*Note: Every Tuesday I will offer a rant on something that bothers or interests me. Feel free to offer up some suggestions, or write in with your own rants and I will post them on my blog.
The Thorn In The Side Of Bums, Debit Cards
The homeless already have it bad. They are homeless after all, which means they don’t have shelter, a family who care about them and probably are suffering from some sort of substance abuse. And now the homeless are suffering from what may be an end to their main source of income for that bottle of Jack and Mc Donald’s Double Cheeseburger which serves as the only purpose in their lives: the debit card.
While ordering my daily coffee from the Coffee Bean in Salinas, Calif., this morning I realized the destruction the debit card is causing to the economy of the homeless.
Outside of the Coffee Bean was a 40-something male homeless person wearing an Army jacket and covered in a shoty bright yellow blanket. He was asking people walking in and out of the Coffee Bean for loose change, which I assume is his only source of income. Normally, I would gladly give this fellow some of the change I had in my pocket. I hate carrying change and figure this dude can use my 50 cents to add to his pot for the King Cobra he will enjoy later this afternoon more than I can. But all I had on me was my Visa debit card, which is what I used to pay for my Double Cherry Bomb coffee this morning.
Now you are probably thinking to yourself: so what, the homeless dude just got the 50 cents I was going to give him from someone else. Sure, this is most likely true. But how many people in my generation just pay for things like coffee or lunch with a debit or credit card? I assume more than half.
If you do the math, this means half of the loose change the homeless receive from socially conscious twenty somethings who aren’t so jaded yet that they give homeless people a little something isn’t getting into their hands because of plastic payments.
As we become an increasing cashless society it means the economy for the homeless is going to decline even worse than the economy of the U.S. Which brings up another point: since Americans now have less money in their pockets due to a recession they are even less likely to donate their money, right? It’s a double whammy for the homeless.
What’s the solution then? Give the homeless plastic debit cards. Yep, that’s right. My idea is to give homeless people plastic debit cards that are given to everyday consumers by non-profits to hand out to homeless people they see on the streets. These debit cards will come with a note that says: “This debit card has been donated to you by (whatever you want to put) and can be used to purchase food or clothes only.” This would prevent the homeless from using your donated money on things such as booze or drugs. Also, you can get together with friends and put, say $25, on a card to hand out, which is much more beneficial than 50 cents.
Let me know what you think of this revolutionary idea by posting a comment.
Posted by sbrouwer 
