Taking the Pulse of the Holidays

[johnbrickner]

Today I had the opportunity to talk to a random soldier of the Salvation Army. The guy tells me he's been ringing the bell for over 10 years now. This makes him pre-The Great Recession, saying Merry Christmas to every person that walks thru the doors over the holidays, making eye contact where he can, and thanking them for their donation when they give one.

I'm thinking "here's a guy in 'The Trench' who should have some insight". So I ask him "You've seen it all before, during and since The Great Recession, how is it now? Are the people better now, the same, or worse?

He tells me at his level "the giving has been going up pretty much every year since the recession ended . . . so they give us higher goals for this year. This year will be the worse one since I've started doing this".

As honest a report on the state of the giving end of the economy from the trenches as I think I could ever get. At least in this area of The 'Cuse. I'll argue it's the uncertainty we face going forward that is the cause.

Merry Christmas All, have hope and faith, and don't forget to give a little for no matter how bad off you think you may have it or are, because the next person you meet may tell you his life story. And it will be so much worse than what you are thinking yours is, You'll be Grateful. It happens to me every time I start feeling sorry for my self. My life seems to go much better when I'm thinking I'm living in abundance and behave like it is.

Brick

[Recyclersteve]

I think that part of the issue has nothing to do with the economy, but rather the fact that we're going towards a cashless economy.

Another item has to do with those who felt shamed into giving in the past- many who would have begrudgingly given something before can now walk by and gesture like they don't have any cash (even if they do). They figure they can get away with this because so many people don't have cash that they won't be noticed.

And yet another factor is that it is getting harder for some to itemize deductions on income taxes. For instance, if you used to have a home but now rent (or your home is paid off), then you don't have mortgage interest to deduct. Lots of former active traders in the stock market had margin interest that they no longer have to deduct. I'm sure there are others that some can think of as well.

[Treetop]

https://www.nptrust.org/index.php?/phil ... statistics

I had read this before but dug this up to verify it. Charitable giving has been trending up for decades. I think a good portion of us just give what we can when we can in this country. In past global charity levels Ive seen individuals per capita in the US are at the top of the spectrum, austrailia is up there with us as well. Pretty far ahead of the bulk of the rest of the western world if I remember right, might be a few other stray countries at the peak I forgot.

[Thogey]

I'm just sick and tired of someone asking for money, everyday, everywhere I go.
I have to walk by at least one person with their hand out. You hardly even notice the SA bell ringer as being anything different.

[Copper Catcher]

A long time ago the Salvation Army in my area had an all volunteer group of mostly seniors ringing the bell, now they have to pay people minimum wage to stand in from of the kettle to ring the bell.