Brassed off.........

[snooky]

with the charity "Smiletrain" sending a begging letter to me and trying to blackmail into giving them a donation with the promise that if donate, then I will never receive a request to donate to them again.I don't even open the envelope anymore and instead of shredding it have decided to to "Return to Sender" with my name and address crossed out in the hope that they realise that I am not interested in their charity and stop wasting their money by sending these letters to me.

[Kleftiwallah]

Just wait until the next begging letter hits the mat, then pop the contents into the prepaid envelope of the first company and pop it into the post ad infinitum. Cheers, Tony.

[alan refail]

Just wait until the next begging letter hits the mat, then pop the contents into the prepaid envelope of the first company and pop it into the post ad infinitum. Cheers, Tony.

It won't solve the problem, but it'll help to keep your postie in work and ensure you have a postal service for a little longer

[Marigold]

Makes good cat litter...

[Primrose]

We subscribed to the post preference service ages ago but it doesn't seem to stop some of the begging letters, which I suspect probably come from charities I've donated to in the past. This year I've received quite a few free Christmas cards from them, which have been a little more useful than the cheap biros which never seem to work.

Previously I would just save up junk mail and post it back in one of the many Business Reply envelopes I received, making sure to remove my name and address first!

[glallotments]

It's all those plastic bags asking for clothes etc that annoy me - we get ones from different charities every week (how much do they think we throw away) and many we have never even heard of - I usually bundle up clothes and take them to a charity shop where there is less chance things will end up on some sort of second hand market stall.

Then there is the knock on the door and request to send commit to so much a month. This is difficult as you feel like a heel when you say no but how many charities can you give a monthly donation to. It's difficult to pick out just one or two as they all talk a good talk. I'm not against giving to charity but how do you chose which to give to?

[PLUMPUDDING]

I'm surprised how much money charities have to send out envelopes full of address stickers, cards, badges and other bits of stuff in the hope that people will feel guilty if they keep them without donating.

I've steeled myself to ignoring them unless it is one I want to donate to. Most of them end up in the recycling bin - after removing metal bits. The other option of returning to sender or otherwise utilising Royal Mail is also a good idea - RM gets a lot of bad press, but it would be our loss if it disappeared,, so why not support them by generating a bit of traffic by using prepaid return envelopes. I do make sure I take all of the labels with my address out and destroy them so no one else can use them for dodgy means.

I do think the Smile Train is a very worthwhile cause though and it is one that can make a big difference.

[glallotments]

We actually received quite a bit of abuse from a door to door collector who wanted us the commit to monthly donations to St John's Ambulance. I phoned SJA to complain and was told that they paid a collection company to 'knock on doors' for them. When I looked into this further I found that the companies basically took what amounted to the first year's donations so you gave for a year without the charity receiving anything. Often the collectors are paid commission on how many they get to sign up which I suppose was why we were given the abuse when we refused.

As for the bags left for clothing etc. it seems that not all the items donated end up in charity shops - some collection companies sell the items and then donate an amount back to the charity. I often wondered how they could afford to send out so many plastic bags - now I know.

See this link from the Guardian in August

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2011/aug/31/charity-bags-doorsteps-sold-abroad

[peter]

Many of the clothing collections are dodgy, 1p in the £ to the cause, or just plain fraudulently claiming to be a charity.

Far better to take stuff to an open charity shop and hand it to a member of staff.

Tired of seeing the doorstep donations outside charity shops picked over by vagrants and moral-less people.