Getting asked for Money/Food

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Forums › Finance and wealth management › Getting asked for Money/Food

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#1939245 15-Jan-2018 17:59

Lady outside New World today...sign said "no money for food", as she sat there rolling from a pouch of tobacco which I believe is very expensive these days.

Another one before Christmas had a UE Boom speaker which I saw in PB Tech for $170. Oh and a smart phone to connect so she can play her Boyz 2 Men.

Third worlders, I.e. those in real poverty, will think NZ is amazing....the government gives you money for nothing, You get free doctors and schooling and health care, and if that's not enough you can get food grants, accommodation supplements....and if that's not enough park up outside New World with your smart phone and Bluetooth speaker and beg workers for ore money. Sign me up!

lNomNoml

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#1939249 15-Jan-2018 18:12

Things are getting more expensive and people income are not increasing at the same rate, times are tough and it becomes harder to live.

gregmcc

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#1939250 15-Jan-2018 18:16

xpd:

If they're asking for money, I always say no. If they're that hard up for cash, they should go see WINZ or stop spending their WINZ money on crap. Was an article recently somewhere I read, about so called "homeless" people asking for money in Hastings I think, and turns out 70% of them had a home to go to and in some cases had part time jobs, they were just out for easy money.

Why is it happening ? 9/10 Pure laziness and greed IMO.

When I was on a benefit years ago, I learnt very quickly that you had to have control over what you spent the money on, or found yourself short changed very quickly.

Does my teenage son qualify, he is always asking for food and money!

JimmyH

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#1939281 15-Jan-2018 18:33

It's annoying. Most of the time I couldn't give them money, even if I wanted to. I rarely carry cash, particularly coins, these days.

Even if I was inclined to help, it's hard to tell the genuine cases from the scammers. I know a courier and he tells me that for quite a few of the "homeless" people in Wellington, who sit round holding up a sign asking for help because they have no home and no food, he has delivered Amazon packages to them in their houses/flats.

I have made financial contributions for a couple of charities like the City Mission in the past, because I figure they at least have the ability to filter out those in severe need from the scammers who are faking it. I don't generally have that ability - apart from the young chap the other week who had a sign saying no money for food, but was too busy checking his email on an iPhone and rolling a cigarette to verbally accost me.

I really wish the council would do something about the chuggers in central Wellington. They are particularly irritating, walking up standing in square front of you on the pavement to prevent you waking past and ignoring them, while they launch into their "pitch". One lunchtime I think I was accosted five time in about 45 minutes (twice by the same person) as I walked past one way and then walked back. This sort of annoyance makes Wellington a much less enjoyable place to walk around.

MikeB4

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#1939286 15-Jan-2018 18:45

xpd:
If they're asking for money, I always say no. If they're that hard up for cash, they should go see WINZ or stop spending their WINZ money on crap. Was an article recently somewhere I read, about so called "homeless" people asking for money in Hastings I think, and turns out 70% of them had a home to go to and in some cases had part time jobs, they were just out for easy money.

Why is it happening ? 9/10 Pure laziness and greed IMO.

When I was on a benefit years ago, I learnt very quickly that you had to have control over what you spent the money on, or found yourself short changed very quickly.

If only it was so simplistic.

Here is a crazy notion, lets give peace a chance.

Sam91

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#1939287 15-Jan-2018 18:53

Queen St is pretty bad. Lots of people asking for various things.

I get stopped frequently by Hari Krishnas on my walk to and from uni. I enjoy debating religion with them. Most are really friendly, but some are the opposite. Believe it or not, they carry eftpos machines now for donations, so don't expect the "no cash" line to work.

I get stopped by the charities with iPads frequently. I signed up once to the monthly plan once, because I felt like donating $20 one off, but not ongoing. I cancelled after the first payment. I dislike these fundraising methods, I prefer someone with a bucket, I'm always happy to chuck in a few dollars here and there. It's a tough ask when you know a large chunk of your donation is going to the person signing you up, rather than the cause.

Around a month ago I witnessed an assault on Queen St, a guy punched his partner at a busy intersection. Only 5 of us stuck around to speak to the police.

A few months back I was eating in a fast food joint on Queen St. A homeless guy walks in and asks if I can get him a feed. He sits down at my table and I probed for more info before I would get him something. I said to him I was reluctant to buy him food because of the number of scams around these days. Anyway, ended up getting him burger and kept asking for more info. Apparently he had to get to somewhere in South Auckland and he was stranded in town. The ultimate goal was to get back to Whangarei. He started asking for a bus money after his meal. I set a bit of a trap and offered to walk to Britomart with him and purchase him a ticket, at this point he had decided he didn't need to get back to South Auckland. At that point I knew he was just trying to scam money.

For a while I'd take advantage of various deals and give homeless people food. There was a lightbox deal once where you got a $25 Maccas Share Box for free. I gave that to a homeless guy lol.

There's this one particular homeless guy I've seen for the last few years in the same spot. In my opinion he's a bit too polished in the way he asks for money. It's very acted and the same every time. He's always standing and always verbally asking for money. A few days ago I saw him walk out of a womens clothing shop with brand new clothes. I reckon he probably isn't homeless but he comes in each day to earn some money. That being said, I saw him looking through bins today, so who knows.

The number of homeless people on Queen St is a terrible look, especially as thousands wander off cruise ships etc. I'm not sure what the solution is, I like to think that if I became homeless, WINZ would help me get back on my feet. However, it's obviously not that simple.

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lNomNoml

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#1939294 15-Jan-2018 19:15

Sam91:

Queen St is pretty bad. Lots of people asking for various things.

I get stopped frequently by Hari Krishnas on my walk to and from uni. I enjoy debating religion with them. Most are really friendly, but some are the opposite. Believe it or not, they carry eftpos machines now for donations, so don't expect the "no cash" line to work.

I get stopped by the charities with iPads frequently. I signed up once to the monthly plan once, because I felt like donating $20 one off, but not ongoing. I cancelled after the first payment. I dislike these fundraising methods, I prefer someone with a bucket, I'm always happy to chuck in a few dollars here and there. It's a tough ask when you know a large chunk of your donation is going to the person signing you up, rather than the cause.

Around a month ago I witnessed an assault on Queen St, a guy punched his partner at a busy intersection. Only 5 of us stuck around to speak to the police.

A few months back I was eating in a fast food joint on Queen St. A homeless guy walks in and asks if I can get him a feed. He sits down at my table and I probed for more info before I would get him something. I said to him I was reluctant to buy him food because of the number of scams around these days. Anyway, ended up getting him burger and kept asking for more info. Apparently he had to get to somewhere in South Auckland and he was stranded in town. The ultimate goal was to get back to Whangarei. He started asking for a bus money after his meal. I set a bit of a trap and offered to walk to Britomart with him and purchase him a ticket, at this point he had decided he didn't need to get back to South Auckland. At that point I knew he was just trying to scam money.

For a while I'd take advantage of various deals and give homeless people food. There was a lightbox deal once where you got a $25 Maccas Share Box for free. I gave that to a homeless guy lol.

There's this one particular homeless guy I've seen for the last few years in the same spot. In my opinion he's a bit too polished in the way he asks for money. It's very acted and the same every time. He's always standing and always verbally asking for money. A few days ago I saw him walk out of a womens clothing shop with brand new clothes. I reckon he probably isn't homeless but he comes in each day to earn some money. That being said, I saw him looking through bins today, so who knows.

The number of homeless people on Queen St is a terrible look, especially as thousands wander off cruise ships etc. I'm not sure what the solution is, I like to think that if I became homeless, WINZ would help me get back on my feet. However, it's obviously not that simple.

It's also possible some choose to be homeless.

Starscream122

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#1939295 15-Jan-2018 19:19

Sam91:

Queen St is pretty bad. Lots of people asking for various things.

I get stopped frequently by Hari Krishnas on my walk to and from uni. I enjoy debating religion with them. Most are really friendly, but some are the opposite. Believe it or not, they carry eftpos machines now for donations, so don't expect the "no cash" line to work.

I get stopped by the charities with iPads frequently. I signed up once to the monthly plan once, because I felt like donating $20 one off, but not ongoing. I cancelled after the first payment. I dislike these fundraising methods, I prefer someone with a bucket, I'm always happy to chuck in a few dollars here and there. It's a tough ask when you know a large chunk of your donation is going to the person signing you up, rather than the cause.

Around a month ago I witnessed an assault on Queen St, a guy punched his partner at a busy intersection. Only 5 of us stuck around to speak to the police.

A few months back I was eating in a fast food joint on Queen St. A homeless guy walks in and asks if I can get him a feed. He sits down at my table and I probed for more info before I would get him something. I said to him I was reluctant to buy him food because of the number of scams around these days. Anyway, ended up getting him burger and kept asking for more info. Apparently he had to get to somewhere in South Auckland and he was stranded in town. The ultimate goal was to get back to Whangarei. He started asking for a bus money after his meal. I set a bit of a trap and offered to walk to Britomart with him and purchase him a ticket, at this point he had decided he didn't need to get back to South Auckland. At that point I knew he was just trying to scam money.

For a while I'd take advantage of various deals and give homeless people food. There was a lightbox deal once where you got a $25 Maccas Share Box for free. I gave that to a homeless guy lol.

There's this one particular homeless guy I've seen for the last few years in the same spot. In my opinion he's a bit too polished in the way he asks for money. It's very acted and the same every time. He's always standing and always verbally asking for money. A few days ago I saw him walk out of a womens clothing shop with brand new clothes. I reckon he probably isn't homeless but he comes in each day to earn some money. That being said, I saw him looking through bins today, so who knows.

The number of homeless people on Queen St is a terrible look, especially as thousands wander off cruise ships etc. I'm not sure what the solution is, I like to think that if I became homeless, WINZ would help me get back on my feet. However, it's obviously not that simple.

your kidding! they have Mobile data powered Eftpos machines???

epr

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#1939300 15-Jan-2018 19:33

Being an atheist I have strong feelings about giving to faith based organisations who pay no tax.

Here is my Quic referral https://account.quic.nz/refer/39513 if you are keen to change ISP and to get free setup (save $29). I will get a $50 credit if you use this. Thank you very much if you use my link but I'm sure there are quite a few others who could share the same on here, no hard feelings if you use a different link.

blakamin

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#1939343 15-Jan-2018 19:44

Sam91:

There's this one particular homeless guy I've seen for the last few years in the same spot. In my opinion he's a bit too polished in the way he asks for money. It's very acted and the same every time. He's always standing and always verbally asking for money. A few days ago I saw him walk out of a womens clothing shop with brand new clothes. I reckon he probably isn't homeless but he comes in each day to earn some money. That being said, I saw him looking through bins today, so who knows.

This isn't aimed at you, @Sam91, but most people in general.

Mental illness can be a b*stard... try not to judge.

Starscream122

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#1939344 15-Jan-2018 19:47

Sam91:

Queen St is pretty bad. Lots of people asking for various things.

I get stopped frequently by Hari Krishnas on my walk to and from uni. I enjoy debating religion with them. Most are really friendly, but some are the opposite. Believe it or not, they carry eftpos machines now for donations, so don't expect the "no cash" line to work.

I get stopped by the charities with iPads frequently. I signed up once to the monthly plan once, because I felt like donating $20 one off, but not ongoing. I cancelled after the first payment. I dislike these fundraising methods, I prefer someone with a bucket, I'm always happy to chuck in a few dollars here and there. It's a tough ask when you know a large chunk of your donation is going to the person signing you up, rather than the cause.

Around a month ago I witnessed an assault on Queen St, a guy punched his partner at a busy intersection. Only 5 of us stuck around to speak to the police.

A few months back I was eating in a fast food joint on Queen St. A homeless guy walks in and asks if I can get him a feed. He sits down at my table and I probed for more info before I would get him something. I said to him I was reluctant to buy him food because of the number of scams around these days. Anyway, ended up getting him burger and kept asking for more info. Apparently he had to get to somewhere in South Auckland and he was stranded in town. The ultimate goal was to get back to Whangarei. He started asking for a bus money after his meal. I set a bit of a trap and offered to walk to Britomart with him and purchase him a ticket, at this point he had decided he didn't need to get back to South Auckland. At that point I knew he was just trying to scam money.

For a while I'd take advantage of various deals and give homeless people food. There was a lightbox deal once where you got a $25 Maccas Share Box for free. I gave that to a homeless guy lol.

There's this one particular homeless guy I've seen for the last few years in the same spot. In my opinion he's a bit too polished in the way he asks for money. It's very acted and the same every time. He's always standing and always verbally asking for money. A few days ago I saw him walk out of a womens clothing shop with brand new clothes. I reckon he probably isn't homeless but he comes in each day to earn some money. That being said, I saw him looking through bins today, so who knows.

The number of homeless people on Queen St is a terrible look, especially as thousands wander off cruise ships etc. I'm not sure what the solution is, I like to think that if I became homeless, WINZ would help me get back on my feet. However, it's obviously not that simple.

Why would he be shopping at a woman's clothing shop buying woman's clothes?

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Aredwood

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#1939351 15-Jan-2018 20:07

A lot of this is related to high housing costs. And politicians chasing votes from certain generations who have no desire to fix those problems.

NZ is getting some of the same social problems that started affecting Japan approx 20 years ago. Main difference is governments have used high immigration to try hide those problems. The jury is still out on wether the current government will finally do something.

Sorry to take the thread off topic, but everything else is only treating the symptoms and not the cause.

Sam91

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#1939353 15-Jan-2018 20:22

Starscream122:

your kidding! they have Mobile data powered Eftpos machines???

Nope, some of them have Eftpos.

lNomNoml:

It's also possible some choose to be homeless.

I agree.

Starscream122:

Why would he be shopping at a woman's clothing shop buying woman's clothes?

I think he would've been taking them home to his partner.

blakamin:

This isn't aimed at you, @Sam91, but most people in general.

Mental illness can be a b*stard... try not to judge.

@blakamin

I agree, if I hadn't had such a supportive family I would've been homeless during low point (mental illness) in my life.

mattwnz

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#1939355 15-Jan-2018 20:24

lNomNoml:

Things are getting more expensive and people income are not increasing at the same rate, times are tough and it becomes harder to live.

That is at least in part to the government letting house prices get out of control, and rise too rapidly. House prices rise, which mean rents must rise, which means wages must rise. But who is going to pay for the wage rises? Money has to come from somewhere. There is no easy fix, as crashing the housing market is going to hurt a lot of people who overpaid for their house, as well as banks who lent these huge amount. They should be at least by trying to flatline house price prices for the next decade, but banks won't like that either, as they want lending to grow.

mattwnz

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#1939356 15-Jan-2018 20:25

Aredwood: A lot of this is related to high housing costs. And politicians chasing votes from certain generations who have no desire to fix those problems.

Exactly. It all come back to this. People may think they are separate, but these are directly related.

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