PDT 1/2 : Best place to panhandle

[FlyWf]

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At night I'd be inclined to panhandle outside of a convenience store in an area with lots of nightlife. You're gonna get drunk people going in and buying stuff and getting change (and not leaving it in some tip cup most likely).

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But you're going to get run off by the people who work there. You want a spot where you can really post up and not have to worry about that. Mall parking lot seems like a decent idea.

[RERAISE5823]

I have no idea where would be the best spot, but I wanted to share a thought I had.

I've recently moved from NY to western Colorado (snug between Aspen and Vail). In NY, homeless are plenty and generally they adopt a passive posture on a main street like 3rd or 5th Ave, outside stores, bakeries etc... I'd usually drop my change after buying a sandwich or coffee. Occasionally I'd give more, like $5 or something, generally when someone looked alert (i.e. not drunk) but pretty helpless.

Here in CO, there is one major roadway from my home to Aspen. Pretty much everyone in the valley travels the roadway between 8-10AM and back between 4-7PM. There's always someone with a sign at one of the lights about halfway to Aspen, a light which stops for longer. I believe that the townships frown upon panhandlers actually doing their thing IN the town, so they choose the most likely spot to get people coming and going.

The real reason I wanted to respond was because of a link I perceive between ELD's other post about larger tipping, and this one about panhandling.

I feel that in our currently depressed economy, I'm more likely to tip and give money to panhandlers than I would be during flush times. The only reason I can think for this is because I feel fortunate to have a good job, even though I am making the same or slightly less (I'm full commission) than I was last year I'm more likely to help someone in need out now.

[Pyromaniac]

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I think you missed the most important and likely the most profitable panhandling spot of them all: by the church.

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does that include "making change" from the collection plate?

[wet work]

I think one of the best spots is a busy intersection with a dedicated turn lane/it's own light. Particularly the ones with a median strip. There's a new crop of customers every couple minutes and it seems like they get some donators every light change. Plus they have the extra time to score from the people in the lanes that are just going forward.

Tourist areas seem to be hot spots as well.

Bars, especially areas with a lot of bars in close proximity, are probably hit and miss but with the opportunity for some random big scores.

I saw a guy last week with a sign "Donations 4 Weed" and couldn't resist contributing to an old guys bong hit fund.

[Iconoclastic]

El D:

thinking bout a new line of work?

One that hasn't been mentioned is a place with a lot of poor people. I find that relatively poor people are a lot more sympathetic to panhandlers than rich people and are much more willing to give. So a safe location in a poor neighborhood is probably a better bet than a similar location in a rich neighborhood.

[fnord_too]

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I think you missed the most important and likely the most profitable panhandling spot of them all: by the church.

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I like this answer, though you are pretty much restricted to service times and lowish volume of people, so if you had to do all your begging time there it is probably not so hot.

So what criteria make a good begging spot:
High volume of passers by
Passers by who have change, spare money
Passers by who don't hate giving money to destitute strangers on principal (or due to fear)
Tolerance to beggars (i.e. not somewhere the establishment is going to call the cops on you).

I think a non essential shopping area (like a busy mall) would be good if you could pull it off. I think the psychological factor of your potential benefactors spending money on extraneous items while you are struggling to even eat is a plus. Tough question. (I think outside a bar is horrible though for many reasons.)

[Jon1000]

I agree with the college statement. Generally, students don't have as much disposable income, but are far more likely to give. On a fairly busy campus you will have bars, restaurants, libraries, student centers, etc. Basically, there's a ton of foot traffic and because of classes, the foot traffic is constant throughout the entire day. There was one pan handler in college who was seen driving to beg. i think the number of other pan handlers, the size of the student body, and the willingness/unwillingness of campus security to deal with you would drastically change things.

[That Foreign Guy]

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I think you missed the most important and likely the most profitable panhandling spot of them all: by the church.

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Hell no. Religious people in general are much more likely to give to religious institutions / charity than directly to beggars.

Shopping district seems like the favourite to me.
Bar if you have skillz of some sort.

[bigbootch]

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Hell no. Religious people in general are much more likely to give to religious institutions / charity than directly to beggars.

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I happen to disagree with your opinion here, but even if it were true, that would still not preclude in front of a church as the best panhandling spot. Even if they are more likely to give to institutions than directly to beggars, it could still be the case that they give directly to beggars at a higher rate than non-religious people.

Anyway, surprisingly I haven't seen anyone mention the following so far: peer pressure. I think this is the single biggest factor, not whether they have change or not. What I mean is, panhandling at a spot that is likely to have groups of people walking by, where the people in this group have some incentive to make themselves look good. If even one person in this group gives to the beggar, the rest will give also instead of standing there looking like an [censored]. Even if none of them would have given to the beggar independently, they may now do so to try to look good.

Now, where might be the best place for this, I'm not sure. The first place that comes to mind is a higher-end restaurant, where people are more likely to be there on dates / business meetings / other situation where there is incentive to impress the others, versus like a Bennigan's where it's probably some 60 year old couple or whatever.

-bigbootch

[React1oN]

Centaurmyth that's a pretty cool observation.

In direct reference to this thread though, I think the top ones would have to be: Busy Street Corner, Starbuck's, Shopping District.

As other's have mentioned, Starbuck's is hurt by getting run-off etc; Shopping District hurt by everyone and their grandmother's using credit cards now, etc.

I think that out of El D's possible locations, busy intersection wins, assuming there is some light lasting a medium to long length, and I also think that a lower-middle to middle-class neighborhood is the best possible location for this, because the people are more understanding, and will likely "donate" more, as well as a lower chance they'd call the cops, etc.

In general though, I think Subway is probably the best as other's have mentioned.