High-Tech Homeless Man In Detroit Accepts Credit Card Donations On A Cell Phone

[DocM]

http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2016/01/28/high-tech-homeless-in-detroit-accept-credit-card-donations-on-cell-phone/

 

High-Tech Homeless Man In Detroit Accepts Credit Card Donations On A Cell Phone

 

DETROIT (CBS Detroit) Volunteers in Detroit and across the nation spent the night counting the homeless, and one of those men who lives in the cold is dealing with it in a, shall we say, unusual way.

 

He calls himself Honest Abe and he panhandles not just for pocket change, but also for the donors credit and debit cards. He accepts cards with a reader attached to his cell phone.

 

His real name is Abe Hagenston and hes been homeless in Detroit for seven years or so.  The 8 Mile overpass on I-75 is home.

 

Looking at that bleak, gray freeway facade with the wind whipping through, one could imagine hes happy about the relatively mild winter metro Detroit has experienced so far this year.

 

Not so fast.

 

"It's not really that easy, what were lacking is snow," Abe told WWJs Mike Campbell. "Of course, theres no snow removal. I used to look forward to that, doing some shoveling."

 

Without the extra cash, he hasn't made enough money this winter to buy new eyeglasses, he said, and he could use a new prescription.

 

But as a bonus, with the extra time Abe says he and a group of fellow homeless have organized themselves "like a union" to panhandle in shifts. He also used the extra time to figure out a way to make donations more efficient. Dont have any change in your pocket? No problem.

 

"I take VISA, MasterCard, American Express," Abe told Campbell. "I'm the only homeless guy in America who can take a credit card. It's all done safely and securely through square.com."

 

Square readers attach to credit cards and basically turn a smartphone into a card reader. They cost about $10 and square providers charge vendors a fee per transaction. In the case of itunes, the charge is 2.75 percent per transaction.
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[LUTZIFER]

Pretty soon all the pan handlers, hookers, and drug dealers will be using those card readers, lol.

[jnelsoninjax]

Interesting concept... wonder how long until square decides to  change a policy about this!

[xendrome]

10 minutes ago, jnelsoninjax said:

Interesting concept... wonder how long until square decides to  change a policy about this!

1: They can't change any "policy" to stop that. People can give other people money if they want.

2: Why would they? They get a percentage of the transaction, business is business.

[jnelsoninjax]

I was joking! I know that they wouldn't change anything! In fact I look for them to use it in an advertisement "square is so easy and convenient to use, even the homeless use it to accept 'donations''