Check-Out Round Up

Grumpy_chap

I am sure this is done with good intentions, but I am a bit concerned that certain venues (I have particularly noted the local pub and supermarket) have taken to offering a "round up" when paying by card.  (For clarity, the pub and the supermarket are two separate venues, but both parts of large chains.)  

The way these "round-up" transactions are offered, they make it almost the default selection to do the "round up" and to not include it is the 'thought about' option.  This process seems to have a number of flaws:

1. It could result in those that cannot afford the "round up" doing so by default, particularly if in a hurry or otherwise partially distracted.
2. The giving to charity is no longer optional and out of free-will, but out of false pretenses.
3. It is not clear which charity will benefit from the donation.  When did large retail businesses become the 'gate-keeper' of what is, or is not, a worthy cause?  
4. When large businesses make charity donations, they tend to do so with some fan-fare and seek to earn "marketing value" from the transaction.  The funds collected through this "round up" is not the company's money though, it is our money that is held on our behalf to give to a charity.  We should not have to pay for the retailer's social responsibility policy and marketing advantage.

It is actually similar to supermarkets having a collection-box at the door for food bank donations and then the supermarket proudly declaring how much "they" donated to the food bank when, in fact, it was the customers that made the donation and the supermarket has secured the turnover and profit from those donations.

I emphasise that I am not against supporting charities, and I realise it is particularly hard for them in the current coronavirus climate, but this "round-up" route seems as bad as it is good.