Entertainment For Lively Minds
Chuggers
Yesterday on Princes St, Edinburgh, there was a young man with a sign saying, 'Do you want a fun job?' With many misgivings, I stopped to find out more and it was a job as a chugger (AKA charity mugger AKA those folk who stand on the street and try to get passers-by to sign up for direct debits to certain charities).
I wasn't making notes, but the basic information I got was as follows:
• Rate of pay, £7odds an hour (can't remember how many hours a week)
• No commission-based earnings
• For the initial period of employment you're on a day's notice of the sack
• There is a target - three sign-ups a day. Anything less and it's not worthwhile paying someone to stand on the street failing to bring in the charity contributions. Fail to hit the target and sooner rather than later you'll be replaced.
I suppose you get chuggers to go out and accost the punters but if they prove no good at it after a few days - fewer than three a day sign-ups - they get binned. Presumably they spend the first two or three hours of a shift propositioning people like crazy to try and meet the daily target, then they can slow down, safe in the knowledge they still have a job tomorrow. Checking with employment law basics, you're only entitled to a week's notice of termination of employment after a month's service, so it's perfectly legal for the company employing the chugger to decide after a few days, or a week or whatever, that he or she isn't up to it and, 'Don't come back tomorrow.' After a month (and up to two years' service) the statutory minimum is a week's notice.
Charity or not, it's hardcore selling - like cold calling but face-to-face on the street when it's raining. Anyway, I didn't pursue 'the opportunity'.
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It's always interesting
Everyone I know who's worked at the head office of a charity tells me they're always full of the worst examples of petty politics, back-stabbing and generally bad behaviour that they've seen.
It's like how hippie businessmen always turn out to be the most ruthless.
Who...
...are the people who happily give their bank details out to someone in a branded hi-vis jacket on their local high street?
Why on earth would anyone do that?
Ageism & sexism alert
Chugging does seem to be a job tailor-made for flexible young people with the gift of the gab. None of the young blokes doing it seem to have been whacked by the ugly stick and that goes all the more for the young female chuggers. (Although maybe that's my hetero bias coming to the fore.) Either way, the answer to your question may well be, 'People who were effectively chatted up by cute 18-25-year-olds.'
Guilty as charged.
About 7 or 8 years ago on King St in Hammersmith. She was really fit.
Cancelled the DD about 3 days later when I awoke from an extended Nubile-Chugger-induced reverie.
I am authentically pathetic.
You're not alone
Mine was dressed up as Catwoman. The Tim Burton version. High Holborn, summer of 2004.
And she was Swedish
....
Where
Do I sign??
You...
...are all utterly pathetic.
to be fair
Bob admitted to 'authentic pathos' rather than 'utter pathos' and all i did was stop in the street and talk to recruitment bloke ...
one other thing recruitment bloke mentioned about the job was alcohol - absolute no drinking during the day ... as he said, 'Chuggers can't be boozers.'
Guilty as charged
I have hidden shallows.
...what first persuaded you to contribute to Save The Children?
I always reply, truthfully, that it was an amazing-looking redhead. After that I ask them how much money they, as a charity, have in the bank, and if it's more than I do I politely decline to increase my monthly contribution.
I do my bit for various charridees by Direct Debit.
If ever I am chugged by someone working for one of my chosen charities, I cancel the DD and pick another recipient; I can't believe it's an effective strategy for them in the long term, as it must surely lose them an awful lot of goodwill?
Quite so
All the good work that British Red Cross does has, for me, been destroyed by endless personalised address labels and rubbish pens.
I work out how much and to whom I want to send money; I do it in the rational environment of my home; after that, no-one else gets a bean.
I'm always shocked and appalled
that cash is not good enough for the chuggers anymore. They don't want it. You can't give them a few dollars and be on your way. No, they want access to your bank account for all eternity.
On the street where I work I've even seen them wheedle bank details out of people I know to be intellectually challenged. It's a disgrace.
as a CEO of a large local Chairty
I would NEVER approve of fundraising in this way. I find it offensive , invasive and often out of step with a values based operational philosophy. quite frankly feel the practice should be banned!
Excellent!!
What's the charity? Whats the web address?
For refusing to employ chuggers you've just earned yourself a donation
thanks stimpy, very kind
but you just make your donation to wherever your heart is at. This ain't the place for shaking tins.
however it is the place for Paul Heaton
Likewise
I'd donate based on what you've said, and I'm taking a punt that it's Mencap
I say Holmes.. that's remarkable
I have the pleasure of steering a local Mencap in Hampshire.
I do believe that that is now the position of National Mencap,which shares names but not management /funding, with the local mencaps ( they are all totally independent although affiliated). They used to employ chuggers but got some very bad feed back. Getting donations is a black art... But sadly charities can no longer just do what they do and hope the generosity of public will come good. It is a Market place.
Postscript
So I sent some money and there was a box to put comments, to explain why you were donating. I put a link to this thread and said "Because you don't use Chuggers".
Day or so later I got an e-mail saying they were sending the money back because they do and gave me this link
http://www.mencap.org.uk/get-involved/raise-money-mencap/face-face-fundr...
I admire the honesty so I'll see if I can send it back again.
When I used to walk down
Borough High Street, it used to feel like JPR Williams running down the wing at Cardiff Arms Park.
You mean a bit like this?
That
was pretty much my fantasy walk to the office.
Isn't this the video for "Bittersweet Symphony"?
.
They've moved up to London Bridge Brookster
It's a bottleneck, no escape...
They monopolised
the already annoyingly congested east exit at Clapham Junction for a while. So along with the line of people stood right in front of the barriers looking up at the train times and the women searching their handbags for their ticket right in front of the gates and those that decide to just stop, seemingly unaware that it's rush hour at Clapham Junction (the busiest train station in the universe IIRC) I also had the chuggers to dodge.
Fortunately they seem to have been moved outside which just leaves everyone else.
Some men have
been known to search through their pockets / bags in a clueless manner right in front of the gates too!
I'm sure they have
but in my daily experience it's 100% women. That's just a fact.
If you want me to diss men for equality's sake then their general odour and dog breath at close quarters on a cramped tube is most unwelcome.
Alan Partridge's Peartree Productions
has made a pilot show presented by Keith Chegwin - young charity street fundraisers take on physical and mental challenges, interspersed with performances by chart bands: Chuggers Play Pop.
Chegwin
I thought Keith was busy with his fly on the wall rehab show Cheggers Can't Be Boozers.
I heard he was punting
a programme where mums to be play their favourite hit records - Preggers Plays Pop.
Nah ...
... he's too busy with the new reality show in which he leads the world's Catholics (with hilarious results) - Cheggers Plays Pope.
No no no
He's handing over his cash to a growth in his lower colon - Cheggers Pays Polyp
Just before Christmas he was in panto at the
Wyvern Theatre in Swindon. Oh yes he was.
Mrs. Foxy took far too many artificial additive and colourant stimulated children to see the performance back in December. By going home time she could cheerfully have throttled Chegwin for his constant infantile wind-up routines involving "screaming louder than the kids from that school over there" and "bouncing higher in your seat than the kids from that school over there". Cheggers make's 'em vomit on the coach home. Cheggers makes sure that your teacher partners and friends are either catatonic or sobbing by 7 p.m. If I ever see him round these parts he'll be introduced to a thick lip faster than you can say, "He's behind you!".
IKEA
is a registered charity, so you can see where all these guys are comming from. I might be wrong, but I believe the scheme is - . Start a charity. 2. Install yourself as director. 3. Decide what your salary should be. 4. Sit back and order a mink-lined toilet.
I remember reading omewhere that the British Donkey Sanctuary (which I imagine to be 2 donkeys in a field in Lincolnshire, given that there can't be that many donkeys needing rescuing in the UK any more) had assets totalling 70 million quid.
Anyway, game show idea. Go out and pick up a few of these guys (many of which will doubtless be struggling 'musicians') and involve them in a talent how. 'Chuggers Play Pop'
Sorry!
And i thoughtI was being all original.
Donkey!
On a recent episode of the excellent TV show Coast, they stopped off somewhere in Devon where the biggest donkey sanctuary in Britain is located. I recall the figure of 400 retired donkeys being mentioned, with more coming in every week.
from where?
when did you last see a donkey being abused? or even a donkey? That seems to me to be someone who's thought 'how can I fund my donkey-owning habit' or that people who own donkeys routinely try to drown tm in the canal when they get bored with them on Boxing Day.
On a tangent slightly.....
I once saw a donkey in a canal. Grand Union, just north of Brentford before you get to the Boston Manor bridges by the old Rank buildings (if you know that part of the world). The water just about reached the donkey's shouldery bit. A curiously dressed "man of the road" was on the towpath rolling a fag. Assume they'd nipped through from Gunnersbury Park.
According to their website
they support 5,072 donkeys and mules in Sanctuaries and foster homes in the UK, Ireland and mainland Europe
Sorry - not trying to be a smart arse; I don't give any money to any animal charities, but the scope of what they are doing is a little bigger than is being suggested.
That said there are a lot of organisations that are charity in name only as far as I can see - for example an orchestra that used to benefit regularly from donations that a company I used to work for. I also bin all the sacks that come through the door and deliver any donations direct to the shops themselves.
My wife worked for Scope
Formerly the Spastics Society (as it was in those days come to think of it)
They brought in 'private sector expertise' - a chief exec who employed his mistress and he, the CFO and the mistress drove round in top of the range BMWs.
This isn't libellous - They all got nicked in the end but this sort of thing clearly goes on all the time. City wolves feasting on the accumulated largesse of gullible individuals when they think nobody is looking. Ditto local government where their 'expertise' was so prized for god alone knows what reason. Bit like what the City has done to your private sector pensions (and mine).
awh Man
I've been working in the third sector for a long time now,and over ten years in Senior/executive management....and frankly I'm appalled. Mistresses and BMW's... I'm doing something wrong. Mistress and BMW P'shaw!
I did say they got nicked
I'm really sorry if I offended you (I mean that)
I certainly don't see the third sector as proverbially bent. However I would worry about the motives of the 'private sector expertise' brought in to advise the third sector, - not just because of the Scope story (its about 20 years back) and the sorry litany in Private Eye but also because I have seen colleagues go utterly feral when presented with opportunities to strip the public purse to personal gain (I work in 'Big IT')
Hey FG....No offence even remotely taken
Im glad they got done and i despise anyone who uses charities and third sector work for that sort of illicit personal gain,and as you infer there is degree of that around.
Its just I ain't never been close to mistresses and BMW's , when do I get the sexy stuff is all!
Donkey Rides A Penny A Glass
I can't answer those questions but I seem to recall that many were ex-beach donkeys. They can live to a fair old age apparently.
40 plus
is not unusual. They are really nice animals, actually, but they can kick like a mule.
Charity
I like to make an informed decision about which charities I support. I typically am influenced by things that have happened to family and friends.
When someone is in plain view collecting for a charity, I find the thrusting of a collecting tin in my face coupled with the request to support the charity to be particularly annoying. A chugger (I have been spared this particular delight) would top even that.
Awkward
I hate chuggers, but I especially hate the 'we're not sending Christmas cards this year, we're giving the money to charity brigade'. So how much did you give then? I want to know.
More awkward was an email I had this year informing me that when I sent my Christmas card this could I pop in a donation to their favourite charity. Their reasoning was that of all the drinks I'd have this Christmas, foregoing one and putting the money toward a good cause instead would be A Good Idea.
I was outraged. I sent a card, but there was nothing in it.
Also, I resent being asked at a supermarket checkout (I'm singling you out, Whole Foods) whether I'd like to make a donation to their chosen charity, thereby making you feel awful if you don't and a sucker if you do.
I make may own arrangements where charity is concerned, and I don't want anyone telling me otherwise.
!!!
You are joking, right?
Sadly not
I very nearly took them off my list altogether. I wonder how many other people felt the same way?
Essentially that's a sort of
consumerist vesrion of charity. For a reasonable fee, You pay us to do the work and you've paid to absolve your Western guilt. Sorted
For meself, I've helped to raise a goodly sum over the past few years to open trade schools in Nepal, cause i believe strongly in education as a tool for economic growth. But that's a clear, focussed idea that visibly works.
Christmas Card Donations
I gave £50 to Crisis at Christmas and increased my monthly donation to Shelter from £10 to £15 instead of sending Christmas cards this year. I don't see why that's important, but you asked.
That's more than I would have spent on the cards and their associated postage, and I still sent cards to people who I don't see all that often. I just didn't send them to the people who I sit next to in the office and see every day as - hey, you know what? - I can wish them a Merry Christmas in person, so don't need to convey my wishes via a piece of card. What's more, I buy gifts for the guys who work directly for me to thank them for all their hard work through the year. I would hope that a bottle of wine would be more welcome than a card that they wouldn't have looked at again after opening it and which will have been in the recycling by last Friday in any case.
I'm not sure I understand why that's a bad thing. Did I miss a memo?
Good for you
I take my hat off to you, however of those I know who profess to do the same, I'm afraid I just don't believe they ever get round to it, hence my request.
Chugger Training
A friend of mine runs a company that carries this out for various charities. Being flirtatious is in the training, overly direct eye contact, touching, it's all there.
Flirtatious
eye contact and touching...please tell me thats not all at the same time...
Is your mate's company called...
...Spearmint Rhino?
I thought
flirty fishing went out with the Children Of God.
The Chugger spin
I hate the way they spin 180 degrees on one foot to ensnare their next target. And they always have some phoney compliment for you. " I like your ...erm...overbite, sir."
My wife
and 8 year old daughter were accosted by one recently...
"Excuse me... Are you sisters?"
My wife laughed scornfully, and told him to get a better line than that...
"The Chugger Spin"
isn't that by the Fall?
Which is a horiible insight
Into how vulnerable and lonely a lot of people must be, and how heartlessly people are willing to exploit them. I was a telephone sales guy fo a few regrettable weeks in the late 80s, - think I made about 80p - but there were guys their making a decent living by relentlessly bullying/charming old ladies into buying shit no-one could possibly actually want.
Surely that's what all Capitalist consumerism is
People charming us into buying shit we don't need.
Give as you earn
It doesn't seem to be too well known but the Give as You Earn Scheme is the bees knees if your employer facilitates it. You choose your charities and amounts and it comes off your pay before tax. It's pretty painless which some would say negates the point of giving. Those people are wrong though.
Chuggers?
My favourite is Brewster.
Wilson for me.
For anyone without a small child
Here's the explanation of the above two posts:
You can't beat Action Chugger!
The way they accost, harangue & bother me.
They have the nerve to get arsey with me when I say that "Sorry, I can't stop" with a lovely, kind smile on my face.
Do they think that I owe them a living?
Buying tickets
for the Hockney exhibition on the web from the Royal Academy was annoying. The entry price is £14 per adult. Reasonable, I thought, but not cheap for 90 minutes of admiring great art. So why is this price hidden halfway down the list and the top pice is the £14 with an additional £1.50 gift aid. Making the first and clearest adult price £15.50 not £14. It smacks of trickery rather than allowing people to make informed decisions.
That is cheeky
I thought it would be £14 to you and £1.50 they could get back from HMRC. But you got charged the extra?
But its OK - the effete London ruling classes need the subsidy (you know its almost like I said that just to be provoking)