‘Being homeless is my business,’ says panhandler who accepts credit cards
Washington Post:If you see Abe Hagenston panhandling on a Detroit street corner and you’re short on cash, the homeless entrepreneur will be happy to accommodate you.
“I take Visa, MasterCard, American Express,” Hagenston told CBS affiliate WWJ-TV. “I’m the only homeless guy in America who can take a credit card. It’s all done safely and securely through square.com.”
Hagenston, a decade-long veteran of the streets who calls himself “Honest Abe,” says “being homeless is my business.” Like many small businesses, he accepts cards with a Square Reader attached to his cellphone, turning his hand-held device into a mobile cash register.
The device costs about $10 and charges vendors a 2.75 percent fee per transaction.
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And it's hard work, between environmental exposure and the constant moving around for hours on end.
The two panhandlers I'm acquainted with (I live in "the hood", and these two hang out by a parking lot exit where there's a couple drive through places) maybe make $50 a day on a good day - and they have to be wandering around for 10/12 hours to different spots to beg, because if they're in one place for more than an hour, they are told to move on or get arrested.
These two are part of a loose confederation of about ten different homeless/panhandlers that I've seen hang around in pairs for their personal security and camp together in the canyons. The big shelters are all downtown, about ten miles away - across a freeway and over two hills. If they don't get in line before 3pm, they don't get in to the better ones where their stuff doesn't get stolen.
One uses the local VFW as his mailing address to get his VA disability check and personal mail for the others.
Now, from what I've gathered talking to them, the average daily take for a panhandler is between $15 and $20 in change plus whatever food and drink people give them. More if one is obviously disabled (one of the group above is missing half his leg), but not that much more. Certainly not enough for a hotel room for a night.
So, occasionally I've seen them get together after dark in that parking lot later at night when I'm running errands; it looks like they've pooled their takings, and maybe buy a twelve-pack or bottle of distilled spirit along with various dollar menu items for dinner. If I'm going to one of the stores (Big Lots and a local drug store are there) in that strip mall, I'll usually swing near and drop another couple dollars on my way out, just because that's such a privileged, glamorous life they're living, and they obviously don't need any more...
For those who might complain that I should hire them if I'm so concerned - frankly, there's not enough unskilled work around my house that requires me to go out and hire a handyman. I can't afford to pay someone $50 (my minimum to hire someone for an hour - and Jack's minimum to accept work the days he's actually capable of doing "will work for..."
just to take someone off his/her corner forty minutes out of his/her way do the 5 minutes worth of light yard work a week that I can do myself.
Haele
What fresh hell is this?! 
