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I think bums make more money than me =(

I think this is the case at least in NYC... let me lay it down for you.

When I commute to work, every day I see at least 2 folks who claim to be homeless stroll thru the subway, they give a 1 min speech and proceed to stroll on thru and continue onto the next car. I always make an effort to monitor how much change are dumped into their "coffee" cup. Tourists are the most gullible as often I see these folks stuff a dollar bill into that cup sometimes more.

So I did some math, the avg subway has about 10 cars, it takes all but 15-20 mins to get from front to end. And during rush hour another subway is just 5 mins behind, that means these folks go thru at least 2 subways/hour. On avg I see about 1-2 dollars being dumped into the cup and in rare instances a fiver and I've even seen a 10 once. So it's safe to say that these ppl pull in on avg 20 bucks/subway or about 40-50/hour. If you pay careful attention to these people, they take the money out of their cups and put it into their pockets. why? so it looks empy thus giving people reason to be sympathetic in the next car. This is definately over 40k/year.

I can just picture a guy who wakes up in the morning, gets dressed in business attire kisses his wife and kids goodbye, gets into his ferrari drives to his office, puts on his uniform(bum outfit & stench cologne) heads on to the busiest line and starts his day. His job description: Motivational speaker?

edit: I should also mention that during rush hours, you can barely squeeze thru the cars and I'd estimate an avg of 50ish people in each car during off peak on these lines. Also brought to my attention, they can cheat the IRS income reporting hence higher net income & ability to milk the goverments welfare system and other benefits.

Am I being paranoid?


Cliffs:
1. NYC bum strolls thru subways from car to car and gives a heartfelt bum speech
2. Makes avg 2 bucks/car or 20 bucks/subway or about 40-50/hour
3. Worse case scenario = over 50k/year(underestimated)
4. Profits
5. Must read entire post to get a bigger grasp of the idea
 
Originally posted by: darkxshade
I think this is the case at least in NYC... let me lay it down for you.

When I commute to work, every day I see at least 2 folks who claim to be homeless stroll thru the subway, they give a 1 min speech and proceed to stroll on thru and continue onto the next car. I always make an effort to monitor how much change are dumped into their "coffee" cup. Tourists are the most gullible as often I see these folks stuff a dollar bill into that cup sometimes more.

So I did some math, the avg subway has about 10 cars, it takes all but 15-20 mins to get from front to end. And during rush hour another subway is just 5 mins behind, that means these folks go thru at least 2 subways/hour. On avg I see about 1-2 dollars being dumped into the cup and in rare instances a fiver and I've even seen a 10 once. So it's safe to say that these ppl pull in on avg 20 bucks/subway or about 40-50/hour. If you pay careful attention to these people, they take the money out of their cups and put it into their pockets. why? so it looks empy thus giving people reason to be sympathetic in the next car. This is definately over 40k/year.

I can just picture a guy who wakes up in the morning, gets dressed in business attire kisses his wife and kids goodbye, gets into his ferrari drives to his office, puts on his uniform(bum outfit & stench cologne) heads on to the busiest line and starts his day. His job description: Motivational speaker?

Am I being paranoid?


Cliffs:
1. NYC bum strolls thru subways from car to car and gives a heartfelt bum speech
2. Makes avg 2 bucks/car or 20 bucks/subway or about 40-50/hour
3. Worse case scenario = over 50k/year(underestimated)
4. Profits
5. Must read entire post to get a bigger grasp of the idea

I know there have been studies where they go out in bum outfits and see how much they can collect. Dunno about NY, but I think they focused on the bums on corners/freeway exits and they made plenty more then minimum wage.
 
Originally posted by: sniperruff
they put the money in the cups themselves. i hardly see anyone give them money anymore.

I don't know where you commute but the 4, 5 and 6 lines in manahattan are flooded with these folks. Of course this "job" has limited supply so as more bums start doing it, naturally the amt of donations go down but with the amt of tourists that frequent NYC, they are pretty well off even on a bad day.
 
Originally posted by: darkxshade
I can just picture a guy who wakes up in the morning, gets dressed in business attire kisses his wife and kids goodbye, gets into his ferrari drives to his office, puts on his uniform(bum outfit & stench cologne) heads on to the busiest line and starts his day. His job description: Motivational speaker?

Am I being paranoid?

There was a Sherlock Holmes story among similar lines, called The Man with the Twisted Lip.
 
Originally posted by: everman
Don't forget that they aren't reporting this income to the IRS, so the amount is effectively much more.

Good point, thanks now I feel more bummed... no pun intended
Plus they get to milk the goverment for welfare and other goodies
 
Originally posted by: darkxshade
Originally posted by: sniperruff
they put the money in the cups themselves. i hardly see anyone give them money anymore.

I don't know where you commute but the 4, 5 and 6 lines in manahattan are flooded with these folks. Of course this "job" has limited supply so as more bums start doing it, naturally the amt of donations go down but with the amt of tourists that frequent NYC, they are pretty well off even on a bad day.

M L and A train
 
Originally posted by: sniperruff
Originally posted by: darkxshade
Originally posted by: sniperruff
they put the money in the cups themselves. i hardly see anyone give them money anymore.

I don't know where you commute but the 4, 5 and 6 lines in manahattan are flooded with these folks. Of course this "job" has limited supply so as more bums start doing it, naturally the amt of donations go down but with the amt of tourists that frequent NYC, they are pretty well off even on a bad day.

M L and A train

The E station at Penn is terrible at around 2 in the morning, but I think those are more of the crazy bums as opposed to the con men.
 
I'm not a good speaker so if someone else can test this out and confirm it for me, that would be sweet... plus you might find yourself a new career.
 
Originally posted by: darkxshade
I'm not a good speaker so if someone else can test this out and confirm it for me, that would be sweet... plus you might find yourself a new career.



thanks, I'll try it out. The only problem is, my teeth are perfect. I may have to get one of those billy bob sets of teeth

It'll be interesting to try out
 
I know there have been studies where they go out in bum outfits and see how much they can collect. Dunno about NY, but I think they focused on the bums on corners/freeway exits and they made plenty more then minimum wage.

Yeah I saw a show/ news story where they followed beggars. Average in major cities was $75/day iirc. Better than flipping burgers. The good bums made much more.

One of the participants was a middle class white guy with a nice house banking 85K. It was his job.

 
Originally posted by: tweakmm
Originally posted by: Brainonska511
Do they wear clothing from the Derelict collection out of Zoolander?
You can derelict my balls.:|

I can derelict my own balls.

And yeah I find those guys annoying. I just want a quiet subway ride d****t. But far more annoying than them I hate the Jesus freaks. God I want to rip out their throats. They WON'T SHUT UP.
 
Originally posted by: tweakmm
Originally posted by: Brainonska511
Do they wear clothing from the Derelict collection out of Zoolander?
You can derelict my balls.:|
Your balls have been derelict since birth. Hopefully for you they will pull a christ like move and come back from the dead for some lucky (or more realistically unlucky) lady.
 
You don't even need to look like a bum
pics of a bum I took at San Francisco

Silver ring - $20
Brand new pair of FUBU jeans - $50
Brand new pair of Air Jordans - $150
Dreadlocks at a hair stylist - $150
Hand drum set to play the same three beats repeatedly- $200

Having idiots pay for all your crap because they think you're a poor, helpless, bum in need of food.. PRICELESS
 
Originally posted by: virtualgames0
You don't even need to look like a bum
pics of a bum I took at San Francisco

Silver ring - $20
Brand new pair of FUBU jeans - $50
Brand new pair of Air Jordans - $150
Dreadlocks at a hair stylist - $150
Hand drum set to play the same three beats repeatedly- $200

Having idiots pay for all your crap because they think you're a poor, helpless, bum in need of food.. PRICELESS

that kid is probably still living at his mom's

he probably just does it for fun/musical enjoyment as well as the money

I wouldn't call him a bum
 
i seem to remember a ny post article a while ago about some woman that pretended to be a bum/homeless and probably between 500-1000 dollars a day. (i don't remember the exact figure) But its pretty damn profitable and you can avoid alot of taxes. I used to have this high school teacher that told us we should become bums, rich bums, I guess he was right.
 
hardly see anyone give them money anymore.

I *always* give a dollar to almost every bum I see. What ever they buy, or spend it on, I'm sure I'd do the same if I was in their shoes.
 
Originally posted by: SampSon
Originally posted by: tweakmm
Originally posted by: Brainonska511
Do they wear clothing from the Derelict collection out of Zoolander?
You can derelict my balls.:|
Your balls have been derelict since birth. Hopefully for you they will pull a christ like move and come back from the dead for some lucky (or more realistically unlucky) lady.
One can only hope... one can only hope.

And just so you know, it's gonna be a very unlucky lady.
:laugh:
 
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