10 GROUNDCOVER NEWS VENDOR WEEK MISCONCEPTIONS from page 2 possible for vendors to move out of homelessness. Homelessness can take many forms, and poverty even more. You never know what someone’s life experience is, and we know that definitely cannot be assumed from what meets the eye. “These men and women are regular people…” True! No explanation needed. “... who are using these licenses to steal money from unexpecting hard working people.” False. Groundcover vendors are individually licensed for charitable solicitation by means of selling newspapers. Groundcover News is a real publication that has a real purchase price. I personally think that Groundcover is worth more than just $2 — especially with that $2 Co-op coupon in every issue! “Their pitch is usually, ‘can you buy a newspaper to help support the homeless of the community? 100 percent of the proceeds are given to those who are in need.’ This is in fact a lie.” False, though this one toes the line. This is a pitch that someone, usually new, might use to distance themselves from the transaction. It is not the norm, not what is taught and gets corrected once observed. The information in this pitch is true but phrasing it in third person makes it sound like the money is going to a third party, instead of that member of the homeless community, who is speaking. “These individuals are pocketing 100% of all monies collected.” True. That is how Groundcover works. Groundcover vendors purchase the newspapers they sell at a wholesale price and re-sell them on the street to customers, keeping the revenue they make, including tips. The money vendors receive on the street is the vendor’s income, as selling the newspaper is the job. “Some of these individuals are making over a thousand dollars a day…” False. Many community members are very generous, and sometimes, vendors are surprised with a larger gift that exceeds what someone might consider just a tip. But, those gifts are few and far between and certainly not enough to warrant the daily take-home pay to be anywhere near $1,000 a day. “... via cash another torrent [sic] Venmo sales and cash app or square sales which go directly to their personal bank accounts.” True. Groundcover vendors are encouraged to use personal accounts to accept cashless payments from customers. This is something we pushed during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and continued ever since. It has truly been a successful, safe and easy way to facilitate the exchange. Unless a vendor uses the Groundcover Venmo account, the money goes directly to them. If a vendor uses the Groundcover Venmo account, the money goes directly to them as cash on a weekly basis. “The people running ground cover know of these but continue to support this behavior because these fraudsters are keeping their organization valid and afloat.” False. Behavior that deviates from the Vendor Code of Conduct puts Groundcover News, and therefore, other current and future vendors’ employment/income at risk. We have a standardized violation policy that we act upon if we witness an incident or can validate a reported infraction. “Most of these homeless vendors are making anywhere from 5 to 10000 a week.” False — for now. Some Groundcover vendors sell the paper to fill in gaps in their income, selling only one or two times a week, and some consider selling Groundcover a fulltime job. To make $10,000 selling the regular $2 paper (that vendors profit $1.50 off of) would take selling 15,000 newspapers in a week. On average, all 35-45 active vendors sell 1700-2200 newspapers every two weeks. If, in the future, the newspaper is in such high demand that one vendor can make $10,000, we would celebrate, not shame them. Groundcover News values economic autonomy. “This terrible theft needs to stop immediately. The organization is stealing from the innocent. Please look into this immediately and stop this crime.” Homelessness and poverty are already highly criminalized identities. Selling Groundcover is legitimate work and exists because so many other informal employment opportunities are criminalized. I do not write this in blind defense of every Groundcover vendor, and every Groundcover News transaction, or interaction. Even though I wish there was, there is no guarantee that every interaction purchasing Groundcover will be a positive one — people have bad days, might be stressed, traumatized from the experience of being unsheltered, or just from being a human in this world. I know many complaints are valid. We welcome them, especially in view of the earlier point: holding vendors accountable is necessary to ensure that Groundcover vendors can keep doing what they’re doing. I write this to shine light on the many misconceptions that community members have about our newspaper, and our workplace. I want to recognize that the experience of selling Groundcover means going up against the guilt, fear and/or hatred people have towards another person asking them for money. PUZZLE SOLUTIONS JANUARY 27, 2023 About a year ago now, Mary and Max Wisgerhof, office volunteers, shared with me an essay from the Atlantic by James Parker entitled, “An Ode to Giving People Money.” It is a short, profound narration of someone’s experience when asked to give money. Its concluding paragraphs: “Here’s my tip: If you’re temperamentally indisposed, keep your money. A penny given a poor man 'grudgingly,' wrote the French Catholic mystic Léon Bloy, 'pierces the poor man’s hand, falls, pierces the earth, bores holes in suns, crosses the firmament and compromises the universe.' So don’t do that. “But if you are inclined to give, then give wholeheartedly. Not for charity, not for empathy, not for any groaning abstraction, but that the divine economy of giving might circulate through you unobstructed. Through your glands and through your veins. The person before you needs money, and you need to give it. Unplug the wellspring of life, and hand it over.” The entire essay can be found at: www.theatlantic.com/magazine/ archive/2022/04/an-ode-togiving-people-money/622835/ This week is Vendor Appreciation Week. Recognize this paper not as a prop for asking someone for money, but as a unique and valuable asset in our community. Recognize the act of selling Groundcover not as a crime, but as a service to the community. Thank your vendor for distributing a newspaper filled with solutions-based journalism, community voices, puzzles, recipes, stories and a chance to communicate. Look to the back page to see ways to go above and beyond in this celebration. Thanks for buying — and reading — Groundcover News. Math puzzle solutions: 1. 52 years old. The year of his birth was 1936 = 44 x 44. 2. Since the first man doesn’t know, he can’t see two white hats (otherwise he would know his hat is black), so the other two can conclude that their hats are white and black or black and black. If the second man saw white, he would conclude that his hat must be black. Thus, the third man knows that his hat is black.
11 Publizr Home