New hotline to monitor Gloucester 'chuggers'

"CHARITY workers who harass shoppers in Gloucester are going to be tackled by a new complaints hotline. Council chiefs are setting up a direct line so people passing through the city can call if they feel threatened...."

Full article from The Citizen

Is Chugging Legal?

Since chuggers ask for direct debit sign-up rather than actual cash, they escape a lot of legal issues. Some local authorities have got themselves local bylaws saying that no person in the street or a public place should solicit custom for a service or seek to gather information in such a manner as to cause an obstruction or to give reason for annoyance with a fine of £500. No one has been prosecuted yet – possibly because cases may be hard to prove.


It’s my belief that neither the councils or the industry want a case to go to trial. If the chuggers were to win, it would be open season on the High Street. If they lost it would be a terrible blow to the industry. Although both sides would like to win such a case, they probably fear losing it even more.


So, the chugger’s trade club, the PFRA have been seeking to head off the possibility by negotiating “Site Management Agreements” with the councils to limit the location, days and number of chuggers. The attraction for Councils is that they don’t have to negotiate with individual charities. For the PFRA, it means that charities almost have to join up if they want to use chuggers.

A few documents on Site Management Agreements:

• Text of an agreement in Lancaster
•  Council approves scheme to regulate 'chuggers' in Cheltenham
• Wolverhampton limits days street fundraisers can operate
• Islington Council seeks ban on street fundraising

Save the Dinosaur

This video by one of the chugger agencies shows how chuggers are trained to be passionate about any cause. If only chuggers had been around 65 million years ago, the dinosaurs wouldn't have gone extinct. Watch it, it's fun!

Donor drop-out rate increases

"Nearly a third people who sign up to street fundraisers – the much-maligned chuggers – never go on to make the first payment, according to the latest figures which expose a rise in drop-outs.
 According to the Public Fundraising Regulatory Association’s annual Donor Acquisition & Retention Survey, ‘no shows’ jumped from 21% in 2010 to 30% in the 2011 calendar year – with poor quality staff being blamed. "

Full article by DecisionMarketing

Regulation?

The chuggers trade organisation calls itself the Public Fundraising Regulatory Association and says it's very strict about good behaviour. I downloaded a copy of the "PFRA Rule Book (Street F2F)" to see just how tough they are. Here's how the penalty system works:

• "Providers" (IE chugger agencies) accrue points for various offences
• These range from 20-100 points
• Every third offence counts double.
• Typical offence: Ignoring a victim's clear indication that they don't want to engage with the chugger scores 50 points
• Points are valued at £1
• BUT, no money is actually paid unless the total gets to £1000
• Points over a year old are forgotten.

So, for an agency to get fined £1000, they have to have their chuggers caught and reported misbehaving at the 50 point level 8 times in a year (remember, every 3rd offence counts double)

How many people hassled by a chugger jump through all the hoops to get a "fine" of £50 imposed? My guess is "not many". And even if chuggers were spot fined the £50 there and then, they (and the agency) can pay it out of their earnings in less than a day.

It's hardly draconian.

'Chugger' secrets exposed by undercover investigation

Undercover video from the Telegraph shows chuggers being encouraged to break the rules by their managers/team leaders


Original article

Not a chugger

They say that if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it is a duck. Identifying chuggers isn't quite that easy. There are people of similar appearance and tactics on our High Streets who have nothing to do with a charity - they are purely commercial. Here's a guy (blue top) I spotted touting handbag catalogues. Notice the casual dress, a fair amount of hand movement but also a couple of punters actually seem interested in his brochure!

Next, one of his colleagues, complete with hand gestures who was offering the same brochure.

So how do you tell the difference between a chugger and an ordinary tout?

• A real chugger might not have a drinks bottle although their rule book only bans drinking alcohol "in branded clothing"
• Real chuggers must display branding - unlike these guys

What is less obvious is the response of the public. These guys succeeded in getting the interest of around 1 in 4 people they approached. Now compare this with chugging - according to an article in Third Sector chuggers approach around 180 people per sign-up. Of course, these figures are not directly comparable - and my "1 in 4" was a just a quick observation.

However, it suggests to me that public are quite good at spotting chuggers - and they don't like them.

Chuggers are becoming harder to spot

This picture shows what I mean. The chugger (on the right of the picture) has handed the victim a PDA rather than a form on a clipboard. This is doubtless more efficient than using dead trees. Damn! I used to rely on the tell-tale clipboard to easily distinguish between chuggers and ordinary people. The other thing you'll notice about the chugger is overal dull clothing. Yes, there is a large "Greenpeace" on the sleeve but the chest logo is quite small.

The Chugger Club "The Public Fundraising Regulatory Association" has a rule book which states:

An ordinary member of the public should be able to clearly identify a person as a fundraiser working on behalf of a charity from a distance of 5 metres

If you look at this guy sideways, I think he's OK on that. From the front? Actually, he is wearing a bright T-shirt under his coat, and let's be fair, it wasn't the warmest of days.

My second picture shows the team breaking up for the day and another chugger's branded T-shirt is clearly visible.

You may also notice a green umbrella (bottom left). I didn't see it deployed but it wasn't raining.