Panhandling, i.e., begging for small change on the street, has been under considerable threat since the coming of Covid. Of course, the practice has been under threat before whenever the good burgers of some city find that the poor have resorted to “inconveniencing” the public and they feel the “moral” need to criminalize it. But Covid is causing different constraints. In these times very few people carry cash with them. In fact, many retailers will not accept cash, since it may well be ‘dirty money’. The term panhandling had its origins, so I’m told, during an economic depression in the United States in the late 19th century. That depression hit the panhandle area of northern Texas particularly hard and it caused many workers to head to New York City, where the ‘Buddy can you spare a dime?’ request was given birth. The practitioners of this art became known as the panhandlers.
Back in the early 1970s I conducted studies of panhandling approaches in six North American cities, one of them being Toronto, and I found the most effective methods included something of a believable hard luck story, such as, “I need to get the bus fare to such and such a place because I know I can get a job there.” Here in Toronto, this approach was particularly successful if the panhandler was located by the Bay Street Bus Station. The more believable the pitch, I found, the more successful was the request for spare change.
Nowadays, there seem to be very few panhandlers out there with well-crafted stories. Some sit behind notices that state something like, “Homeless and hungry.” And often, the same location is occupied day after day. Some, very few, do a little busking, usually with the aid of a harmonica. In the past, successful panhandlers tended to move from location to location, largely depending on the levels of pedestrian traffic, particularly of the type of pedestrians who were likely to have ‘spare change’ in their pockets. However, although the poetry and mobility of panhandling is lost and likely leads to less success, the major problem is that even those who may have some sympathy for the panhandler and would likely pass them some spare change if they had it, are no longer able to because their pockets and wallets simply hold plastic credit cards or a cash ready app on their phones.
So, what is the solution? Is this the end of panhandling as we know it, after 150 years of existence?
There are three obvious solutions: (i) training courses for panhandlers, whereby the art of believable story telling is taught; (ii) equip panhandlers with credit card readers; (iii) work towards the provision of a universal basic income or at least some level of decent social assistance. This last may not be a solution, since some folks may simply have found some level of success within the challenge of panhandling. And, as is often the main argument against a universal basic income, some of the money may be spent on ‘non-essential items’. I experienced this kind of thinking at my local LCBO during their 2020 fundraising campaign for the United Way. When I responded to a request from the cashier for such a donation on top of my purchase, I said, “No, I’m giving my donation to the person outside.” The cashier’s response was, “Why? He’ll probably just spend it on booze.” “Well,” I responded, “that’s just what I’m doing.” And, after all, during this period of Covid lockdown, when only purveyors of essential items, such as liquor, are allowed to carry on as normal, who is to deny someone the pleasure of spending some of their hard-earned money on alcohol?
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