An out-of-the-ordinary chugger



15:07

When I found the “Save The Children” chuggers at work, a tiny female chugger had already got herself a victim so I watched. After the chuggee departed (smiling!) the chugger played with her PDA a bit and then went back to chugging. Nothing over the top but within a couple of minutes she’s pulled in another victim! In less than 15 minutes, saw her get 4 hits!

I was so intrigued, I wandered in her direction nervously hoping to be on the receiving end of the patter. Too late, she drew in chuggee #5! As I passed, I caught a few words, nothing extraordinary, just asking him if he liked the town. She got him in just a minute, see below

15:17

15;18



The average chugger makes around 180 approaches before making a “sale”, this lady was hitting round 1 in 10. Perhaps that’s why she sports a “Team Leader” badge?

Another member of the team deploys the big smile and outstretched arms gambit to no avail.

Chuggers contribute 0.2%

Chugging apologists often draw attention to how much money chugging brings in for  good works.    I was curious to understand how charities managed to survive before chugging was invented around 20 years ago? The answer is that even now, chugging is not a huge source of funds!! Let’s dig into the detail a little...

According to the PFRA, £130 million is raised for charities every year by face to face fundraising. So that sounds like a lot of money? However, the Charity Commission tells us that in 2011, the total income for all England and Wales charities is £55.87 billion. So chugging brings in around 0.2%! Are the reputation risks worth it?

Now, some charities will point out that they are much more dependent on chugging than that. Couple of points on that:

·        How did those charities survive before chugging?

·        Why are those charities so dependent on chugging? Have they actually tried less unpleasant business methods?

More alert readers will point out that these figures ignores chugger costs and that doorstep chugging is included too. That just reduces the 0.2% figure

Four Million Annoyances

The PFRA report recruitment of 238273 donors in 2011/12. We know that each donor recruited entails around 180 chugs so that's nearly 40 million chugs in all. Lord Hodgson's report says that 6% of people actually like being chugged.

This 6% figure may be a lttle high since it probably relies on stopping people in the street and asking them but lets run with it. So 94% don't prefer the chugging approach and lets say that just 10% of those really hate it.

So there are around 4 million unpleasant experiences for the public at the hands of chuggers. That may be why chuggers are hated.

Greenpeace again

Counted 6 Greenpeace chugger in Cheltenham today. Under the terms of the SMA they will only be allowed 4 but the SMA isn't in force yet :( I wonder if there will be redundancies? Or will they move some chuggers out to unregulated  locations?

Avoiding Chugging Charities

If you wish to boycott charities using, chuggers, the PFRA Member List will be useful. For those in the Irish Republic, here's the members of the Irish Fundraising Forum for Direct Recruitment

The IFFDR seems to use the term "Direct Recruitment" for chuging.

Canal Chuggers

Chuggers have taken to the waterways to ply their trade! The Canal & River Trust (formerly British Waterways) has sent chuggers after boaters who already pay thousands to moor their boats. Complaints on the Trust's Facebook page have been censored.

Full story

Some great jounalism on chugging

Very well written piece from the US
You might need a sick bag for the final page where a chugger doesn't give up despite the chuggee being $200,000 in debt!

Future of Chugging

Chugging is essentially a sales technique and although it may seem fairly new, similar things have happened in other industries such as financial services, double glazing, home energy, timeshare etc. Abusive practices are identified, “self-regulated” and often become the subject of direct or indirect legislation. Also, the public becomes accustomed to dealing with it. So the “market” becomes much tougher even if player numbers stay static.

 I expect chugging income is now at around about its peak and will start to decline. However, expect to see chugging in more diverse places. The Site Management Agreements between the PFRA and Local Authorities will restrict chugger numbers in many cities. As a result, chuggers may move out to smaller communities. I don’t expect to see chugging outside the “Bull” in Ambridge (BBC Radio 4 soap, “The Archers”) but smaller towns and large villages will be tried. A challenge in these places for chuggers is that the demographics are different. Fewer young people and more young marrieds for whom charity definitely does begin at home.

Another possible development is that charities will stop joining the PFRA to escape the restrictions members have to work under. If that happens, expect a LOT of heat as PFRA-free charities flood sites with their chuggers regardless of any cosy PFRA-Council agreements.

Ultimately, chugging will fade - and some comedian will launch a "Save The Chugger" campaign.

Curious Chugger Behavior

I had to pass through a chugging zone 4 times over a period of a few hours today. Each time, I saw the aggressive Greenpeace chugger. Except he wasn't in uniform or chugging. He was standing around doing an occasional little "chugger dance" but not seeking to engage with anyone. He looked quite depressed.

I didn't see any other chuggers for sure. There was a man with a rolled stripey umbrella who looked like he could have been a chugger striding away from the zone at around 1.05pm. So it's possible they were only doing a half-day but my friend just couldn't give up the street?

A Chugger who loves his job

OK, this is from the US but still relevant. This chugger may inspire some readers. He makes me cringe. Should we try to understand his point of view? Maybe. Should he understand that what he does causes a lot of normal people pain? Yes!

Should 'chuggers' be more tightly regulated?

Guardian poll - currently stands at 93% say "Yes"

Lord Hodgson's Report

This has been extensively leaked but here is the official copy of the entire report

Dealing with persistent chuggers

Most chuggees will know the problem - you give the chugger a clear "No" but it doesn't stop them. That is against the "PFRA Rule Book (Street F2F)" which says in part:


PFRA-INTERPRETED RULE P5.3.1a: Immediate Termination

If a person clearly and obviously indicates by words or gestures that they do not wish to be engaged by a fundraiser either at the initial approach or during a conversation/engagement the fundraiser OUGHT to desist from the engagement and make no further attempt to engage that person.

Sanction

The penalty imposed for breach of this rule is 50 points.

Since this rule is often broken, how about we all help the PFRA out by catching errant chuggers? Here's how:

1. Set your mobile phone to record and pop it in a pocket
2. Go to the chugging area of your town
3. Get chugged
4. Say "No thank you!" loudly and clearly
5. The chugger doesn't give up
6. Pull your phone out and photograph the chugger
7. (Optional) Tell the chugger "You're nicked"
8. Send the recording and photo to the charity concerned, the PFRA and blog it somewhere
9. Note: I think it's quite likely that the chugger and his team leader will not meekly accept the situation! The might apologise and promise not to do it again, or they might get aggressive and claim you are breaking the law

AS explained elsewhere the PFRA sanctions system is pretty toothless so make sure you don't rely on them.

Related links

Greenpeace chuggers don't like photography
Tips for chugger monitoring
How the chugger "points" system works

Report tells charities to crack down on plague of chuggers

That's the Sunday Telegraph headline today.

The publication of the document, which includes 113 recommendations for change, adds to growing pressure on charities following a Sunday Telegraph investigation into street fundraisers, known as 'chuggers’, which showed how the public was lied to, and how rules - and even the law - were broken.

Lord Hodgson, the Tory peer who has compiled the 159-page report, told The Sunday telegraph that some high streets were “becoming suffocated with chuggers” and that face-to-face fundraising needed to be conducted in an “orderly and appropriate way”.

Full story

Spoof chugger training

PFRA not invited to Institute summit on future of face-to-face

This is interesting. The PFRA is the chuggers trade association but they are being left out in the cold as the Institute of Fundraising plans to hold a fundraising directors-only meeting about the current state of face-to-face fundraising.

"The IoF yesterday announced that in light of media exposure of face-to-face fundraisers failing to meet standards it will hold a summit on the issue on 23 July. The Public Fundraising Regulatory Association, set up to regulate and enforce standards in face-to-face fundraising, has thus far not been invited to attend and was not involved in the summit’s planning"

Full story

Greenpeace Chuggers

Interesting encounter with Greenpeace chuggers recently. I'd taken a few pictures and wandered off and one of them decided to follow me!

Chugger: Excuse me
CM: (turns round to see a Greenpeace Chugger) Oh! No thanks!
Chugger: Can I have a word with you?
CM: No Thanks! (Carries on walking)
Chugger: (mumbles – didn't catch it)
CM: No Thanks!
Chugger: We’re just going to call the Police now
CM: Really!!! (Continues walking away – chugger gives up)

So, a somewhat persistent and aggressive tactic? I don't think so. He was well out of the main chugging zone so I suspect he wanted to object to my photography. I know that a few other anti-chuggers have had similar problems - although not necessarily with Greenpeace.

Was I breaking a law? Probably not.

(As part of Greenpeace is not a charity, you can be picky and say they can't be Chuggers)

Cartoon in Private Eye

Too many chuggers?

I was out earlier monitoring the chuggers. They seemed quite well behaved. As I watched, they were almost religiously keeping to the "3 steps rule" that is designed to prevent them chasing you down the street. Then I realised there were 5 chuggers. What's so magic about 5? Well, there is a "Site Management Agreement" for 3 chuggers plus one team leader so I decided to try and capture some evidence!

Initial attemps with a still camera didn't go well. The street was very busy and it would be difficult to prove that all 5 were active at one time. So I switched to video mode. This was much better. In under two minutes, I'd caught them all! Another advantage of using video like this is that done right  no one can be sure your filming them. They just think it's a guy with an ordinary camera waving it around. Also, for a chugger-counting task, you don't need well composed pictures. Even a rear view of a chugger will do.

Slightly less good news when I checked the SMA at home. Although signed, it doesn't come into force for about 6 weeks.

Still, a useful practice run

Too late for this victim - digit extraction already commenced!

The woman with the red top mid-centre is the chugger. Look carefully for the faded "Shelter" on her back

Some tips for chugger monitoring

1. Check if the place you're monitoring has a "Site Management Agreement" with the PFRA. You could try asking the PFRA but they might not tell you so asking your local council is the way forward. Probably not the "County" council or the "Parish" council but the one in between. May be called a "Borough" or "District" Council. Another route is to check press reports.
2. The SMA may also give you the exact chugger locations and their time of operation.
3. Stroll through the chugging zone and see if you can spot any chuggers. Sometimes you won't see any. Sometimes they break for lunch. Even if they are permitted to chug until (say) 1800 they may leave at 1700.
4. Don't try to record/film/test the chuggers straight away. Instead just watch. Ideally, you'll do this from somewhere they can't see you. Some cafes have upstairs areas, grab a coffee and a window seat. Or stand just outside the chugging zone like you are waiting for someone.
5. What you'll likely notice is that some of the chuggers are behaving themselves perfectly. They don't pursue people and take "No" for an answer.
6. Then you'll spot him (or her)! The one who is just to enthusiastic, desperate and in people's faces. This is the one to focus on

OK, you have your target, so what's next? Ideally you want to capture evidence of bad behaviour. Here's a few ideas but do tailor your method!

Photographs

• Still photographs are probably best just for illustration. You are unlikely to get convincing evidence although operating a camera in "burst mode" may work.
• Video is likely to collect evidence better
• Unless you have a concealed camera, chuggers will notice you. Quite quickly in my experience. A few people have had altercations with chuggers over this. I had one try to follow me so I just dodged him until he must have realised how bad he looked chasing me!
• A protected location such as an overlooking cafe window is ideal.

Sound Recording

A modern sound recorder in your pocket is not only invisible to the chuggers, it doesn't need any attention from you. It's ideal if you plan to get into conversation with chuggers - not something you'd normally do - but there's lots of scope for catching them telling you lies as well.

Hope this helps!

Perhaps the best funny video on chugger persistence

Another non-chugger

Here's a street evangelist. Notice the absence of a tabard, T-shirt or clipboard but his nearby sign makes his mission clear.

It may look like he's accosted the man with the "Iceland" bag but if I'd got my camera out earlier I could have posted a nice video of Mr Iceland approaching the preacher and asking for directions - which were freely given before handing him a leaflet as an afterthought.

Gives me an idea for dealing with real chuggers. If surprised by one, how about this gambit:

Chugger: Can you spare a minute.....
You: Can you direct me to the Town Hall? I'm very late for a meeting!

Charity apologieses as ‘chuggers’ target bus passengers

Just when you thought you could avoid chuggers by crossing the street and running like hell...

Article from 'The Scotsman'

From across the pond

They have chuggers in Canada too. This extract from Rebecca Coleman's blog shows how what chuggers do really is harassment:

``And the first 48 times I was approached by one of these (generally good looking and pleasant) young people, I politely said “no thanks” and kept moving.' '

Charity begins at home?

A close relative of the chuggers has started turning up on residential doorsteps. Some have suggested "churglars" as a name. You can understand it - the same tabards, T-shirts, guilt-trips and a quest for your bank account details. They are undeterred by my "No Cold Calling" signs and some find them even more objectionable than street-walking chuggers

Here's an idea: Why not leverage the Mailing Preference Service? They keep a database of people who don't want junk mail. Why not extend it to covering people who don't want doorstep hassle?

What’s so wrong with chugging?

"I am a fundraiser in my day job; I have been working for UK charities for over 10 years..." Quite a thoughtful piece, read on

Another one

She talks about chugging in Scotland

A Chugger who loves his job?

This guy is gutted that he lost his chugging job!

Charities ditch street 'chuggers' after Sunday Telegraph investigation

The Sunday Telegraph has written a story here. My cynical nature makes me wonder if they'd have wrriten "Charities sign up more street 'chuggers' after Sunday Telegraph investigation" if it was the case?