Actually, from the perspective of the panhandler, there are a lot of advantages to panhandling that those of us with regular jobs don’t have.
I work in the emergency room of a large, urban hospital. As a social worker, I talk to most of the homeless/panhandler folks who come through. Because I’m curious about their experiences, I’ve asked a lot of questions about why and how they do what they do.
Most of the folks I’ve talked to report that they can average around $20 an hour by holding a sign on a streetcorner. They work three to five hours per day, at times of their choosing. The more successful ones pick busy street corners and stand during morning and afternoon rush hours. Within a few hours they have collected somewhere between $70 to $100, and are through for the day.
With that amount of money, a panhandler can buy a hotel room for the night, a fast food meal, a couple packs of cigarettes and as much cheap booze as they want. If someone is having an off day, there are usually “buddies” around who will share their room and resources, and expect reciprocation when their off day arrives.
The advantages to this sort of lifestyle is that a person with limited education or job skills can make decent money, pay no taxes on it, set his/her own schedule, and live a reasonably comfortable, if day-to-day, existence. From their perspective, it’s certainly better than punching a 40 hour a week clock for a minimum wage job.
I make no judgements about the rightness or wrongness of such a lifestyle, but it’s easy to understand why it appeals to some people.