Friends of the Earth flout the rules

What is it about environmental charities? Just over a week ago, I reported misbehaviour by Greenpeace and today Friends of the Earth were committing an almost identical offence around 15:26 (which was when I reported them to the Council) This time, the chugger was about 10m further out of the chugger zone than the Greenpeace one and I got much better pictures of him at work. To be fair, the two girls seem to be enjoying his sales patter. As the Council promised they'd act immediately, I hung around to watch the action. It wasn't quite what I expected. At 15:39 two fairly cool, confident twenty-something guys joined the girls and the chugger and cheerful conversation continued for about a minute before the chugger suddenly left in the direction of the official chugging zone. I'm not sure if the two other guys were just friends of the girls or if they were plain clothes reps from FoE smoothly extracting the erring chugger from the situation. Or maybe two guys "rescuing" the "damsels in distress" and trying to chat them up?

Greenpeace misbehave!

There is now a Site Management Agreement in place in Cheltenham that (amongst other things) restricts chugging to the High Street between Pitville Street and Winchcombe Street. At 11:44 today, I found a Greenpeace chugger in the section of the High St between Winchcombe Street and Rodney Road.

So,  I snapped him with the camera on my phone. In this picture, the chugger is the guy with the dark green top wearing a rucksack underneath the "C" in "Cheltenham & Gloucester". At the time I checked that the top had a "Greenpeace" label and there were similar tops being worn by 3 other chuggers. He was actually  "working", IE, I saw him approaching members of the public. The street in the foreground is the High St and towards the left, you can see into Winchcombe St. On the extreme left you can see the temporary fencing for the building works at the Regent Arcade. Perhaps the consequent narrowing of the foot way attracted him?

Next, I rang the Council and told them what was going on. I was told that the Council themselves don't regulate chuggers but they'd pass it on to the PFRA "hot line" who would get in touch with Greenpeace.

It will be interesting to see if any action follows!

Anyone can say "No" to a chugger?

Saw a chugger with a "captive" victim today. A young man in his twenties was standing "listening" to a chugger. I didn't have my camera with me so I'll  describe how the victim looked:

• Bored and fed up
• Arms across the body
• Feet pointed away from the chugger

The chugger meanwhile was getting more and more "enthusiastic". Perhaps he sensed he wasn't getting through? I was clear to me that the chuggee was a lost cause. So why did he stand there and take it? Well, a lot of people are brought up to be "polite" and it would have been "rude" to interrupt the chugger or  just walk away. The chuggee had stopped for the chugger but had no "polite" exit tactic. The chugger was either staggeringly unaware, or, more likely, just didn't care. Maybe the chuggee signed up to bring the experience to a "polite" end - I didn't stay to watch.

Some would have no sympathy for the chuggee - I've even seen it suggested that if you're not able to say "No" to a chugger, you shouldn't be allowed out on your own! However, there are thousands of people who while not having any recognised mental disability cannot deal with these situations effectively. Some chuggers have the sensitivity and decency to recognise the signs and release their victims early. Had-nosed chuggers don't care and having captured a victim will relentlessly pursue a "sale".

If, like me, you are quite capable of being rude to strangers accosting you in the street, you may not understand any of the above!

Guardian to discontinue use of the "chugger" word?

The Guardian did a new article on the new PFRA rules today which doesn't use the "chugger" word at all. The reason why is to be found in the "Comments" section. LisaHopkins objected to the use of the 'c' word in the original and Guardian caved in and changed it to "Charity Fundraiser".

It remains to be seen if this self-censorship will continue.

Chugging Discussion Group

I've started a discussion group related to Chugging. The group welcomes posts from those who are in favour of this practice as well as those against or unsure. Robust discussion is permitted but be aware that this group is public and abusive behaviour will NOT help your cause – quite the reverse. I reserve the right to ban/remove posts from abusive members but I’m going to try not to. Posts and subsequent discussions must not include: - Adverts (short adverts in your signature are OK) - Stuff unrelated to chugging

Browse/Join here For those who don't have/want a Google account, this group can also be operated by email. Send a blank mail to chugginguk+subscribe@
googlegroups.com to get started

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