What is Pay As You Feel?

ALL the food and items that Incredible Surplus provides are Pay As You Feel, or #PAYF for short.

That means you contribute however you can to the success of our project: donating your time, skills, money, or something even more imaginative!

But I don’t want to take food away from people who need it!

Honestly, please don’t worry – we promise you there’s plenty to go around! It’s a common assumption that shopping with us takes food away from other people who may need it more. But we’re all about food equality – our food is there for everyone and we promise you there’s LOADS.

In fact, supporting our work in this way means that we can provide even more great food for the community! Shopping with us is actually one of the best ways to support our work and help prevent food waste. The food and items we rescue have value and it costs us to collect them. We have vehicles, a warehouse, utilities, insurance, training costs… you get the idea. We can only offer things to those who can’t afford to give us much, if those who can, recognise the value of what we’re doing and give us what they can afford.

I don’t have much cash to give you

That’s fine! If you don’t have much spare cash, and can’t afford to donate – don’t worry! We need your help just as much – just ask what you can do to volunteer.

I don’t have time to help you

That’s fine too! If you don’t have much spare time, and can’t volunteer – don’t worry! We need your cash just as much – donate what you think the food is worth to you.

We need donations of cash AND time to maintain this project – neither is more important than the other – just give what you can, and what works for your circumstances.

Tell people about us, retweet and share our social media posts; there’s lots you can do to help!

If you get your items for free, why do I need to pay for it?

Although our items are donated, we still incur costs to distribute them, and if we didn’t cover those costs we wouldn’t be able to operate by law. Things like public liability insurance, food hygiene certificates etc.

Then there are unavoidable running costs – we sadly haven’t yet worked out a way to convert cauliflowers and cucumbers to petrol, utilities, or rent!

We don’t mind how you Pay As You Feel, with cash, time, or skills, but everyone who benefits from the Incredible Surplus on offer is asked to contribute, and it is important that you do, in order for the project to continue.

I don’t always have cash on me. Can I donate online?

Yes, if you have a PayPal account you can donate online here. Please login to your PayPal account when prompted to do so, and if you untick the box marked ‘goods and services’ then we won’t pay any fees on your donation.

You can find out more on our Frequently Asked Questions page.