The January of Nickels, The March Of Dimes

I don't much enjoy when someone tries to nickel or dime me, but I HATE when I'm being nickeled to death,

Two more charities asking for money, and both of them including a nickel for me. Aw, shucks, thanks guys. Not really.

I'm sickened by this tactic and I refuse to give money to any charity that sends me stickers, calendars or nickels (for which I do not ask). Charity, in its most pure form, should come from one's heart and not from a sense of guilt. Especially not from a sense of guilt that is courted b the charity itself. Though we all know that guilt works, and it works well.

So why do charities send me a nickel? A nickel does nothing for me.I would need 26 000 nickels to make one mortgage payment on my condo. I would need 1000 nickels to fill my car with gas. One nickel is of no value to me, so I don't even open the envelop before I throw it in the garbage. This says something because I'm not one to throw money away. It says that I'm pissed off by their tactics.

Charities send me a nickel for two reasons:

1) to get me to open the envelop. The charities can't make me write a cheque unless I at least start by opening the envelop. That's their short term goal.

2) To guilt me into sending money. Hey, they sent me something, shouldn't I send them something? I'm half tempted to write them a cheque for five cents, but even I'm not that evil.

I woke up at 4 a.m. this morning and came up with another reason why charities put a nickel in their envelops, and that's so I can't throw it in my paper shredder without first retrieving the nickel. Blood money, you might say, except the Red Cross doesn't use this tactic. The charities that used this subversive tactic against me are the Leukemia Society and the MS Society. Both worthy charities, both not getting a donation. I choose my charities (or, truth be told, Wendy does).

I think people are reticent to diss any charities because they, the charities, for the most part do good work. The goal of these charities, however, should not be to get donations using means that are demeaning. I feel like they're selling their souls for the almighty dollar. The cost of their soul....five cents. It's worth more than that.