How often do you buy a Big Issue?

[Chilliandrice24]

I read that Big Issue sellers buy the magazines for £2 and sell them for £4. It made me think that they probably make very little per day as I never see anyone stopping to buy one. I occasionally buy one but not often. I wouldn’t think they make the minimum wage per hour at that rate.

We have one Big Issue seller in my town who is popular as people stop and chat to her and she has been in her spot for years. The other three I never see people buying. I feel bad to pass them now I realise they make so little.

Do you ever buy one, do you pay the exact price and do you see other people buying them?

I used to buy them frequently. This is years ago though. I don't see them as much these days and I never have change, although the last one I bought from had a card reader! The magazine used to be better too, but i suppose that's not the point! i probably buy once or twice a year.

Used to but not now.

I would probably give a pound extra or so now. I don't see many people buy them. They have probably suffered with the advent of online news and magazines. Back when I bought them I also bought other magazines to read on the train to work.

Never, because round here the sellers aren’t homeless.
https://thecritic.co.uk/the-issue-with-the-big-issue/

I don’t think the one selling the BI outside my local supermarket is homeless. In fact I’ve been told by people who work there that they come in demanding free food and coffees, and that people walk past them all day passing them £5, £10 and £20 notes.

I thought the Big Issue was for our homeless to work and earn some money to get back on their feet? Why is there a family of 3 Eastern Europeans in my town working 2 areas selling the BI. Do we have a skills shortage to sell it?

That said, I love the compliments they shout at me, “hi beautiful lady. You look so pretty today. Want a Big Issue?”🙄

So, err, no I am not buying it any more. It has been taken over and it is now a money spinning scam and moved from it’s original purpose.

I was always under the impression that BI sellers did it to get back on their feet and could only do it for so many years. Our local one has been doing it for 26 years.
I thought I'd read somewhere whoever started the BI sold it on as he'd become very disillusioned how it was being abused by some.
Shame as I'm sure it has use to those desperately in need to get and helping hand.

I used to most months. But I was looking at the Big Issue website recently and it had a “spotlight on some of our sellers” article. None of them were homeless, all mentioned having been housed in social housing for some time, and all of them had been selling for years and spoke about liking the flexibility it gave them. Which doesn’t appear to be the spirit in which the Big Issue was set up - to help rough sleepers and long term homeless and unemployed people acquire social skills, business skills, routine, a sense of purpose and connection to the community etc as well as earning money and preparing them for moving on. I won’t buy the magazine again, particularly not as all the sellers in my area are Roma women who I suspect are part of gangs.

I do occasionally because the seller recognises be and chats to me about my kids, bits it's expensive and I don't actually want to read it, plus I know she has a house and a car! I don't think it's an easy way to earn money but I do feel it's not what it used to be. I used to buy it all the time, even buying the same issue multiple times, because I liked that it was helping homeless people get off the streets, but I think it's lost it's way.

I haven't seen a Big Issue seller for years and that includes when I pop into the west end of London.

Why would you do that though when they have to buy them to sell on?

You might as well have just given them some money, and let them get on with selling the ones you didn't take.

I thought all sellers were homeless or at risk of being homeless eg in temporary accommodation.

@Chilliandrice24 nope. See the article I linked to.

I used to buy it regularly, but now it's rare. The magazine used to be a better read than the last couple I've bought, with more varied and interesting articles. And, my local seller has been there for years, which has left me rather disillusioned as to the point of it, since I thought it was aimed at getting homeless people back on their feet.

The seller in our village is picked up by her mum in a Merc at the end of the day...

Why would I do what? I don't understand your question

I used to buy it all the time, even buying the same issue multiple times

You didn't want the multiple issues, so why not just give them the money instead?

That way they could've sold the issues to other people.

There are two people who regularly try to sell it in my town. They are not white. I don't buy it but I do say no thank you to them.

Not any more. I was under the impression the people who sold them were making money for homeless accommodation for the night until I learned differently. I now make donations to a small charity where we used to live instead.

The lady that sells it on my town is not homeless and has been living in an apartment for years. Not sure why she does it still

I stopped after the court case that allowed it to be a shortcut to housing benefit for immigrants.
I'm not usually anti immigration but it was clearly being used by gangs as a loophole to traffic people and get their benefits.

I used to buy it but have stopped as there are 2 sellers in my town who have turned it (and sly begging) into a career - they have now been selling the Big Issue on the same street for over 20 years!

Stopped when the Roma got the monopoly in the city where I live. There aren’t any homeless Roma in the city - my friend works for Shelter at the sharp end and says that none of their service users are Big Issue sellers. The Roma all have homes of their own.

We have 2 regular BI sellers, one is a man who uses a wheelchair and has an aggressive fog, the other is a woman, who I think has a sideline in pickpocketing.
She was quite insistent and I was missing my phone after I bought one from her

Dog, he has an aggressive DOG

Not for years. It’s really expensive now. And I noticed the change of profile of vendors which made me wonder. I decided years ago to only buy from the traditional type of vendor, but never saw one ( it is all Roma women where we are).

That article above was interesting.