What if charity shops gave a discount for every bogus bag presented at the till?
John Thompson | 21 October 2011 | Blogs
Right, I have had enough of bogus bag collectors. More than enough.
I recently received the 20th this year of such pseudo-plastic-asks through my door at 7am one morning. Not only does it make my blood boil when I realise that the thud on the doormat isn’t a once a year early delivery from Royal Mail (boy, do I remember the days when all my letters would come with the milkman) but it also makes my rather skittish Jack Russells go wild too! They tear down the stairs; squealing and barking with excitement, only to be followed by “Daddy” who picks up yet another offending item and mutters a variety of expletives that they mistakenly feel are aimed at them…the poor little dears!
Generally, the anger dissipates as the day goes by and I toss them in the special plastics recycling-bin (the bogus bags that is, not the doggies) and forget all about the issue until next time.
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And there always is a next time.
More recently, the senders didn’t even bother to pretend that they were associated with some obscure cause but, instead, told me they would pay me 40p per KG of high quality items I wanted to dispose of – and that they’d be calling back on Monday!
Anyway, just today, as I was about to chuck another dubious bag away, I thought of an idea! What if, stay with me now, what if a consortium of charities got together and offered a discount on any items in their shops in return for handing over a rogue bag? Perhaps a 1 percent discount per bag and up to 10 percent for 10 bags. Or maybe a general 10 percent discount off purchases each time one presented a single rogue bag?
With a little bit of refining and marketing, I’m sure such a scheme could take off and deal a considerable blow to this ever-growing menace. And, even better, it would be the bogus bag collectors that would be shouldering the cost of delivering what would effectively be discount vouchers to use at bone fide charity shops – a triple-whammy!
What’s more, my little wooflettes would be happy too as, in future, when a bogus bag gets shoved through “Daddy’s” door, he’ll squeal with excitement instead and gently exclaim: “Hey, great, that’s ten rogue bags this month…I’m off to shop at BHF, Oxfam or CRUK later today where I’ll be able to claim 10 percent off!”
About John Thompson
John Thompson is a fundraising consultant with particular expertise in cause-marketing, sponsorship, strategy development, partnership marketing and executive recruitment. A blogger on UK Fundraising since 2006 with a background in corporate fundraising and public relations.