How much does the average beggar make?

Factual Questions
1

I was reading a thread over in the pit about a deaf guy panhandling for money and I started to wonder how much money you actually make begging on the streets, or wherever.

I’d actually guess that a begger averages more/hour than minimum wage. While obviously at certain times of day they won’t make that much, during rush hours they probably make a pretty penny (for beggers.)

Also, for your enjoyment here is the most inventive begging scheme I’ve yet seen:

First you’ll be walking down the street and this young black man will come up to you with a wristband with a barcode on it. In a nearly tearful and pained voice he says, "Sir, I don’t mean no harm, I don’t mean no harm. I was just released from jail today and the bus dropped me off here. I live (insert city name some 100+ miles away) and I need $19 to get a bus ticket there. I don’t know why they did this to me they know I don’t live here, I don’t have no place to say and I have no money.

Sir, I mean no harm but please could you help me out. Look I’m not lying (shows the jail identification wristband) please help me.

Now if you offer him small change, he’s like “Sir please I’m not tryin to be a bum, I don’t need quarters I need $19 to get home. Please sir.”

He’ll continue this for awhile, eventually taking whatever small change you give him."

I’ve seen this guy operate a few times, and he almost always gets money, and he almost always gets a little bit more after he goes into the “I’m not tryin to be a bum spiel.”

I call his strategy “aggressive begging.” He knows fully well by constantly repeating “I mean no harm” he’s scaring the mark, making them think (this guy is just out of jail, if I just say no he could rob me.) Obviously the man is probably completely harmless. For one the jail ID bracelet is completely fake, the small city in question has no jails (aside from PD holding cells) for many many miles, and I also know that jails don’t tend to kick you out without a cent.

But it works, and I’ve seen him use it on many people and I’ve seen it work on many people.

2

No cite available, but I recently read an article on this subject where the author met some guys who were making up to 20K/year rates. They just stand there and jiggle a cup with a few coins in it back and forth. This in a town with some admittedly prime spots and plenty of charity beds supporting them.

3

This reminds me of “The Shaky Lady”

From here.

4

Wow, that works out to 100k a year. Screw being a doctor, I’ll just beg in the streets! :dubious:

5

At that point, I would explain that if he can afford to turn down an offered quarter, he’s in better financial shape than I am. I might also explain that sixteen quarters is equal to $19.

Back To The OP

According to either the Philadelphia Weekly or the City Paper ( I don’t recall which it was. Both are left wing, bleeding heart liberal, free alternative weekly papers- an certainly not ones that marginalize the homeless, or the poor) the average pan handler makes between $40-80 per day.

6

I might even explain that seventy six quarters are equal to $19. :smack:

7

Less a General Question with a factual answer then, more an excuse to slag off homeless people.

8

couple things:
first, the “shaky lady” story is complete bullshit. its a combo of piss-poor toronto sun journalism and a known con artist who never made anywhere close to what she claimed from begging.

the other thing is i know a couple of people who spent time homeless and panhandling; both have told me they made about $10 per hour from squeegeeing or about $6-$7 per hour from straight begging, on the good days, and only during about a three hour window of “prime time.” also, apparently on sundays people are way less generous than the rest of the week. i don’t know how average an experience this is though.

9

When I was reading Steven King’s Hearts in Atlantis there is a part where a man is begging in front of St. Patricks Cathedral in NYC. The chapter documents that the guy made close to 50k a year. very skeptical I asked a buddy of mine who happens to be one of NYC’s finest…And he said that in certain districts that is a true story, they do make quite a bit…

10

To make minimum wage (which is $6.75 as of January 2002, according to the poster in my office’s break room) a panhandler would have to be given 216 quarters every day. That’s 27 quarters an hour or a quarter every 2.2 minutes. I’ve never tried begging, but I’ve had times to stand around in public places and I’ve never seen anyone raking it in at that rate. Is there someplace in the world where people give beggars more than a quarter at a time?

11

I can never read a thread like this without thinking of the Sherlock Holmes story The Man with the Twisted Lip. Conan Doyle must have speculated about the OP’s question.

12

Where do you live?

Probably California off the top of my head, of the 12 states that have higher minimum wages than the Federal minimum (and there’s 9 that have lower than the minimum) I think Cali has the $6.75 rate.

But let’s assume the Federal minimum for sake of this thread because it’s more universal.

13

To make that kind of money all you have to factor in is the occasional person who just throws a handful of change at the beggar, sometimes this will be over $1 in coin. Some people give beggars dollar bills, or I’ve seen dollar bills in their (hat/cup/whatever.)

14

I used to give a standard two bucks.

15

Ok, “The federal minimum wage for covered, nonexempt employees is $5.15 per hour”.
$5.15 x 8 hours = $41.20 = 164.8 quarters per day = 20.6 quarters per hour for 8 hours. Not as high as my original statement but still very high.
And while I do not doubt that an occasional generous patron like Dung Beetle might give a beggar more than a quarter, I rarely see beggars get more than a quarter at a time. Perhaps this is because I have another mental category for street musicians and entertainers. People who are actually doing something get more coins, in my observations.

16

Let’s get together and I’ll give you sixteen quarters for 19 one $ bills all day (and night) long! :slight_smile:

Never have practiced giving out coin nor paper. Have offered to buy a meal and had one hungry individual take me up on it and he ate like it was going out of style.