no" OP.You should have told the idiot shouting man that you were already" helping people" by shopping there. He had some nerve. I think I would have reported him to the charity. He will damage their sales if he harangues customers!

Some don't even harangue you to increase how much you give; they just write to you to tell you they'll be increasing it to £X and ask you to just let them know if there should be any problem with that!

I donated a few items to a charity shop a few weeks ago and they asked me if I would do gift aid, I was puzzled how that works?

If you’ve donated something and are a tax payer, then the charity can claim back tax paid on that amount . So if you donate a piece of clothing and the charity sells it for £10 they can claim an extra £2.50 from HMRC

Thank you that explains it. I just couldn't work out how it would work.

Out of interest with gift aid, does it work that they are then technically selling the item 'on your behalf' - for you then to gift them the proceeds plus the gift aid on that amount?

Just thinking as surely you can only gift-aid money and not an actual item per se?

If so, what happens if somebody buys the old toaster that you donated and it doesn't work; or far worse, it bursts into flames when used - could you be technically held liable?

Not sure, but thinking about it, maybe that’s why a lot of charity shops don’t accept electrical items!

Personally I think it was more than that sentence that was crappy and poorly phrased. Like talking about how astronomical utility and living costs are then saying people are being "less generous" about giving when "less able" would have been more accurate.

It’s a tax thing. Anything donated they can offset their tax bill with. So just say no and don’t feel bad because it’s not for charity it’s for tax offsetting.

I’m going to go against the grain here… I LIKE having the OPTION to donate the digital equivalent of loose change to a good cause in this way.

In the days when most people used cash, there were always charity boxes by tills in shops.

Since Covid most people use contactless and won’t be switching back to cash.

Charity box takings went down massively.

There’s no difference to being “judged” for hitting “no” on a card reader than for putting coins that you receive in change into your purse rather than a charity box.

The cashier has no knowledge of your ability to spare that change whether it’s electronic or cash.

A cashier who says anything about it should be reported, whether it’s a cash charity box
or a card reader donation.

Which charities are doing that?

I’ve got several charity direct debits and have never been called or written to to say they’re increasing my I should contact them if I don’t want to.

Honestly, if a charity wrote to me and told me they’d be increasing my monthly donation I’d cancel my direct debit and never ever donate to that charity again! That’s beyond a fucking cheek!

Diabetes UK did it a few years back - iirc it went up just over 50%. We'd mainly started supporting them originally to get the once-interesting magazine, which they took all of the interesting features out of and downgraded to really rubbish thin, crispy paper soon after.

I've heard of it happening sometimes to elderly people especially, although I can't actually remember any of the culprits.

As PP said, I also get the very strong impression that a lot of the big charities maintain lists of elderly and/or vulnerable donors and circulate their details widely between themselves; so I could well understand that they would want more of the money for themselves as well as tipping off their fellow charities.

Plenty of organisations deliberately exploit people from older generations, who are maybe not as forthright or cynical as younger generations, and don't like to cause offence - even to people trying to take their money from them; and are less likely to be as tech-connected and expose them far and wide on social media as well.

There has to be a reason why so many older people seem to end up with large amounts of monthly direct debits payable to all manner of charities, often only discovered when they die, or if their children or grandchildren start asking questions when they realise their loved one is inexplicably struggling financially. I can't believe that they all proactively go seeking multiple charities to offer so much of their limited money to.

I think many would, thus ending up getting less donations overall