Beggers on stations

[soil]

As a rule of thumb, if they have TV adverts, I refuse to give to them...

I made the mistake of giving to a rather plaintive looking chugger for the Red Cross once. I quickly cancelled the direct debit when I found out their company was going to receive around £100 in commission for this. I asked, but the Red Cross refused to tell me how much money would be received by the chugging company, so I made sure to cancel.

 

[Flamingo]

The last chugger to approach me was some out-of-work actor from the NSPCC.
"Would you like to stop child abuse" she cheerfully asked me, and was not impressed when I answered "No, I enjoy it"!

 

[Tomonthetrain]

...like the rather obscene admin wages of certain charities

When I say charitys I mean things like Scouting (well I was a scout as a lad - 3rd generation scout!)
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

The last chugger to approach me was some out-of-work actor from the NSPCC.
"Would you like to stop child abuse" she cheerfully asked me, and was not impressed when I answered "No, I enjoy it"!

I usually interrogate anyone who tries to be a chugger towards me. After I've played about trying to confuse them that is!

 

[jon0844]

The last chugger to approach me was some out-of-work actor from the NSPCC.
"Would you like to stop child abuse" she cheerfully asked me, and was not impressed when I answered "No, I enjoy it"!

He won't have been from the NSPCC... and if he didn't look down at his tabard he probably won't have remembered which charity he was 'working for'!!

The charities now use agencies, which they pay a flat rate too (so they can insist they don't pay the people on the street commission) but of course the agencies have various incentives and targets and high-pressure techniques.

I am rarely rude to people for no reason, but I'd probably say that a chugger is the one person that I'd seriously considering saying 'F off and die' before they even opened their mouth!

 

[GatwickDepress]

If they have television adverts that attempt to guilt-trip me into handing them over money, or hire an external agency to accost passers-by, then I won't be handing over money to that organisation. If anything, local hospices and the like with perhaps a few posters up in the local supermarket get it, not those behemoths.

Also, why is it those adverts seem to appear precisely when I'm about to tuck into cod and chips? Is there a co-ordinated teatime campaign or something?

 

[Hyphen]

He won't have been from the NSPCC... and if he didn't look down at his tabard he probably won't have remembered which charity he was 'working for'!!

The charities now use agencies, which they pay a flat rate too (so they can insist they don't pay the people on the street commission) but of course the agencies have various incentives and targets and high-pressure techniques.

I actually did this job door-to-door for a short while as a student (flame me now, although I quit once my minimum 6 week trial period was up) - you're right they do use agencies but in my experience it's not a flat fee at all.

They actually use Gift Aid (28% added on by the government) as the incentive to reimburse the agency and the people on the street. So let's say I get someone to sign up to a direct debit of £10/month with GA. That's £120 in the first year. The GA on that would be £33.60. Of that, I would have received £24 in commission (20%) and the agency would have taken the remaining £9.60 (remaining 8%). The actual £120 donated would then go to the charity.

For donations made without Gift Aid, I got a flat 5% of the cost of the first year's donations. For the above example, I'd have taken £6 in commission, with the charity seeing less of the actual donation.

Of course, whilst we only took commission from the first year's income, these direct debits were often multi-year contracts (minimum 2, up to 10 years)...
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Also, why is it those adverts seem to appear precisely when I'm about to tuck into cod and chips? Is there a co-ordinated teatime campaign or something?

Yes. We were specifically told to always do our rounds as close to teatime as possible, to guarantee people were in...

 

[ATW Alex 101]

There is a beggar outside South Kensington with a very convincing crutch at the side of him (it was quite a new fancy one!) and what does my brother do, give him a quid :roll: . He obviously didn't know that he will go home to his kids and use the money to buy drugs or alcohol. Apparently London Underground look on camera to see how much they get and they can get up to £200 a day!

 

[island]

As a rule of thumb, if they have TV adverts, I refuse to give to them...

I made the mistake of giving to a rather plaintive looking chugger for the Red Cross once. I quickly cancelled the direct debit when I found out their company was going to receive around £100 in commission for this. I asked, but the Red Cross refused to tell me how much money would be received by the chugging company, so I made sure to cancel.

Any charity I ever see a chugger for is immediately banned permanently from the list of charities I would ever consider donating to. The information I have is that the cost of acquiring a new direct debit donation is around twelve times the average monthly donation. In other words, the charity doesn't see the first year's donations. Not playing that game. And it also gets me annoyed that charities require all manner of licensing and paperwork to put someone with a coin collection box on the street, but chuggers don't need anything at all (except in a few cities that have brought in byelaws).

 

[Roverman]

I don't think many of the current beggars are ex- olympians. I am willing to be corrected, however

Well there was that team that literally disappeared during the Games

 

[David Goddard]

Was in Glasgow at the weekend and got approached by someone asking for 90p. Said no and continued walking, and then realised they were smoking as well, so called back to them that if they didnt smoke they would already have a lot more than 90p already.

 

[Clip]

Any charity I ever see a chugger for is immediately banned permanently from the list of charities I would ever consider donating to. The information I have is that the cost of acquiring a new direct debit donation is around twelve times the average monthly donation. In other words, the charity doesn't see the first year's donations. Not playing that game. And it also gets me annoyed that charities require all manner of licensing and paperwork to put someone with a coin collection box on the street, but chuggers don't need anything at all (except in a few cities that have brought in byelaws).

Its like you never read the post above yours in the 2 hour's since someone with direct experience of working for a chugging organisation.

Apart from the legion I only give to Mind and Barnardo's.

 

[island]

Its like you never read the post above yours in the 2 hour's since someone with direct experience of working for a chugging organisation.

Apart from the legion I only give to Mind and Barnardo's.

What makes you think that (a) I don't have, or know someone who has, such experience, and (b) that all such organizations are the same?

 

[Hyphen]

What makes you think that (a) I don't have, or know someone who has, such experience, and (b) that all such organizations are the same?

Fair enough argument. I can only speak from my own experience!

I'll not dirty the name of the charity I was collecting for (though it's one of the biggest in the UK) but suffice to say it wasn't worth my time and effort - was a horrible job and something I'm rather glad to see the back of.

Apart from the legion I only give to Mind and Barnardo's.

Curiously, after ditching the door-to-door stuff, I decided to do something a bit more worthwhile for charity - I volunteered two afternoons a week in a Barnardo's charity shop for about 2 years.
(or is mentioning charity shops opening another can of worms??)

 

[island]

I'm fine with charity shops, although it saddens me that some have now had to put up notices saying they do not haggle.

 

[soil]

I actually did this job door-to-door for a short while as a student (flame me now, although I quit once my minimum 6 week trial period was up) - you're right they do use agencies but in my experience it's not a flat fee at all.

They actually use Gift Aid (28% added on by the government) as the incentive to reimburse the agency and the people on the street. So let's say I get someone to sign up to a direct debit of £10/month with GA. That's £120 in the first year. The GA on that would be £33.60. Of that, I would have received £24 in commission (20%) and the agency would have taken the remaining £9.60 (remaining 8%). The actual £120 donated would then go to the charity.

For donations made without Gift Aid, I got a flat 5% of the cost of the first year's donations. For the above example, I'd have taken £6 in commission, with the charity seeing less of the actual donation.

Of course, whilst we only took commission from the first year's income, these direct debits were often multi-year contracts (minimum 2, up to 10 years)...

I doubt this was the whole story.

According to the chuggers' own body, the typical cost to the charity of chugging someone is £80 to £160.

http://www.pfra.org.uk/face-to-face...bject_to_chuggers/money_doesnt_go_to_charity/

Although this is a rather subtle point, as a financial transaction, all a donor’s money goes directly to the charity in that it is never held by the PFO at all. The PFO does not take the money, deduct its fees and then pass the rest to the charity. The money usually goes into the charity’s unrestricted income stream (i.e. not allocated or restricted to a specific project; F2F is rarely used to raise money for restricted income for specific projects). The charity then pays the PFO its agreed fee from its fundraising budget.

In other words there was most likely a separate payment from the charity to the chugging company.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Curiously, after ditching the door-to-door stuff, I decided to do something a bit more worthwhile for charity - I volunteered two afternoons a week in a Barnardo's charity shop for about 2 years.
(or is mentioning charity shops opening another can of worms??)

There's another charity scam here, the door-to-door bags that come round (which I should mention don't go anywhere near the charity shops)!

We had one of these collections at my children's school. They go to a private school and obviously some of the parents are extremely rich and have very expensive clothes.

This was raising something like £30 per tonne. I'm not sure how many Barbour jackets and Boden skirts you get to the tonne.

But I suspect it's quite a few.

Have a look here http://www.charitybags.org.uk/

Absolute scam. 99.9% of these bags are run by private companies. The best case is that the private company, which is probably run by some dodgy third world businessman, claims it will split the profits 50/50, the worst case is that they get pennies.

 

[jon0844]

What makes you think that (a) I don't have, or know someone who has, such experience, and (b) that all such organizations are the same?

I think charities and agencies have perhaps changed or come up with different ways to do things in order to counter the claims made against them that they pay chuggers too much, the charity doesn't get much money and so on.

I do think the chugger on the street likes to give the impression that s/he is a volunteer and gets nothing from the money you paid - which (if like detailed above) is technically true and therefore not a lie, just reliant on you not understanding the bigger picture.

Rather like a lot of advertising that relies on Joe Public being ignorant and interpreting things incorrectly!

 

[Deerfold]

There's another charity scam here, the door-to-door bags that come round (which I should mention don't go anywhere near the charity shops)!

We had one of these collections at my children's school. They go to a private school and obviously some of the parents are extremely rich and have very expensive clothes.

This was raising something like £30 per tonne. I'm not sure how many Barbour jackets and Boden skirts you get to the tonne.

But I suspect it's quite a few.

Have a look here http://www.charitybags.org.uk/

Absolute scam. 99.9% of these bags are run by private companies. The best case is that the private company, which is probably run by some dodgy third world businessman, claims it will split the profits 50/50, the worst case is that they get pennies.

We got a bag left by a large charity and were asked to leave it on our doorstep on a specific date. We were due a clearout anyway so we did. However the bag was not collected and we were not home that evening so it sat on our doorstep advertising we'd not gone home since the rpevious morning to any passer-by. We ended up giving the contents to a different charity.

Same here.

I used to think buying a copy of the Big Issue was a relatively good idea (in fact it probably still is usually), but the last time I bought one the person selling it claimed it was their last one and they wanted more money than the cover price.

Needless to say they got their Big Issue back, along with a few Big Words for free.

These are unlikely to be registered Big Issue sellers. They have a fairly strict code of conduct - they have to display their ID at all times, are not allowed to ask for more than the cover price or not give the magazine once paid.

They also shouldn't sell whilst sitting down or outside of certain hours (not sure exactly what hours they are).

 

[NathanPrior]

The ones at Charing Cross are annoying as hell, they've been there for over 5 years I think

 

[Statto]

If they have television adverts that attempt to guilt-trip me into handing them over money, or hire an external agency to accost passers-by, then I won't be handing over money to that organisation. If anything, local hospices and the like with perhaps a few posters up in the local supermarket get it, not those behemoths.

Also, why is it those adverts seem to appear precisely when I'm about to tuck into cod and chips? Is there a co-ordinated teatime campaign or something?

Lol, I always switch over as soon as these adds come on.

I find it sticks in the throat that these Charities trying to get viewers to donate to them. whilst spending thousands of £££s on TV adds & TV adds don't come cheap either.

 

[rebmcr]

I just have an annual budget (that goes to Child's Play), and no more than that. That way I can say 'No' without feeling the pressure of guilt.

 

[Butts]

I just have an annual budget (that goes to Child's Play), and no more than that. That way I can say 'No' without feeling the pressure of guilt.

What - to "Chucky"

 

[jon0844]

Wouldn't you agree to pay Chucky to leave you alone?

 

[deltic1989]

There was a story I heard once from a friend about a beggar that was sitting at Plymouth (or Penzance one of the two). This beggar apparently had a sign saying " Falklands War Veteran....Please Help". My mate being the charitable sort dropped a pound into his cup and propmtly recieved the reply "Muchos Gracias"

Joking aside though, I like to try to help people if I can. I very rarely give cash to beggars but will pop and fetch them a cup of tea and a bacon butty, or give them a ciggie.
Most aren't appreciative of food and just want cash, which they will never get as I don't know that they aren't going to spend it on drugs or alcohol as soon as I'm out of sight.
As for buskers they will get 50p or a pound off me if they are good. We have a couple of really good ones in Nottingham, including an old fella who is a demon on the sax.

Had one guy the other week who was asking for £1.70 (Standard NCT single fare) to get to Clifton. As that was where I was going I offered to buy his ticket for him on the bus. I can't repeat the reply I got here.

 

[Smudger105e]

I do not give to beggars, period.

On one occasion I was out on a night on the tiles with some wrok colleagues in Nottingham, and was asked outside McDonald's by a guy for some money to buy a cup of tea. I declined, went into McD's and bought him a burger, chips and a tea. He seemed genuinely grateful.

But I would never give someone money because they asked for it.

I have been approached twice near King's Cross by woman asking me for 'business'. Does this count as begging?

 

[Butts]

I do not give to beggars, period.

On one occasion I was out on a night on the tiles with some wrok colleagues in Nottingham, and was asked outside McDonald's by a guy for some money to buy a cup of tea. I declined, went into McD's and bought him a burger, chips and a tea. He seemed genuinely grateful.

But I would never give someone money because they asked for it.

I have been approached twice near King's Cross by woman asking me for 'business'. Does this count as begging?

Was she offering a Franchise or an Investment Opportunity

 

[Smudger105e]

[/B]


Was she offering a Franchise or an Investment Opportunity

Well once it was a rather attractive Eastern European lady while I was getting money from the cashpoint, so it may have been an idea as to where to invest my time and money, the second time was an old woman who I wouldn't have touched with a bargepole on her looks, and I was with a 3 year old boy at the time. It did make me wonder what she was thinking, although she probably was not thinking at all!!

 

[Galvanize]

Theres a regular begger who seems to frequent Lewisham station late at night, normally you'll see him as you walk through the barriers out of the station, always asking
"Spare change? Some food? A hostel?", but I don't think anyone gives him anything. I certainly don't give to beggers at all.

 

[island]

I think I know the guy you're on about. He also tried to sell me a Travelcard at the bus stop there a while ago.