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> and give customers an option to donate to a charity if they still wish to part with additional money. Please no. That's how it usually starts. It was with sm
by csomar 4y ago
> and give customers an option to donate to a charity if they still wish to part with additional money.
Please no. That's how it usually starts. It was with small change but now McDonalds harasses you every time you make an order to round up for some charity I never heard about. I'd donate to charities on my own.
Needless to say I avoid these places like the plague.
- mhh__ 4y ago[flagged]
- Dylan16807 4y agoYou can avoid something like a much worse thing, that's not a problem. Avoid being insensitive with your bad thing reference, but "the plague" is not insensitive. Also the plague responds well to antibiotics.
- rideontime 4y agoYou've never heard of the Ronald McDonald House?
- skeeter2020 4y agoAt least McDonalds covers all the overhead and gives 100% of money donated to Ronald McDonald house.
- eredengrin 4y ago> I'd donate to charities on my own. But lots of people won't think to do so, and it can raise awareness too. And in terms of payment processing fees it is probably much more efficient to include a small amount extra in a larger preexisting transaction and pool it up across customers than if everyone were to go out and donate $0.50 or whatever on their own.
- TylerE 4y agoThe problem is the store charaties are always awful. I donate to local charities that actually do good work with it (Non-affiliated-beyond-being-donor plug: https://www.nuci.org/ https://www.nuci.org/), not to bloated “awareness” charaties like Komen.
- andirk 4y agoI assume the main point of asking for charities at the POS system is to, in no order, a) give to that charity, and/or b) to get the tax deduction as if the company gave that charity. Ex: $1 charity = some $0.35 discount on company taxes. And "awareness" is a big part of some cultures [0] as it allows for the distribution of the idea of caring without devoting some of one's life to the cause. [0] https://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/01/23/18-awareness/ https://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/01/23/18-awareness/
- Dylan16807 4y agoI don't think you get a tax deduction by processing someone else's donations. Even if you did, wouldn't you have to first treat it as income, so it cancels out?
- jrmg 4y agoPeople are downvoting you, but you are correct. People believe all sorts of weird thing about tax deductions (almost always _income_ deductions).
- andirk 4y agoIncome $1 and then give away that $1 is a net negative, so I assume it's more like: I give you, the company, $1 as a "gift", which I'm allowed to gift you some hundreds of dollars per year without an extra tax form. You take that "gift" and donate it, thereby netting you the 35 cents. Interested to hear specifics if anyone knows!
- jacktribe 4y agoI know what you mean. When the cashier at Whole Foods asks you, it does feel somewhat petty to say no. I think there was a South Park episode on that. But if the POS asks you, it doesn't feel as personal to turn down the option to donate, don't you think? Anyway, not married to the idea, but I think there are some people that enjoy the endorphins that result from contributing to a charitable cause (especially when discretionary spending, like on a latte).
- tboughen 4y agoI think there is a distinction between a charitable donation pop-up that forces the user to round up, donate, or actively select 'no donation' is a dark pattern. Whereas having the option to select a charitable donation, or passively ignore it, as a part of the normal checking out is fine.
- csomar 4y agoYeah, if these donations where accessible via a different menu (ie: you have cafes, cake, juices, donations) then I'd be fine with it. I'd go to the donation individually if I want to. The problem is when you put the donation at checkout to "improve" conversion.
- mnky9800n 4y agoI think of it differently. Ads pervade your experience. You cannot pump gas without since video blasting in your face. You cannot buy groceries without hearing about the poor, pathetic children who this billion dollar company decided to collect money for. Hell, I was sitting on the ski lift the other day and the bar across your lap someone has added little advertising signs saying which is the best pro shop. My point is, we are surrounded by useless requests for more of our time and money. I go to the coffee shop almost exclusively as a place to relax. There should be less intrusion into my headspace there, not more.
- mdrzn 4y agoRelated South Park reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsPHa8RG1pI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsPHa8RG1pI
- grayfaced 4y agoNag-screens are awful but they do also need to explain their tipping because it creates customer confusion. They could simply put up a sign up that says "We pay our employees a living wage. We don't accept tips, but you can donate to our staff's preferred charity XYZ at URL."
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- adastra22 4y ago> It was with small change but now McDonalds harasses you every time you make an order to round up for some charity I never heard about. To be fair, the McDonalds charity is actually totally legit and really awesome and you should donate to it. It's one of the few exceptions to the general rule that these charity promotions are usually suspect tax laundering schemes.