There’s a new option for donating to charity when making a debit card purchase.
When asked to confirm the price, shoppers will be asked whether they wish to round-up the amount to the nearest pound. The extra amount will then go to charity. It is estimated that just eight pence per week from each cardholder in the UK would generate £89million for charity.
Currently only Dominoes pizza is taking part in the scheme, although it’s hoped that other retailers will soon follow, and no doubt it would be good for charities if this can be up and running in stores in time for the Christmas shopping rush.
Research by The Pennies Foundation, who are behind the scheme, suggests that customers will not find it annoying to be prompted to round-up their purchase amounts on the chip & PIN machine. Comments on the Telegraph website suggest otherwise, though.
It’s a simple idea that could raise a decent amount for charity, but will people be put off by this new form of charity collection? It’s certainly not as annoying as having to avoid chuggers up and down the high street, but could get a little annoying if it’s on every transaction. Perhaps the charities should be working with the banks build in an opt-in/opt-out system, so that consumers can decide whether they want to be subjected to this scheme on a debit card by debit card basis?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
photo credit: DeclanTM