Some grocery stores and Hot Topic, of all places, asks you to donate $1 to xxx charity. If you don't want to, the key phrase is "not today." It means "I donate to charity all the time but I need those cents for something else today."

My favorite is when they ask,
"would you like to make a donation to prostate cancer?," without adding that oh so "research" to the end of the question.

I answer "No, I'm kinda against prostate cancer and funding it does not appeal to my philanthropic ideals."

Im an a**hole
My wife hates going shopping with me.

At my Vons (Sunset Blvd in LA) they have a computer printed sign that says if they don't ask you to donate money to X charity, they will give you a free 2 liter of store brand soda.

@BytheSea:
No, it means that you are a week people pleaser. I tell them "I don't shop to be solicited for random donations": that of course means I'm an asshole who doesn't care what you think. I am very comfortable with my generosity & daily charitable acts, I do not need others to know about it (and actually prefer they not).

The local Whole Foods does and it drives me nuts. I donate money on my own, so I don't feel the need to donate $0.30 to a charity I don't know. It annoys me because they generally won't drop it.

"Would you like to donate your bag refund to charity xyz?"
"No thank you."
"Are you sure? It's a good cause."
"No thanks."
And then they give you *the look* that communicates that you're an evil person for not complying.

I'm more comfortable just giving money to the organization directly. That's because the IRS is starting to crack down on cash charitable contributions. You are now supposed to either have a written communication from the organization or bank record (e.g., canceled check) in order to deduct it.

[www.irs.gov]

Call me a cynic, but I'm sure the reason these companies push their customers to donate a dollar for charity is not in order to help worthy causes. It's in order to make a tax-deductible charitable donation with other people's money.

Our grocery store (hannafords) has little slips of paper to donate either 2 or 5 dollars to whatever the current charity is - it changes every couple of months. There's never any pressure to buy them, they're just hung on a little sign at the register and you can take one or several and add it in with your purchase.

This happens increasingly often around me (central New Jersey) and it drives me crazy. I refuse to donate to many charities because so many mismanage their funds, but I feel very judged when I refuse (which is nearly always). It's hard to stand in a line full of people and explain that no, I'm not a jerk, I just take the time to research charities before I give them money. Besides, everyone thinks their charity is the most worthy, and I don't have money to donate to all of them, so I have to make choices.

It happens at work too, which can be a political nightmare.

I say no thanks... Like the high school kid running the check out really cares if I donate to that specific charity.

Plus if someone doesn't like that I'm not donating a dollar to some charity, then well i'm fine with that we can't please everyone.

Hy-Vee in Omaha, NE does this.

I'm really not sure if they realize it or not, but putting someone on the spot to donate money when there are 4 or 5 people in line watching you kind of makes you feel cornered.

I'm sure they realize it and that is why they do it.

I work at Whole Foods and we do donations like that (round up the change, donate bag refunds) to our Microloan foundation, Whole Planet Foundation. Personally I dont mind when people don't donate because its their choice. We have a strong policy at our store against second guessing the customer's choice (as in, "are you sure?")

But do remember that every cent counts, and most cashiers are asking because they're told to (and rewarded for more donations).

safeway does it all of the time, today it was a new one. I always say no. I prefer to do my donations by my choice and by check.

@grossmont:
I agree

I just politely say no if I don't want to. It doesn't bother me to be asked at all.

@uberbitter: But it's JERSEY. You'd think you'd get applause for a proper shutting-down of the retail beggar!

I've been asked it one single time. I cant even remember where exactly. It wasnt a lot. Probably 25-50 cents. It was unexpected, and I did not want to look like a FOB, so I just said "yeah, sure" and moved on. I only use cash very very rarely, so I am not sure if it happens more to people who pay by cash. Though if I donated ~50 cents every time I shop, it would become quite sizeable chunk in a year.
I usually still donate to charities every year, and make small interest free loans to people I know who could use them.

@grossmont:
Me too. I have charities I love, and I save up for their fundraising drives every year. I'm ok saying no, but I hate that stores do this. Safeway brags about how much money they donate to charity, but I really question how much of that comes from these forced-guilt donations at checkout.

@quirkyrachel: I'm sorry you had that experience. I work at a Whole Foods, and that's not the way anyone should treat you.

If that ever happens again, I would recommend going to Customer Service and telling a supervisor about it. That employee should be written up for their rudeness and poor customer service.

As long as you're not rude about not donating, most of us don't have issues with it.

I like how PetCo handles it: a little thing pops up on the credit/debit machine after you swipe your card. No awkwardness for saying no, and no pushing from the salespeople.

I get this every once in awhile - just smile and say "No thank you" - no guilt trip necessary. Doesn't bother me - I know that I contribute to charity, and I don't care if the other people in line know or not.

There is a coffee shop inside of a grocery store I frequent that does the donation thing. They don't accept tips but ask that you put the money in a donation jar for a charity. I always feel so conflicted. I would really like to tip after I get my latte but when I donate money I really like to choose where that money goes. Not some random charity chosen by some guy in a suit somewhere. But I always do leave a donation cause I don't want to seem like a jerk and it's money I would have left anyways.

The Vons here makes sure you know about their charity donation in three ways:

(1) The touch pad asks you if you want to donate.

(2) The employee asks you if you want to donate.

(3) If the employee fails to ask you if you want to donate, you get a free two liter Safeway Soda.

I know the employee has forgotten to ask me many times, but I never ask for the free soda.

@quirkyrachel: Not dropping it is wrong. Our local Wegman's asks once and then regardless of the answer, drops it and continues the transaction. I am not sure how I would react if the clerk didn't drop it. My usual response for "no" is "not today".

@quirkyrachel: Hmm. At my Whole Foods they ask, "Donate or take off?" That is, not a yes/no question so you don't have to actually say, "No I won't donate to charity." I usually donate but perhaps next time I'll run the experiment of saying "Take off" to see if they give me a hard time like you report.

I seem to remember the SaveMart I go to asking me a few times to donate a dollar to something. I say no. Screw anyone for looking at me for it. They seem to have stopped now anyways.

My Vons in Whittier has the prompt built into the credit card scanner - it asks and usually thats it. Every once in a while, they will verbally ask but only once. They do have a jar that you can throw your change into but they have never asked me when I pay cash.

I work at Kroger and we'll occasionally push Children's Miracle Network, Muscular Dystrophy Association, Can Hunger, or some similar charity. We're supposed to ask everyone for a $1 donation or a $5 or whatever. I, myself, stopped asking. I didn't feel like putting people on the spot. Plus, what's the point if everyone just says "Oh, I donated already," even if it's the first day of the charity...

Some of you may already know about the 1-2-3 Rewards MasterCard application that some customers get on their receipts. Again, we're supposed to point this out and advertise it anytime anyone gets it, but I don't. I don't want to push it on them. Management hates that I'm rebellious like that though.

Happens at every grocery store I go to in the Sacramento area except for Costco. I never donate at the store.

@BenjimusPrime: Similar to your story, I was shopping in a clothing store for a coat for my wife. Unbeknownst to me, it was some sort of 'Breast Cancer Survivor' thing. I guess some of the proceeds go towards it. Anyway, the sales woman asked if my wife was a breast cancer survivor' I said 'No, she just likes this coat'. The sales woman then asked, 'Well... does she like breast cancer?'

'Uh, yeah, she thinks it's swell?' WTF?

I've seen these at Publix and Bloom, and reply in kind, "Would like to donate XX cents to the pay Willki's Tuition Fund?"

@wvFrugan: I think it means the same thing without getting aggressive.

Almost EVERY retail store here does this. Worse yet, they allow people to stand outside of the door and beg for money, and they also allow these people to block the traffic of those going in and out of the store. Walmart I am looking at you, although since the new Super Walmart opened I haven't seen any beggers. If I gave at every single store that asked here, I would be very very broke. I already make a yearly donation to a charity and I care not to support the salary of some store manager because I know they get kickbacks on these donations.

It was posted here that Children's hospital only gets 8 cents out of every dollar that is donated in stores, the rest goes towards advertising to get more donations.

I have no problem with selling a product for charity off to the side of a store, I have a problem with groups standing in front of the doorway with buckets begging for money and blocking the way out of the store for customers.

Wegman's in Upstate NY often asks for donations. But it's not even as small as 'rounding up'. It's more like 'Would you like to donate $2 to ?'

I too hate getting hit up on the spot like that. I donate, I donate quite a bit, but I want to donate to whom I want, when I want. Not when some hipster teen-ager is pressuring me in front of a line full of people.

I have my donations deducted from my paycheck. When they ask me this, I politely say no. If they push the issue I make a comment about how I don't believe in their methodology/money management/something or other. Instead of starting up a religious or political debate, they just leave me alone. Unless it's for a local charity, the money stays here, and the administrators answer to the locals, nope.

This is why I always use the self checkout at the local Safeway. Then I can be uncharitable without anyone noticing. And I can bag my bread without squishing it.

@grossmont: exactly what I was thinking.

I hate being solicited for donations and I usually say no. It makes me think of that saying in church that starts "Give not begrudingly, nor of necessity." For me, being socially strongarmed into donating just takes all the charity out of my heart at that moment. Perhaps I shouldn't be so petty, but the basic premise of asking people at the cash-register is a guilt trip. And that doesn't sit well with me.

This is typical of what large corporations are all about nowadays...Push the cost off on someone else and take the benefits (specifically,taking credit for all those donations) for themselves.

I try to be polite when I refuse (they are just doing their jobs), but I will pick the worthy cause and the amount without the whole guilt/shame matrix.

@emona: So, I'm the OP on this, and my Vons does that also. They started doing that a while after starting the donations thing. I thought, hey maybe they figured out a way to do this without being pushy, but as soon as I pressed "no" the clerk asked me the same thing.

Rounding up for charity is at least a noble gesture, and presumably the rounded-up balance is actually donated to a charity. In contrast is my local Sonic Drive-Inn, where the car hops just assume that you're going to round to the next dollar as their tip. While I realize they are paid minimum wage, it would be nice if they respected that the change is actually mine. Because of this, I keep plenty of change in the car so I ca pay my balance to the penny.

@BytheSea: I just look em straight in the eye and loudly say "No!" Figure it gives courage to the other people in line behind me.

If I'm in a bad mood, I ask em "how much has the D'Agostino family has donated?"

Its really offensive of large wealthy powerful corps to try to guilt people publicly into giving up some change.

This is enough to keep me from going back to a store if they do it aggressively. I donate to good charities directly; I don't need or want to be put on the spot when I'm just trying to get my damn tomatoes.

@emona: My local Safeway does the same thing... the issue is dispensed with a tap of the stylus.

Also, we should all be capable of saying "No thanks" when confronted with a situation like this. You need not feel pressured to do anything you don't want to do. Speaking up for yourself is a basic consumer skill. Do you really think the people behind you are judging you? And if so, do you really care?

Alright, so this is Dustin. My vons does have the credit card machine prompt, but the clerk still asks no matter what I press. I, personally, don't feel pressured into answering yes, but I feel that the tactic is to do that.

@emona: My local Vons has the same thing, but they still ask out loud anyway.

at one von's i used to go to, the card scanner asked if i wanted to donate. i said no. then the clerk asked me, and again i said no and added and i resent being asked twice. he said he was just doing his job.

and i said, and i'm being a consumer and i'd like to return my entire order you just just rung up and bagged. please credit my card. and i stood there with like 10 people in line behind me.

How about saying, "I will if you give me a receipt for the donation."
That should end it right there.

@grossmont: But they can't write it off on their own taxes if it was other people's money they collected and donated, right? That would violate tax laws.

I think it's so they can brag "we donated X million to charity this year." It's a PR thing.