Please be assured we do welcome the Royal British Legion to sell poppies at all our sites. Our annual charity policy is to collect only for Children In Need to which we donated over £560,000 last year. However, we make one exception each year at this time when we support the Poppy Appeal.
Many Thanks
Welcome Break
I then sent this:
You state you do welcome the RBL to sell poppies at all your sites, I take this to mean by collection boxes placed on counters etc.
Do you actually allow manned collection boxes by ex servicemen?
Their response:
Yes we also allow manned collections by ex servicemen.
Many thanks
Welcome Break
So hopefully they know where we’re coming from and what is expected of them.
Slightly off topic but I have organised a charity motorcycle rideout this weekend We are riding to support the 2014 Poppy Appeal from my own Royal British Legion and we may struggle to get the bikes in at our destination which is next to a McDonalds.
I called the duty manager of that site and asked if we could use the car park for 30 minutes and rattle a few tins. He refused outright explaining that he didnt want a lot of motorbikes parked up while they went shopping
I said we would be about 30 minutes max and some of the riders may even buy a greasy burger from him. Eventually he did give us permission, with the right to move us on if they got busy
50 motorbikes will attract more trade to the restaurant than any go larger burger meal deal ever will.
mikeshe:
I asked them the question and got this response:
Good afternoon,
Please be assured we do welcome the Royal British Legion to sell poppies at all our sites. Our annual charity policy is to collect only for Children In Need to which we donated over £560,000 last year. However, we make one exception each year at this time when we support the Poppy Appeal.
Many Thanks
Welcome Break
I then sent this:
You state you do welcome the RBL to sell poppies at all your sites, I take this to mean by collection boxes placed on counters etc.
Do you actually allow manned collection boxes by ex servicemen?
Their response:
Yes we also allow manned collections by ex servicemen.
Many thanks
Nice one, im glad they have clarified their position now, ill have a look on the RBL page later and see if they are saying the same thing now
Seany:
Can’t find anything on rbl Facebook and google searches just link to this thread hmmmmm
There is a huge thread on Welcome Break’s Facebook page. Lots of people getting very annoyed by WB’s apparent reluctance to give a straightforward “Yes, RBL collectors are welcome to stand and collect on our service areas”.
Those Children in Need buckets at the dartford tolls year after year was always a pretty good wheeze…
Since you’ve still got to stop for a moment, on a dart tag waiting for the barrier to lift - it’s easy to chuck some shrapnel in the bucket, like the 22/7ies sling into one’s lap on the dodgems…
Hands up too, who’ve put some coppers into that box at the front of the counter at McDonalds in Welcome Break establishments?
I once tried putting the superindendent accompanying me into one slot, but failed miserably alas…
mikeshe:
The power of Social Media has the desired effect!
Or does it?
Trial by social media is a phenomenon of our times, which can be easily misused by those with an axe to grind.
I suspect that in most companies, the person charged with dealing with comments on Farcebook or Twaddle will be a junior worker in the HR department with limited ability to make decisions. This means that when something like this kicks off, that person has to chase up a senior manager or director to request a response; this of course takes time with people being off site or in meetings, and by the time the worker has got a satisfactory response the story’s snowballed and is being picked up by the media. Thus the company is forever on the back foot and the principle that if you throw enough mud, some will stick holds true.
Anyone who’s ever run his own business will tell you that you get requests from charities on a daily basis for donations, support and advertising; however deserving they may be, if you supported them all you’d have neither the time nor the revenue to run your business. Hence most companies operate a strict policy, as the replies from Welcome Break indicate.
The downside to media trials like this is that companies may well decide that it is far less hassle to keep out of charitable sponsorship altogether rather than deal with the storms of so-called outrage which follow these trumped-up charges. Everybody loses out then.
Rbl poppy appeal collecters are told not to rattle tins when out collecting. I know because as a veteran I collect for them. Last year in my 2 hrs at sainsburys on a Sunday I collected £156. Some people were donatung £20 and not taking a poppy. Just a thankyou for your service. So just to clear things up, I am not a chugger.
