I am tired of people from local charities and community groups only stepping into or calling or emailing the business to ask for product or cash donations.
Local charities and community groups need to learn that support from local businesses is only possible if local shoppers, including members of their group, support local businesses.
While we have a structured and consistent process for handling the many charity requests we receive, it is interesting to note how many competitors from people who never shop with you – it is plenty. It’s another reason for the structured process we have being good.
There was one situation I heard about recently where someone visited a newsagent to ask for a product donation from a specific niche category. When the staff member was getting the owner, another staff member chatted to the person who mentioned in passing that they buy their stock of the particular product online because it is so much cheaper. Checking online later, it was 5% cheaper if bought several times the quantity one would usually purchase at a time.
People from local charities needs to support local retailers if they want support from them.