War on charity muggers: move by council for first street ban.
Islington could become the first borough to ban chuggers after years of complaints from residents who say they are fed up with being hassled in the streets.
At lunch time today I popped out to M&S to grab some soup. It’s a 100m walk. I was subjected to attempted chugging seven, yes seven times on the way there and back. In the 400m between Finsbury Square and London Wall I can tell you of six chugging spots, each of which usually contains a different charity with at least four chuggers on the attack.
I’m not talking about people who stand by shaking a collecting tin either. These people are single-minded in their attack. It’s not possible to just walk past; they shout, they call, they jump in your path desperately vying for your attention. A mobile phone on your ear is no defence and neither is avoiding eye contact or politely saying ‘no thanks’. Many of these people hold no compunction in following you down the road calling at you.
The chuggers who tread the pavements of City Road seem to have forgotten all notion of good manners. I can’t remember the last time I heard one of them ask ‘excuse me’. In recent weeks I’ve heard phrases such as:
“You gonna come and talk to me darlin’?”
“Who bought you flowers then?” (While running out to buy flowers for a colleague)
“Aw thanks! You bought me lunch!” (When picking up food for a working lunch)
I have to question how much commission these chuggers are earning. Say, for example, that I sign up to donate £5 a month, what percentage of this would go to the chugger, to the agency employing them, and finally to the charity I would be supporting? I know of someone who worked for a face to face marketing company and had spent time pounding the streets as a chugger. Although this was a number of years ago now, I’m sure today’s figures would be just as disgusting. Yet, at the same time, charities would have us believe that face to face marketing is one of the most cost effective and successful forms of marketing employed.
When it comes down to it, I would imagine that most chuggers on the streets are little more than salespeople. You would probably find that they have been trained alongside people who are now trying to convince you to switch your energy supplier or just answer a quick survey.
I point blank refuse to donate to charity via chuggers. With schemes such as payroll giving and the ability to set up regular donations via a charity’s website there is no need for me to line the pockets of these people and potentially keep additional funds away from a charity. At least if I avoid chuggers I can take time to carefully consider which charity I wish to donate to.
I’d love to hear what you think about chuggers. Have I got it all wrong? Should chuggers be given free reign on the streets or should they be removed entirely? Regardless of what any of us think, we’ll all have to try to avoid the chuggers at one time or another – have a chuckle at Darlo’s top avoidance tips.
I refuse point blank to stop and speak to these people. I have charity donations in place, to charities which I feel are worthy of receiving my money, and that is donated directly. I am not going to be persuaded by someone on the street to donate any more than I already choose to, and when politely shaking my head at them doesn’t work, I will walk on and ignore the calls. I know that’s rude, and having worked as a mystery shopper, and for a research company in the past (asking people to fill in surveys on their experiences of a supermarket as they leave) I know that being completely ignored can feel really rude, but what else can you do? I would never have called after someone who didn’t make the move towards me, or answer when I said ‘excuse me’, and I certainly wasn’t being paid a commission – I used to be reimbursed £10/day towards my time to do that, and was not allowed to leave until 152 people had completed the surveys.
So yes, I sometimes feel rude, but I think it’s wrong to put people on the spot like that and try to force them to do soemthing just to shut the chugger up as it were.
Glowstars Reply:
January 13th, 2012 at 10:01
It’s the rudeness I hate the most – they’re like drunken men following a hot chick in a bar!
They don’t give up do they? They are so offensive sometimes it is almost shameful the way they can humiliate.
I had never thought about ‘their cut’ before but there must be one. Amazed it is still legal. We don’t have it so much here – the occasional person will ask you to sign their petition but that’s it.
Glowstars Reply:
January 13th, 2012 at 10:00
Yesterday I said no to four people from the same charity in a 10m stretch. I noticed two others from their group who’d already cornered their prey. They’re like pack animals!
Thanks for the link ^_^. I’m happy to say I’ve seen no chuggers during my time in Japan, only the equivalent of people shaking a tin (and I’m all for that).
Glowstars Reply:
January 13th, 2012 at 09:58
Starting to think I should move East…
See quite a lot of them in the West End too. I don’t tend to go out much during the day (lunch is provided) which is probably why I don’t have to encounter too many of them in person. They really do wind me up though.
Glowstars Reply:
January 13th, 2012 at 09:57
It seems like the only safe time round here is before 9 – they’re bad at lunch time but even worse when the office let out for the day.
This is a real problem in Sydney too. I love that you call them chuggers – I’m going to use that from now on. I appreciate that charities need to raise funds but this is like being harassed by a standover man. I sponsor a couple of kids and support a few environmental causes and it does make you resentful to be hassled by people in the street when you already do as much as you can. The other day I was just going to the Post Office and there was some charity there collecting for children and when I said I couldn’t help the guy started shouting at me and actually said:’Don’t you care about the children?’ That was unnecessary. I rang the charity and complained but they didn’t seem to care. So I’m going to complain to my local council. I probably won’t get anywhere but I’ll give it a go. It’s only a matter of time until someone punches one of those chuggers. The way they wind me up it might be me. Haha.
Glowstars Reply:
January 22nd, 2012 at 21:30
Bet I beat you to it!