TLDR: I give $20 cash to a random unintoxicated homeless person who's not asking: it has the best chance of doing them direct good. I'd rather walk through real homeless people asking for money in a shithole downtown than their counterparts in the mall.
I went to a nice mall the other day (yeah, one trip a year!!!) and found dozens of kiosks with people stopping me left and right asking for money for puppets, foam lizards, paper flowers, cosmetics. My friend was at the mall and was scammed $440 by a skincare joint last week, so I was more on a reconnaissance mission than anything.
But the worst beggars were the "charities." EVERY CHARITY under the sun was there with little foldup science fair stands, and a half dozen twentysomethings with sad photos, each with a pitch of the form, "won't you give $5 for the pink baby ocelots?"
Being on an intelligence gathering mission, I decided to play along and started to pull out a five-spot. Nooooooo they can't take cash but "must" take credit cards at our little stand. Predictably, there's a pitch about environmental disasters with slides for $25/ month recurring. I got out of it by bringing my friend's cancelled credit card WITH NAME DIFFERENT THAN MINE on it, which naturally failed.
For mission cover I bought a ($9!) Cinnabon, and who do I run into? One of the charity pitch people I talked to earlier with a different jacket on (Save the lions and tigers, instead of Save the bears). She tells me she was just breaking someone where I ran into her, and bears were her usual assignment. They get half of the initial donation, plus a percentage of the recurring. The agency gets a cut, too (they don't work directly for the charity).
So what's left after the pitch cut, agency cut, executives of the organization licensing their name to the agency, credit card fees, for the kids? NOTHING, of course.
IMHO you're really making someone's day by giving cash money to unorganized homeless people. Even if it's for intoxicants (because this world really is too much now), they are momentarily better than before they ran into you.
I went to Wal-Mart a few weeks ago for my mom and there was a booth outside the entrance manned by two Wal-Mart employees in blue smocks. As I walked by one of the women literally shouted "EXCUSE ME this is for a CHARITY ma'am"... it was so aggressive and bizarre. All I could think of was the "it's for a church honey, NEXT" lady. When I left I walked out the other side and through the parking lot to avoid them.
The irony seems to be lost on Wal-Mart that the people who shop at Wal-Mart are usually the people who NEED charity.
I had a similar interaction and I said why would I give when the top 14 Walmart executives make over 10 million a year.
NEXT
Hmm. I thought Children's Miracle Network -- started as the Osmond Family Foundation-- was in the fall.
These kids work for Devil Corp companies. There’s a whole subreddit, r/DevilCorp and you can also find a lot of information on them on the r/antiMLM subreddit. They’re essentially all scams.
Thank you, having a common reference point for this hustle is very useful!
"Direct in-person marketing" my ass 🤡 What total bullshit.
Like the people who walk up out of nowhere, praise you insincerely, "you could own your own business, make as much money limited only by how hard you work".
Holy crap, that's how the local Mary Kay queen almost got me. I wised up before I bought in for more than a green eyeliner, but wow, that schmooze was thick
A woman at my office who was getting started in Mary Kay wanted me to come over for a makeover, so I told her, "I don't wear makeup and don't plan to start. "
She would have had more success had she started the food truck that she had planned before Mary Kay got their hooks into her. The office was 10 miles from the nearest restaurant in rural Oregon.
Oh, food truck for sure! I'll pay for over priced truck food before overpriced makeup, lol. I was flattered by the other moms attention, but then sort of looked into things...she had been driving a pink car for some time, it takes a lot of people in the downline buying products that they hope to sell to others, and I quickly found out there was a crap load of MK stock sitting in people's homes, unsold. Because she can make a person believe they too can have the pink Cadillac if they join. She's still the MK queen in this area and I still have a 30 yr old green eyeliner lurking in my old makeup bag, lol
She would have had a captive audience of at least 200 to start, 500 once the site was in full operation, and she could have parked in a place where nearly everyone would have needed to walk by her truck. When I worked 12-hour shifts, I found it better to bring enough for two meals.
Just COFFEE AND DONUTS would be a fortune in the right place.
It reminds me of the mail and phone calls for different 'foundations'.
Turned out the 'foundation' would only get a small % w/the lion's share going to the people the foundation contracted with,
I believe it's still happening today, only w/social media, internet ads, etc.
I still get mail-mail for them.
Selling your information is an important source of revenue for a lot of organizations.
LOL did you ask if she's ever posted at r/choosingbeggars ?
> As I walked by one of the women literally shouted "EXCUSE ME this is for a CHARITY ma'am"
Consider complaining to corporate, regional director, whatever. No one should be harassing customers.
Should have said it out loud.
Assuming the rest of the population knows all Reddit staples never fails to disappoint, yes
What kind of management do they have at this mall that they permit this? These aren't charities, they are scams, and I would inform the managers/owners of the mall that if they don't do something about these scammers, they will join the hundreds of other closed malls.
I'm wondering as well, I haven't been to a mall in so long though that it could be the standard lol.
I did stop going to our local homeland because they'd have ONE of these style booths outside and the last fucking thing I want after working all day to barely make my bills is to be harassed by feed the children or whatever. They also only had one exit/entrance so you literally couldn't avoid them.
Yeah, so many charities are legit scams. Look at the Red Cross and Haiti, it's absolutely shameful.
Yeah I once looked at the one charity rating site and so many known agencies spend so little on what they state. If I donate money I don't want to donate so the CEO can make a million dollar a year.
You should look into the Girl Scouts!
The Red Cross after 9/11 was the last time I gave them money. They literally withheld donations for “future needs”. So many of the guys I worked with donated (we had just got some refund checks for something, $300 a person, $600 for a couple, these guys put the checks right into the donation box). Nope. Never again.
They collected an obscene amount in Australia after some devastating bushfire and distributed little. They decided to keep the money for a rainy day - but not the floods that they had their hands out for a year or so later. Funny thing is, they raised almost nothing after the floods because they had lost trust.
Were those the stimulus checks W sent out? "Get things back to normal by shopping!"
It had to be, right? My memory on that is a little vague.
That's not even their worst crime... they intentionally infected countless people with HIV and hepatitis in the 80's and 90's. (Source: 'Bad Blood' book and documentary).
I remember that hemophiliacs got bad blood and that some knew and sent it out anyway
☹️😢😔
They talk about this is the book The Band Played On, as well.
They talk about this is the book The Band Played On, as well.
“Intentionally”. 🙄
Well, we could say negligently. They refused to test the blood, until HIV spread through the blood supply. It was a scary time to be alive. We didn’t know anything except what we were told- no smartphones, no way to fact check. There has been a lot written about what the Red Cross, Reagans and Anita Bryant did to really demonize Gay men.
I'm still annoyed by how much Red Cross charges for the blood I donated to them.
Well to be fair, they have to pay for the tests to screen your blood for diseases, and the people who run those tests.
Like I work in a donation center. 1. Phlebotomists have to be paid 2. Couriers from donation center to testing center and to the hospitals have to be paid 3. People who test the blood for diseases have to be paid 4. The people who process the blood and separate them into components have to be paid 5. People who take the orders from the hospitals who pack them into temperature control boxes and track which unit goes where, has to be paid 6. The test tubes to test your blood, the bags that the blood goes in to, the actual tests to test the blood, the refrigerators and freezers, the LIS systems to track which units have been tested and which units are safe for transfusions, additional testing like genotyping for patients with unique blood needs, etc all need to be bought. 7. Once it goes to the hospital, additional testing is completed before it can be given to a patient and those people need paid. And those tests need to be bought.
It’s not as simple as “I give the blood for free so the patient should get the blood for free.” There is a lot of expense that goes into safe blood transfusions.
But they can't use separate $ donations for expenses?
Wonder how much their execs are paid.
I also don't remember most of this graft going on decades ago, and surely, they had expenses then, too. I am speaking generally now, not at any one org. It seems in the 21st century everyone has to be a billionaire.
see if you can donate to your local hospital.
Yeah, I donate locally now.
Any church in existence.
Found the anti-religious bigot.
It's not anti-religious to call out the ridiculousness of churches (which are businesses) getting away with operating as if they are charities.
The worst are the 'raise awareness' scams that masquerade as charities. Not a single cent going towards the less fortunate/victims.
I can start a charity like that too. Just give me money and I'll tell everyone about the child soldiers in Africa. It's too dangerous, so I'll need to spend all of the money to pay the local warlord his protection fees to get some posed pics, but it's all legit I swear. /s
People say not to give money directly to homeless people as they might spend it on booze and drugs.
But when you get down to it, that's what I was going to be spending it on anyway.
I give bottles of booze. Cuts out the middleman and annoys the professional panhandlers.
Pretty sure that's a Greg Giraldo joke RIP
RIP Greg.
Sure. Right after you pay for your home and everything else.
You think a homeless person in the street gets $20 and the first thing they should to is call their real estate agent?
No. It is concerning that no one seems to understand that buying yourself alcohol after paying all of your bills and giving someone money to buy alcohol who literally pays no bills are not the same thing.
But this is reddit, so here we are.
FTFY
Hope that helps
Lol k.
Seriously, though, and I'm really trying to hold back on the sarcasm here, but wtf do you want homeless people to do with the couple of bucks they manage to get? Open an IRA? Buy crypto? A down payment on a nice studio apartment? They're out on the streets with no hope and barely any help. Many of them have issues being being homeless. What do many of them have left but being able to drown that out for a couple hours?
Your "lol k" is not nearly as high and mighty as you think it is.
I disagree with you. I've been outside, and yes, I would have a beer or two to quell anxiety, but mostly, I used any money I came across to further my situation
Lol from what I've seen, I expect them to do drugs. Which is what they do.
Functioning members of society, if they do drugs at all, do them after being responsible in all other aspects of their lives.
The fact that people keep jumping to the defense of homeless drug addicts is hilarious to me. Because reddit.
Anecdotal evidence be anecdotal
Edit: since this guy blocked me after making a statement that he's sure that 60% of homeless people are drug addicts, a simple google would have proven him wrong:
"Statistics show that approximately 26% to 38% of the overall homeless population struggles with drug and/or alcohol abuse or dependence. This number varies depending on location, the specific substance, and whether the individuals are sheltered or unsheltered. "
https://invisiblepeople.tv/truth-talk-74-of-homeless-people-are-not-drug-addicts/
https://americanaddictioncenters.org/rehab-guide/addiction-statistics-demographics/homeless
Unfortunately this is one of those topics with greatly skewered results, depending on who is taking the poll, where, when, etc.
For instance, right off the bat I found this February 2025 one, stating about 65% of people experiencing homelessness regularly use drugs.
https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2025/02/429486/how-common-illegal-drug-use-among-people-who-are-homeless
You can't really "prove" or "disprove" anything on them, as you can find polls supporting any POV. 🤷
I'm sure if I cared, I could find out that the percentage of drug addicts are like 60%.
But yeah don't care.
I have my own home and I donate to charities and give to the homeless, what’s the problem?
Nothing?
He was saying giving them money to buy booze is essentially what he's doing with the money. Which may be true, but he also likely pays for things he needs before blowing the rest on alcohol. So it's not the same thing at all.
A homeless person has zero bills and so the "things they need" list is quite different than yours or mine. I guess a homeless person could save any money they get to obtain a residence, and in a year or 2 they can pay their bills first and then buy alcohol.
I admire the work smarter not harder gig.
Or...and this is hard for redditors to understand I know....they could not do the things that make them homeless to begin with.
Comical that redditors seem to think all homeless people are just down on their luck. They're not. The vast majority are drug addicts who have alienated everyone who could've helped them. Admiration is not a word I'd use.
When you look at the top reasons for homelessness, lack of affordable housing comes up first. How does one not do that? Also on the list are: job loss, mental health or chronic health issues (including drug use maaaaybe due to self medicating because our healthcare system sucks), domestic violence and personal hardships like divorce, natural disasters etc.
Not my fault Redditors can't read my cheekiness.
Everything is unaffordable if you spend all your money on drugs and alcohol.
You're also asking homeless people why they're homeless. Not at all an unbiased group of people. Again, if they hadn't burned every bridge in their personal lives, they wouldn't be on the street begging for money for drugs and alcohol.
If their hands weren’t busy tying off their arm and injecting heroin, they could reach down and lift themselves up by the bootstraps. Being homeless is a betrayal of the American spirit. 🫡🇺🇸
also human traficking victims that where brought into the country by organised begging rings. giving them money perpetuates the problem, but that doesn't mean they're not victims themselves
Well aren't you fancy with your la-dee-dah house and everything else!
Not begging for beer money on the street because I am a responsible adult. Shocking, I know.
Even responsible adults end up the streets.
Not really. Mostly drug addicts.
The ones you notice might be drug addicts, or maybe they're just dirty and tired and malnourished from being homeless. But there are plenty you DON'T notice who are just really poor and had one bad luck incident too many.
We call them "chuggers" (charity muggers) where I live.
Its never just "oh can you spare $10 for [whatever cause]" anymore, now its "we need you to sign up for a minimum of $20 a month ongoing, of course you can cancel any time*"
*after submitting more paperwork than they needed to sign you up, and only after you've been donating for a minimum period, but you'll still get emails/calls/letters every 6 months saying they need you to start up again
The correct term is chunts.
We call them chuggers in Britain. Charity muggers. They do it for a wage. Not because they care.
Man, this year I donated my entire budget for charity Christmas gifts to a local foster agency. At least I know those are going to kids in homes in my community.
All this kind of crap is why I changed my approach to things.
I only ever donate directly to the charities. I don't give at the register or through these weird third party organizations.
One of the reasons I hate this time of year is because it seems every charity has their hand out and commercials are littered with them. Don't get me wrong, I support many charities but many of these A) the company gets a percentage (or a tax write off) when you donate in stores, or B) people make money off this and some are scams. Not to mention so many are demanding, $1 is too cheap, they want $20. There is a local charity that helps veterans and during this time always asks for donations. Sounds good except I know the founders and was involved from the beginning, until I found out the founder was allegedly taking some of the money (like her house was in foreclosure, but somehow got the money all of a sudden). I only stick to local charities I trust, like the local animal shelters and the food pantries.
It's a quiet little movement, donate locally and directly. Our local humane society gets no support from that group with the commercial, so I donate directly. Our child abuse council always needs funds, donate directly. Foster care support always needs help, donate directly. Once we learn about layers of bloat within corporate charity, it's hard to participate and support that.
Agreed. I used to donate to ASPCA (the ones with the commercial) and not sure how good they are, but instead I donate to local humane societies who use the money towards rescuing animals and even the director isn't paid much. I will say I interviewed at the corporate headquarters of the Lion's Club and was impressed by them, because the CEO is either not paid or very low and has a huge percentage go towards helping others.
The "Humane Society of the United States", another heavy advertiser, is not associated with and does not support local shelters or service providers.
Animal-welfare-themed "in-person marketing" people have carefully worded language to sound adjacent to local shelters ("they do great work", "that's also an example of the kind of work we do").
If someone is collecting for a charity (or pretending to) I ask for the website so I can look it up on Charity Navigator first. If they want to get pissy with me, that’s their problem.
If they say they won’t get credit for it if I donate online, I look all confused and say something like “but isn’t the important part saving the baby seals?” But honestly they usually try to get rid of me after I mention Charity Navigator. (That website ranks charities and shows how much money goes to programs vs advertising, staff, etc.)
I can't find that app.
It’s a website here: https://www.charitynavigator.org
Thanks.
In theory I have no problem buying someone a drink, but I do feel that donations do more good when given to charities that help people who choose to be helped.
Little of column A, little of column B.
I'm surprised the mall allows that.
It sounds scammy. Even if there is a group by those names, it could be registered such that they only have to put 5 percent of donations into the advertised cause.
Those can also be cults. Some cults teach that it is okay to deceive others for your goals. Cults were big news in the 1970s and talked about a lot. There used to be a lot of people dunning for cults at airports (as in the Airplane! film series.)
So they are hard up for funds for the plaid seal zygotes threatened by Silly String, but, can afford $9 cinnamon rolls. Okay.
Ask if they can write down a URL or have a flyer showing their expenditures. Ask if they are 501 C 3 registered. Legit charities have no problem showing you such credentials. That's if you wanted to donate at all, but also generic info.
Your friend gave over 400 dollars? And got taken? Sorry for them.
My friend is older, was induced by a skincare saleswoman at the door to a store. She's been sensitive about her looks lately, fell for "we can give you the first treatment" and didn't state a price but got her to give up her credit card.
The charities were definitely approved by the mall. I've seen some of the same uniforms and materials working Farmer's Market sidewalks (first amendment protected) this summer.
Ooh that sounds scammy! Not sure that is legal to promise a free treatment and then charge for it, let alone that much.
That mall sounds very iffy to me.
Ugh I'd be upset if I ran a legit Farmer's Market and people set up on sidewalks. I think it's not legal btw for people to set up booths asking donations, or to sell anything, on sidewalks. That often is not enforced, but that sure is exploitative, to leech off of a legit market, to siphon some of people's funds.
They wear WWF jackets and have binders, no desk. This Farmer's Market abuts a major road and sidewalk, and I notice they are very deliberate about where they stand (right on the curb so that they aren't blocking the public way).
Sounds...calculated. I guess or presume the market tried to stop them and can't.
It's a public sidewalk, they can't and don't have the money to pay someone to chase them.
The wording and use of "give" is the trick. "Giving" a treatment doesn't mean it's free.
One could make a solid case that if no mention of payment was given, posted, or explicitly indicated, then, none should be expected. (Especially in light of the suggestion it is not.)
It would probably rely upon local laws.
I would happily to donate to pink, baby ocelots.
‘Im gonna keep on dancing at the…’
Spouse donated to march of dimes. Henceforth came a relentless deluge of unsolicited calls and mail for years. I thinkit only stopped after we moved.
What was the skincare place called
Probably dead sea minerals lol. Those people used to be the worst at our mall, like bro I am 16 and work here how much disposable income do you think I have and you harass me daily....
*This was 20 years ago and the stand was right outside the pretzel place.
Outside the mall close to where I live, the other week I had just picked up my kids (2 and 4) from preschool and had just bought some groceries. When we got outside, it was raining and the kids was acting out, the 4yo had a meltdown because she was tired after preschool and was trying to climb out the stroller. I have had shiiiiit day at work and my patience was running on slivers of fumes even before 4yo had her meltdown. It really was a scene that could fit in a condom and/or abortion comercial. While 4yo was screaming and throwing fits, this overly positive and cheerful young lady comes up to me and taps me on my shoulder while I'm kneeling to try to calm 4yo down; "Hiiiiiiiiii 😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃 do you have a moment to talk about the children that gets bombed in Gaza? 🥲🥲🥲🥲🥲" I stand up, give her a stare (4yo still screaming in the background) and "what the fuck is this? Where's the fucking cameras? This gotta be some candid camera shit or some fucked up Tiktok prank" "oooh no! Just thought that since you have kids you maybe wanted to talk about the starving and suffering children i Gaza?" "Are you fucking kidding me? Right now Israel can come here and bomb me, so I don't have to deal with my kid having a litteral meltdown. As you might notice as we speak" "eeehm. What do you mean?" "That right now, in this moment i don't give a flying fuck about anyone or anything, except theese two. Bye” Now 4yo had started to calm down and I could pick her up without making things worse and we started walking. "Buut what about the kids in Gaaaazaaaaaaaaaaaaa??????”
When the charity hustlers approach me I don’t make eye contact but walk in a semicircle around them. Sometimes they abuse me.
You okay dude?
I just tell them I already donated, so they leave me alone. Easier than arguing. I have better things to do. (Also, I neglect to tell them that my donation went elsewhere.)
They have a script for that.
Well, so far they haven't used it on me. I probably walk past them too fast for that.
This is why I stopped rounding up for charity. You're telling me walmart can't afford to just donate outright?? They need my 36¢ to make it happen?? Sure man. I believe that.
I support 1 charity on the regular. Careflight (Australian). They fly to people to provide medical care, and call seniors who live alone regularly to make sure they’re ok.
They sell bears. I buy them. $80 AUD each. In the last 10+ years, I’ve bought close to 40 bears. I give them to my husband.
You can't bear your husband? 🤣🤗
In CanBEARra? 🤡
This is exactly why I donate my time to local non profits. It helps build community and isn’t lining the pockets of some rich CEO.
Shit quite late to the party but if an unhoused person is honest with me I’ll give them a couple bucks. Just don’t try and bullshit me saying you need $10 for food standing outside of a liquor store or dope house and turn down the food I have in my car. Don’t bullshit a bullshitter.
OK. Nist of those Mall critters are Israeli. They said such a problem in NZ they basically all got booted out and can't get visas. 3 got squashed in a bus during the Christchurch Earthquake. They also do do to door art sales and Chugging. They have houses they move them around the country in and the dead sea minerals skincare was their preferred nonsense until it got shut down. They are highly problematic everywhere they go
Malaysia has banned them. Thailand is ruined between them and the Russians.
The Israeli Dead Sea Salt crew infested the biggest mall in San Francisco for years, I think they were finally given the boot.
Those guys used to piss me off so much. They tried to get me into a conversation when I was in a panic looking for a lost child (years ago, my younger sibling, found him in the toy shop, all was well).
The other day I was Christmas candymaking and my mom had invited her longtime friend who used to help manage that mall. She brought up they had a policy of fining the kiosk folks for aggravated sales techniques. There were days where they had to pay more in fines than they made on sales.
It was such a sketchy way of getting Mossad into places. I have a theory. it's dumb but fun at parties
I don't do Malls but I have seen them and the vibes they have out were horrible. My friend got suckered to the time of 700 bucks and he's a smart guy. Owns a luxury construction company and he was so embarrassed. The end for them came here when they scammed a Downs Syndrome person and the whole country erupted and because as a collective we are a bunch of petty bitches they were gone burgers.
Charity starts at home. I don’t give money to charities because what you give funds the charity organisation, not the cause; hardly anything, if anything at all, reaches the people or animals they are collecting for. It’s one big scam. I hope there will be more oversight and that they are all exposed for what they really are.