Big Issue seller asked for more

Fleurpepper that wasn’t Rosie !

Gingster

Oh dear , I expect it made you feel mean. Try to give a couple of pounds next time with the right change. Difficult to ask for money back. .

Why should it be difficult though?The magazine cost £4. I didn’t have change so I gave him what I had and didn’t expect to be asked for more than the cover price. I never have been before.

I took a look at the Big Issue website. It’s very interesting.

What I didn’t know was that they gave a range of services providing housing, education, health support and other services designed to move sellers into a better life.

They do hold to the ethos of selling the magazine is a job, not a handout and handouts in terms of money or food, say shouldn’t be expected.

I’ve come to the conclusion that the best thing to really support Sellers would be to pay the £4.00 and then donate anything you wish to the bigger Foundation to enable them to provide the wider services.

As someone says on here, they are not all genuine people in need of a hand up or a hand out.You have to make a judgement call or be a mug.
Many eastern European families do this for a lucrative living on the side.I know one woman who has been outside a local supermarket who changes over to another family member when so many hours have gone by, she has been doing this for
16 years.
By all means be generous and buy a copy if you think the person is genuinely trying to get on their feet, I’ve done that for many years in the past.Not now.

Bellanonna

Fleurpepper that wasn’t Rosie !

Thank you, goodness knows why I've been targeted with that comment.

A person who has lived in the UK for 16 years is British. Why are people stating they are from somewhere else?

And why are people questioning where other posters live?

PamelaJ1

Gingster

Oh dear , I expect it made you feel mean. Try to give a couple of pounds next time with the right change. Difficult to ask for money back. .

Why should it be difficult though?The magazine cost £4. I didn’t have change so I gave him what I had and didn’t expect to be asked for more than the cover price. I never have been before.

I agree. The Big Issue was set up to give people a step up into the dignity of a small job, hopefully leading to other things.

I'm off to the vet and then to the Co-op shortly, I don't expect them to ask me not to take my change because it's Christmas.

I'm not a tight @rse, I frequently tell hairdressers, taxi drivers, Big Issue sellers to keep the change but never because they've asked for it.

Pre-Brexit, it was not unusual for someone from Europe to become a Big Issue seller, as it is classed as self-employment, so it conferred the Right to Reside in the UK, thus giving access to Housing Benefit etc.
I am not sure to what extent that is relevant today.

Many eastern European families do this for a lucrative living on the side.I know one woman who has been outside a local supermarket who changes over to another family member when so many hours have gone by, she has been doing this for 16 years.

I don’t understand the problem here. They are allocated a ‘patch’, so that one high street doesn’t have ten of them, and there will be laws anyhow long they can work. What’s wrong with one seller starting work when another finishes? It’s just like a shift change.

So what if people aren’t English or are Eastern European.
How horribly racist that sounds. Surely anyone working and trying to get on and earn to better their way of life has to be applauded not anything else. Talk about “Little Britain “

I don't understand why many of the Big Issue sellers don't look for other employment, given that the unemployment rate is so low at the moment.
Surely it must be more beneficial to have a "proper" job, paid a minimum wage and at the moment, be in warmer surroundings.
I would think that a regular wage would trump being reliant on the kindness or not of the public.

I agree mostly maytime2, although it is hard getting into employment if you are on the fringes of society. Need for a permanent fixed address, money for work clothes, ability to be clean and well groomed. All those are needed even for a cafe or entry level job.

Just got back to this thread as I was busy last night. Let's be clear I am certainly not racist. Horrible to infer that.

Just to say the individual I referred to was abusing the position he had as a Big Issue seller. I'm sure there are genuine BI people and obvs they deserve our support.

I am very supportive of homeless charities locally regardless of nationality.

Nasty comments put me off posting on GN.

I would have taken my £10 back and walked on. B....y cheek!
I'm fed up with stores asking as you pay at the till, 'would you like to round up to the next £"
"Woukd you like to donate to....."
No I wouldn't!
I have 4 charities I contribute to that mean something to me and my family and I am happy to do so. I will not be guilt shamed into handing over money where I don't want to

It was discovered that all of the Big Issue sellers in our town were ran by a gang leader and turned out to be Eastern Europeans. So sad because the genuine ones will miss out.

I “buy” the BI but don’t take the mag. I have never been asked to round up except in charity shops. I give to the only person begging in my town or buy her a hot drink. If that makes me a soft touch so be it.

I am the founder of a major local homeless charity and I do not ever buy that publication. I am more interested in helping our own homeless , particularly women and ex servicemen rather than all the thousands of economic migrants from Asia and the middle east here. Christian England is mostly for the English just as Masai lands are for the Masai. We are being harmed and dismantled in so many directions. No big ishoooo for me thanks.

For me the issue is not the Nationality -English, Welsh or Bulgarian. All are probably in need. The issue for me is that I wish they would sell something I actually want or read. It is the same for the door to door sellers of cleaning stuff - 3 x the price of stores on the High Street. I would rather give money to a foodbank or a homeless charity.

Mine was £4 last week, up from £2 pre covid I was tad surprised.
I would have definitely asked for my change, no matter the circumstances I don’t like assumption.

GrammyGrammy

I am the founder of a major local homeless charity and I do not ever buy that publication. I am more interested in helping our own homeless , particularly women and ex servicemen rather than all the thousands of economic migrants from Asia and the middle east here. Christian England is mostly for the English just as Masai lands are for the Masai. We are being harmed and dismantled in so many directions. No big ishoooo for me thanks.

Wow

I didn’t have change for the local Big Issue seller, so he produced a card machine!

Millie22
I used to give to the Big Issue but not now as the seller is not English

Gawd! Was he Scottish or Welsh or from NI? Truly ghastly!

"Our own"

Oh humanity

GrammyGrammy, is you charity specifically for Christian English?

Grammy Grammy you said "Christian England is mostly for the English". I'm surprised that, as a Christian, you are not conversant with the story of the Good Samaritan and the message therein.