4 ms·

Pro-tip on charity - see someone eating out of the trash? They could probably actually use your money. Much more effective than giving it to panhandlers.

pbourke 5y ago
Or at least a meal from the restaurant.
- throw1234651234 5y ago
  Yea, there is that aspect of it. Ideally, I will go buy them a meal, so they can't use the money for other things. I personally don't indulge in "other things", but I don't know how concerned I am about them using the money for that either. I think it's very, very difficult for someone digging through trash to get their life together, so if they indulge, they indulge. Note that it's not a comment on their character or anything of the sort, just the sheer number of things needed to re-adjust in society from zero, with zero real help. Another point is that in most countries outside of the US, panhandlers are either "working for themselves" and make decent money, perhaps better than at a low-end job while having proper living arrangements, etc (and thus "rob" the true poor from the donation). It can also be worse, with situations where panhandlers are actually curated by an organizer who pays them a salary and takes a profit. The latter schemes are also mixed up in exploitation. Now that I type it all out, I am realizing that buying a meal also prevents the second scenario too. Good stuff.
  - WarOnPrivacy 5y ago
    I had a guy ask for $5 to buy cigarettes and beer. I gave it to him. Too often, I can't buy honesty at any price.
  - ipaddr 5y ago
    From a logical point of view from a resource management perspective you giving them money is better and allows them to get more bang from that gift. You buy a McD combo drop it off and feel good. They have to eat it right away. There stomach will not be able to handle it all. They cannot save split the food. If you give them money they could still dumpster dive for food, keep the money and buy other things they need like (maxi pads, or 1 food bar every morning for a week or a stamp to mail someone or quarters to make a call). They can buy a smaller meal or food in a form that will allow them to space it out over time. Most importantly they can buy the type of food that works best from them. 5 dollars could have multiplier effect. A pre-purchased fast food meal will leaving the homeless person craving for days. The homeless are drinking/doing drugs less than homed people drinking/doing drugs because they don't have the resources. I would be concerned with salaried beggers.
    - throw1234651234 5y ago
      That's a valid point as well.
  - grkvlt 5y ago
    if you give someone begging on the street with a drug habit money that they use for drugs, they either won't have to steal to fund their habit or they won't suffer through painful drug withdrawl, neither of which is good (the first for society, the second for them) so there's that. whether it'd be the ethically correct thing to refuse just because you don't approve of drug use is a complicated question...
bbarnett 5y ago
They're looking for recyclables (for deposit refunds), and other things of value.
- WarOnPrivacy 5y ago
  I have been wondering how I'd feel if someone cleaned out our recycle bins, before the truck picks them up. Our house alone goes thru a lot of aluminum.
  - nobodyandproud 5y ago
    In NYC a few years back, old women and men (elderly, often Chinese?) would regularly go through the trash refuse bins and collect cans and bottles. It was apparently a way to feel useful and busy while also earning some money. One of my passing thoughts is that recycling could be a way to keep people occupied and also perform an extremely useful service. That is, expand on this. The cynic in me, however, feels that this would turn into a dystopian nightmare rather quickly.
    - jacquesm 5y ago
      In NL we used to have door-to-door collectors of metals, paper, vegetable matter ('schillenboer') and glass. Then it all got industrialized and a couple of large companies got exclusivity from the municipalities. Who now have to supply them with mandatory minimums in tonnage or face steep contractually agreed upon fines. And here we are trying hard to reduce the amount of waste. It's such a complete fuck-up. Every yard now looks like a miniature recycling center, with up to five containers in some municipalities (we only have four, but they take up a lot of space and the smell is incredible). (the categories we have are 'remainder','plastic','vegetable/green','paper', and they are emptied irregularly and have a strange mix of capacities, in total there is about 1000 liters of volume across those four containers, and they take up 2 square meters).

pbourke 5y ago

Or at least a meal from the restaurant.

throw1234651234 5y ago
Yea, there is that aspect of it. Ideally, I will go buy them a meal, so they can't use the money for other things. I personally don't indulge in "other things", but I don't know how concerned I am about them using the money for that either. I think it's very, very difficult for someone digging through trash to get their life together, so if they indulge, they indulge. Note that it's not a comment on their character or anything of the sort, just the sheer number of things needed to re-adjust in society from zero, with zero real help. Another point is that in most countries outside of the US, panhandlers are either "working for themselves" and make decent money, perhaps better than at a low-end job while having proper living arrangements, etc (and thus "rob" the true poor from the donation). It can also be worse, with situations where panhandlers are actually curated by an organizer who pays them a salary and takes a profit. The latter schemes are also mixed up in exploitation. Now that I type it all out, I am realizing that buying a meal also prevents the second scenario too. Good stuff.
- WarOnPrivacy 5y ago
  I had a guy ask for $5 to buy cigarettes and beer. I gave it to him. Too often, I can't buy honesty at any price.
- ipaddr 5y ago
  From a logical point of view from a resource management perspective you giving them money is better and allows them to get more bang from that gift. You buy a McD combo drop it off and feel good. They have to eat it right away. There stomach will not be able to handle it all. They cannot save split the food. If you give them money they could still dumpster dive for food, keep the money and buy other things they need like (maxi pads, or 1 food bar every morning for a week or a stamp to mail someone or quarters to make a call). They can buy a smaller meal or food in a form that will allow them to space it out over time. Most importantly they can buy the type of food that works best from them. 5 dollars could have multiplier effect. A pre-purchased fast food meal will leaving the homeless person craving for days. The homeless are drinking/doing drugs less than homed people drinking/doing drugs because they don't have the resources. I would be concerned with salaried beggers.
  - throw1234651234 5y ago
    That's a valid point as well.
- grkvlt 5y ago
  if you give someone begging on the street with a drug habit money that they use for drugs, they either won't have to steal to fund their habit or they won't suffer through painful drug withdrawl, neither of which is good (the first for society, the second for them) so there's that. whether it'd be the ethically correct thing to refuse just because you don't approve of drug use is a complicated question...

bbarnett 5y ago

They're looking for recyclables (for deposit refunds), and other things of value.

WarOnPrivacy 5y ago
I have been wondering how I'd feel if someone cleaned out our recycle bins, before the truck picks them up. Our house alone goes thru a lot of aluminum.
- nobodyandproud 5y ago
  In NYC a few years back, old women and men (elderly, often Chinese?) would regularly go through the trash refuse bins and collect cans and bottles. It was apparently a way to feel useful and busy while also earning some money. One of my passing thoughts is that recycling could be a way to keep people occupied and also perform an extremely useful service. That is, expand on this. The cynic in me, however, feels that this would turn into a dystopian nightmare rather quickly.
  - jacquesm 5y ago
    In NL we used to have door-to-door collectors of metals, paper, vegetable matter ('schillenboer') and glass. Then it all got industrialized and a couple of large companies got exclusivity from the municipalities. Who now have to supply them with mandatory minimums in tonnage or face steep contractually agreed upon fines. And here we are trying hard to reduce the amount of waste. It's such a complete fuck-up. Every yard now looks like a miniature recycling center, with up to five containers in some municipalities (we only have four, but they take up a lot of space and the smell is incredible). (the categories we have are 'remainder','plastic','vegetable/green','paper', and they are emptied irregularly and have a strange mix of capacities, in total there is about 1000 liters of volume across those four containers, and they take up 2 square meters).