Day 92: Stop volunteering

Between You, Me and the Lamp Post

Day 92: Stop volunteering

Few things get me more worked up than when I see a notice asking for volunteers. With the exception of animal shelters, I am 100% against volunteer work. If an organization wants work done, pay those who put their time and effort into it.

One of the reasons unemployment is so high is because any number of organizations use volunteers to do their work. If there were no more volunteers, those organizations would have to pay for the required labor and the unemployment rate would go down.

Take the Cancer Society for instance, they rake in BILLIONS of dollars, but they are too stingy to pay those who hassle people for donations, sell the daffodils or do other work.

The same with environmental groups. They want people to clean up the parks and streets, but they are not willing to pay. Other than the unemployed, there are any number of students all too willing to earn some money to pay for their student loans. If you want parks and streets cleaned up, pay the people.

Hospitals also make use of volunteers. People who read to patients, run errands for them, push wheelchairs, give directions, bring cups of coffee and tea, put flowers in water, etc. Do these people get paid, no, not a cent. Hospitals are government-funded (from our tax dollars) or receive millions in donations, so why can’t they pay those who help patients?

If all volunteers were to refuse to pay for nothing, organizations who want their help would have to start paying them.

Some think that, if they start in an organization they will eventually get hired as paid employees. In most cases, that is a pipe dream. Why would an organization start paying them? There are enough fools willing to volunteer with the same pipe dream. 

The same applies to co-op work, apprentices and interns. Most of them put up with the ridiculously low pay in the hope that it will lead to a full-time job. That almost never happens. One apprentice leaves, another takes its place.

As mentioned earlier, I am not against volunteering for animal shelters. Animal shelters are not government funded and rely on private donations. What little money they have should all go to the animals.