Charity Workers On The Street....

Carcharodon

Not sure if this is the right place to ask this but here it goes.

I have noticed a large increase in the amount of Charity workers that approach you on the street and try and sign you up with them.(oxfam, goal etc..)

I never stop for them but presume they want you to make small contribution from your bank account weekly/monthly.
I have als noticed that the "volunteers" are mainly young people in their early twenties, are young people becoming very conscious of the world they live in and more socialy aware
i thought the people were becoming more materialistic

I basically would like to know if this is totally volunterally or do they get a fee for the amount of people they sign up.

Not too sure if i agree with it because i dont really understand it...

Schuhart

They seem to known as ‘Chuggers’ and yes, they are paid. They don’t seem to be paid on a commission basis – presumably so they don’t have the embarrassment of telling you x per cent of your donation is for them – but they have to meet a sales quota to keep their job. There’s a few links below from Google. I believe charities claim it’s a cost effect way of getting money.

http://www.macmillandictionary.com/new-words/031212-chugger.htm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2090680.stm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chugger

LovelyHurling

Carcharodon wrote:

I have als noticed that the "volunteers" are mainly young people in their early twenties, are young people becoming very conscious of the world they live in and more socialy aware
i thought the people were becoming more materialistic

I basically would like to know if this is totally volunterally or do they get a fee for the amount of people they sign up.
QUOTE]

They seeem to like hiring students. There tend to be posters up (in TCD & UCD in my exp) offering this sort of work and yes they get paid.

It was kind of embaressing at first cos you feel a bit guilty passing them with like a chicken sandwich or after going to the ATM, but now I just smile at them in an evil capitalist sort of way.
The first time I met one she stood there explaining to me for 5 minutes on the horrors of living insubsaharan africa. Being a 'free' fees student living it up in Dublin, I was all geared up to help the charity somehow until she explained that no, they just wanted money. Musnt have spotted from my schoolbag, messy clothes and bleached hair that I wasnt exactly a professional in a position to donate my parents life savings to Concern.

Carcharodon

Thanks for the links and your replys, they explained alot to me.

I am very undecided about the whole thing, i know its all for a good cause but it can be intrusive and when you have to dodge around ten of them on one street its annoying to say the least.

I suppose if it gains alot of funds for charities it has to be a good thing...

The only thing is though, when i read up on it, they highlighted the fact that they dont pay by commission but a flat hourly rate and then they must reach goals and targets set.
At the end of the day wont they still have to get paid with the donations they got off people or is it that they will only have to pay the charity worker once and will receive donations off a subscriber regularly...

punky

Chuggers get paid about 10 euro an hour on average.
They look for monthly direct debit donations of at least 8 euro.
Each Chugger team has a quota of sign-ups it must get or else the chugging company loses it's contract with the charity.
Chuggers are generally instructed not to be too agressive despite their quota because the charities don't want a bad image.

Unfortunately, there's just way too many of them and people have started turning against them. I know it can be annoying but do remember that they are usually looking for money for good causes.

And yes, it is cost effective. Every charity/NGO in the country wouldn't be doing it otherwise. The only danger is if a lot of people cancel their direct debits within the first year. It takes at least a year before the charity starts making a profit on a customer (due to the cost of paying the chugging companies).

Bottle_of_Smoke

punky wrote:

Chuggers get paid about 10 euro an hour on average.
They look for monthly direct debit donations of at least 8 euro.
Each Chugger team has a quota of sign-ups it must get or else the chugging company loses it's contract with the charity.
Chuggers are generally instructed not to be too agressive despite their quota because the charities don't want a bad image.

Unfortunately, there's just way too many of them and people have started turning against them. I know it can be annoying but do remember that they are usually looking for money for good causes.

And yes, it is cost effective. Every charity/NGO in the country wouldn't be doing it otherwise. The only danger is if a lot of people cancel their direct debits within the first year. It takes at least a year before the charity starts making a profit on a customer (due to the cost of paying the chugging companies).

Ouch, when b365 got updated there recently it added the option of cancelling your direct debits yourself - no more ringing the bank saying you're a heartless monster who wants a charity standing order cancelled with a hefty salary going through.

So if it takes that long to make a profit this may be a big waste of investment, and now people hate charities.

Zombrex

I can't stand chuggers, mainly because of the totally idiotic way they go about collecting.

In the old days you gave what ever you had in your pocket to the bucket, you got a sticker so people, including the other collectors could see that you have already donated money. The bucket people also seemed to spread themselves out more, since there was little point being clumped together since the first person got the money.

Chuggers are a completely different. They line themselves up on street, so to walk down a street you have to pass like 4 of them. I find it hard to believe they were actually taught to do this, i woudl say it is more based on laziness and not understanding what they are doing.

So you pass one "Do you want these children to die" hippy, "no thanks" ... a few meters down the road you pass the next "Do you want these children to die", "yes actually" and then another few meters you find yourself shouting "piss off you feckers"

Even if you have signed up for all the charities under the sun they chuggers have no idea you have and continue to try and stop you. I used to listen to them and then polietly say no, then I started saying "No thanks" before they had started their little speal. Now I just ignore them, as I do beggers.

If I wanted to be nagged the entire time I'm shopping in Dublin I would get a girlfriend.

The whole practice is very distastefull, they work on the principle that people will say "yes" when confronted by someone asking for something. It is easier to resist the urge to say yes when it is a begger or traveler hassling you, but because this is a charity the old guilt sets in. That is exactly what they are counting on.

Dave!

Chuggers get paid more than me, the bastads.......

Dudess

I have no problem telling them that it's nothing personal but they are among the most hated people in the world at the moment, and also to look for a job in which they would have more dignity. They make awful fools of themselves the "wacky" way they go about approaching people.

Jonny Arson

LovelyHurling wrote:

They seeem to like hiring students. There tend to be posters up (in TCD & UCD in my exp) offering this sort of work and yes they get paid.

Maybe I'm just being paranoid but I feel they are approaching young students for their money alot more instead of the white collars on the streets. When I was in college and walking down Grafton Street in my casual clothes I couldnt get them off my back, now I'm working in my shirt and tie and they seem to be less in your face!

Wicknight wrote:

The whole practice is very distastefull, they work on the principle that people will say "yes" when confronted by someone asking for something. It is easier to resist the urge to say yes when it is a begger or traveler hassling you, but because this is a charity the old guilt sets in. That is exactly what they are counting on.

True but the ''chugger'' phenomenon is resulting in charity organisations been dragged into a similar apathetic attitude towards beggers/travellers amongst the average Joe Soap on the street. It's backfiring on them dramatically and I would be genuinely surprised if they're getting enough people to sign up to justify paying the chuggers. There's better ways to get people to donate their money and annoying them everyday isn't the way to go about it full stop.

damnyanks

I can live with them standing there and looking for donations or whatever but I have a problem when they start to follow me or cut me off.

I've 4 weeks holidays now and crap all to do. I think the next time they do it I'll stick with them for an hour to intentionally ruin their sales or pay another chugger 11 euro an hour to do it for me

darth insidiari

Unfortunately, I have to pass many of them every day. They can be quite aggressive and I've heard of one particularly bad incident which I would classify as harassment (a "chugger" followed a women to more than one atm demanding money. This is not a baseless rumour but from a close friend).

The most irritating aspect of some "chuggers" is their self-righteous attitude. I've often heard something mumbled under their breath as I walk away, having politely said "no thanks". THEY ARE GETTING PAID. They have no idea how much voluntary work I do or how much money I have donated to charity. Even if I have done none and donated nothing I have a right to say "NO" and not be followed down the street by someone walking backwards into people and making a general arse of themselves.

I don't think they should be commended just because they work for a charity. People who give of their time freely should be, of course. Those who are paid to do a job should be treated as any other worker. I'd be pretty annoyed if the staff in Dunnes started acting like chuggers just because I didn't want to buy their jaffa cakes.

Kooli

darth insidiari wrote:

Unfortunately, I have to pass many of them every day. They can be quite aggressive and I've heard of one particularly bad incident which I would classify as harassment (a "chugger" followed a women to more than one atm demanding money. This is not a baseless rumour but from a close friend).

Hmmmm....not meaning to doubt your story, but the 'chuggers' we're talking about, the ones with clipboards looking for monthly donations, cannot accept cash. Why would they follow her to an ATM? If it IS true, then it's a case of one crazy guy who HAPPENED to be a chugger.

Owen

I wanted to sign up to a Charity via monthly direct debit. I couldn't really decide who to go for, but I ended up with UNICEF for 2 reasons. 1) Every other Charity uses annoying Chuggers, and 2) 75% of my money will actually get to the kids, and as I plan on never having kids, this is my little way of being what UNICEF call a 'Global Parent'.

Back on topic, Chuggers are what keeps me out of Cork City when I want to shop. It's incredible how many of them are on Patricks Street, and the cross streets to Oliver Plunkett Streets!

darth insidiari

Kooli wrote:

Hmmmm....not meaning to doubt your story, but the 'chuggers' we're talking about, the ones with clipboards looking for monthly donations, cannot accept cash. Why would they follow her to an ATM? If it IS true, then it's a case of one crazy guy who HAPPENED to be a chugger.

That's perfectly possible but it's possible she happened to need an atm (the 1st was broken) and he was still trying to convince her to sign up. I'm not clear on that but I'll ask the person involved.

aidan24326

These pests are becoming a menace to society. How why where and when I choose to give money to charity will not be decided by some self-righteous pr*ck shoving a clipboard in my face. FO!
This is a crappy in yer face way for charitys to be seeking money, and it is backfiring on them. Most people are getting really peed off with this. Plus, as previous poster mentioned, they have no way of knowing what charities you do/don't donate to already. So even if you're giving money to every charity in the galaxy you're still going to get 'chugged' 15 times per day regardless. Several major towns in England have banned them, and allegedly the people of said towns are now living in a utopian paradise free of clipboards and sanctimonious little w*****s who couldn't sell lifejackets to a seaload of drowning shipwreck victims.

walshb

They are a damn disgrace. Legalised beggars. If a child is found begging on our streets for immediate help or food, they are moved on and sometimes prosecuted, yet these people can do it with no intervention by the Gardai. And they don't actually want money direct, they want your bloody credit card details. These are our so called merciful charity workers. And it seems all of them are for foreign charity!!!

walshb

Come to think of it there has been cases of hard working buskers who have been prosecuted for trying to earn a few bob with their music and this chugging remains untouchable....what a crazy sh1thole we live in!!!!

Dudess

ned78 wrote:

Chuggers are what keeps me out of Cork City when I want to shop. It's incredible how many of them are on Patricks Street, and the cross streets to Oliver Plunkett Streets!

Oh, I don't know. Was home in Cork for a few days and only saw two of them. Couldn't believe the freedom I had to walk anywhere I wanted! In Dublin, Wicklow Street is the worst. If you want to go to Tower Records, you're ****ed.

Grem

Ive been living abroad for the majority of the last year in Perth and Sydney, and ive visited many other big cities Auckland, Melbourne etc but i've have never once seen a chugger in any of these cities.
Are the charities in Ireland just trying to cash in on the fact that Ireland is such a wealthy nation in recent years?

I certainly would consider Sydney to be a very wealthy city with a similar population of Ireland as a whole so why the absence of chuggers over here? How do Australian charities make their money? And why cant Ireland take a leaf out of their book and cut down on the annoying chuggers ready to ambush you at every street corner? :mad:

beretta_surf

ned78 wrote:

I wanted to sign up to a Charity via monthly direct debit. I couldn't really decide who to go for, but I ended up with UNICEF for 2 reasons. 1) Every other Charity uses annoying Chuggers, and 2) 75% of my money will actually get to the kids, and as I plan on never having kids, this is my little way of being what UNICEF call a 'Global Parent'.

Back on topic, Chuggers are what keeps me out of Cork City when I want to shop. It's incredible how many of them are on Patricks Street, and the cross streets to Oliver Plunkett Streets!

Just for your information, UNICEF do use street fundraising. Last summer they employed the agency Face to Face to go on the streets of Dublin for them though I am unsure if they are still employing them. A charity group would not recruit on-street fundraisers if it was not financially rewardable, and in fact many charities have seen their donations skyrocket as a result of hiring on-street fundraisers. I am not condoning the aggressive actions of some of the fundraisers, but merely stating that there is a good reason why charities go about fundraising this way - because it works.

walshb

Isn't that wh we're having this discusion?. Of course the charities employ these tacticts beacause they know that there are suckers out there are willing to reveal bank and cedit card details to them. What does this say for these so called charities