Why I started saying 'no' to this supermarket self-checkout request

OPINION -- Australians are making less tax deductible donations, according to KPMG, which has made me feel a bit better about choosing not to donate to charities at supermarket self-checkouts.

It's not that I don't donate to charities – I do. I just don't want to donate to charities after I've spent the past 20 minutes trying to stretch my grocery money as far as it can possibly go, a task that has reach peak difficulty thanks to grocery prices increased by more than 20 percent over the past five years.

I don't even donate to Ronald McDonald House when I buy something from McDonald's anymore.

Making a donation at self-checkouts is pretty simple. Just before you make payment, a screen flashes up asking if you want to give a small amount to that supermarket's charity partner.

At Coles I was asked: "Would you like to round up and donate 0.10 cents to support the SecondBite Christmas Appeal?"

At Woolworths, I was asked to donate to Variety.

McDonald's asks if I want to round up my purchase of a $6.25 Bacon & Egg McMuffin up to $7.

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None of the amounts are much, but in my head, if I say yes to one of them I have to say yes to all of them. And as I come across these kinds of requests sometimes several times a month, that adds up.

I'm not the only one feeling a little charity fatigue. A recent Reddit thread posed the same dilemma.

"Anyone else feeling self-checkout guilt?" they asked alongside a photo of a donation request at Woolworths.

"Just say no, every damn time," one Aussie shopper said.

"I always hit no, my bank rounds up my purchase and into my savings account, I am the charity," another said.

Others feel no guilt at all.

"You feel guilty about saying no to an automatic prompt on a screen? Get a grip," one Redditor commented.

"Guilt trip? I love hitting the big fat NO button," added another.

Consumer psychology expert Gavin Northey, Associate Professor at the Department of Marketing at Griffith University, tells nine.com.au that while the impact of donation requests is stronger at staffed checkouts due to the "audience effect", feelings of guilt at self-checkouts still happen.

"When the checkout involves a cashier, research suggests there is an 'audience effect', where we feel some form of social pressure to act and be seen as 'good people'," he said.

"However, when the donation request occurs at a self-serve checkout, the consumer doesn't experience the same social pressure.

"As a result, the decision becomes much more autonomous and private, and consumers are less likely to feel any form of social judgement. It's logical to conclude then that donations at self-serve checkouts will be less than other forms of checkouts."

While it isn't uncommon for major brands to partner with charities and help raise funds for them, Northey suggested a second reason this is done.

"What many forget, though, is the impact such 'point-of-sale' donation requests might have on a consumer's perception of the brand," he said.

"In fact, research has shown such charity requests can increase consumer anxiety and reduce their evaluation of the brand and the overall service experience, particularly when the transaction is digital or online and there is no human interaction."

He said from a marketing point of view, this is "very important".

"The last thing marketers want is for a well-intentioned program or activity to be perceived by the market as something different, particularly if that might harm sales or market share."

While KMPG's data showed a decline in tax deductible charitable donations over the past decade, in 2024 Australians donated $19 billion to charity in total, Northey said, "So we are a generous nation for the most part".

"It is only logical that a significant amount of funds are donated through point-of-sale campaigns."

Moving to point-of-sale campaigns at self-checkouts is necessary for the survival of charities as cash use in Australia continues to decline.

"We have seen a growth in online or kiosk-based 'round up requests' at checkout terminals. This is different to the 'loose change' concept, because donating some loose change was actually convenient, as many people didn't like having small amounts of loose change in their pocket or wallet," he said.

"The difference now is that rounding up a digital transaction requires the consumer to make a deliberate decision to pay more than is otherwise necessary, but without that convenient, tangible benefit which is less coins in their pocket."

The reason point-of-sale self-checkout charity requests don't often work is for the exact reason I found myself not wanting to do it at my local supermarket, because it is "more likely to be perceived as an additional cost for the consumer, rather than a convenient way to offload unwanted 'shrapnel' from their pocket".

"This may be a reason why the digital round up requests feel more intrusive and burdensome for modern consumers."

But those feelings of guilt still lingered, because, as Northey explained, we are "social beings, so when people are asked by an employee to donate, they feel like their morals or values are being judged and that social element is very powerful".

Which is why I always remind myself of the charity requests I do make, every time I choose not to at the self-checkout.

And so far, so good.

In conclusion, you are not a bad person if you say no to these sorts of charity requests. Not at all.

You are just trying to make end's meet, as we all are, and adding even a few cents to your total at the supermarket, during the cost of living crisis, is completely understandable.

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