# Stuff and Things > The Pub >  Why Do Homeless People Carry All That Junk Around Everywhere???

## Karl

Have you ever seen a homeless person loaded down with lots of junk

I mean the the giant Duffel bag and the luggage carrier stacked with God knows what or the shopping cart full of junk with numerous shopping bags hanging off the sides some just have several garbage bags they lug around and it ain't just bottle deposits or clothes I've seen homeless with sets of dishes in carts

Now what the hell does a homeless person need all that junk for I mean they ain't got nowhere to put it or store it

If your homeless you probably gotta move around alot so wouldn't having excess stuff kinda hold them back n slow em down?

If I was homeless I'd be thinking a backpack with a change of clothes , set of thermals, a light jacket, simple hygiene  and maybe afew odds n ends but that's it all in a single backpack 

With a backpack and if you keep marginally clean people don't even know you're a bum you'd blend in with everybody else plus you could move around easy 

Besides your homeless ain't gotta place to store it so sell off what you can because at this point all you need is bare bones basics

Yet many of the homeless are like they're Atlas Van Lines on foot.

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## lostbeyond

Very interesting, I would like to know this too.   :Smile:  

I would think, as a guess, that homeless people get attacked daily and if they have anything of worth like a backpack, they lose it to the attackers. 

It is possible that they try to hold on to those things they carry as part of their mental disability. 

It may be, that homelessness is a result of a mental disability that effects communication with other people.  I find that the single statistically significant characteristic of homeless people is that they can't communicate with others at a personal level.  Then, there is some literature, I think, that a possible side effect of such a disability is hoarding ... in a shopping cart.

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## Guest

They carry their house around like gypsies.  Wassup with that?  You got a problem with their shopping carts now?  You the shoppin' cart po-po these days?

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## lostbeyond

> They carry their house around like gypsies. Wassup with that? You got a problem with their shopping carts now? You the shoppin' cart po-po these days?


How about the asset degradation that the shop that owns those shopping carts must suffer, after such unauthorized use?

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## JohnAdams

And tell us oh font of wisdom, how is someone who is homeless and thus has no access to a bathtub or a shower supposed too "keep marginally clean". 

Having no house, where if not with them, are they supposed to keep their belongings? The are after all homeless.

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## Karl

> They carry their house around like gypsies.  Wassup with that?  You got a problem with their shopping carts now?  You the shoppin' cart po-po these days?


Not at all you couldn't be more wrong

I am thinking pushing that cart everywhere or lugging all those Duffel bags around town has got to be more work than it's worth I mean think about it

Now I have observed shopping carts used to tote scrap metal or returnable beverage deposits they find in dumpsters Now in that case they got a hustle and that I can logically understand he shopping cart is a tool to transport the scrap metal to a junkyard or the bottle recyling place where they get cold hard cash and getting paid for the effort

But to push a pile of junk up n down town all-day just don't make no sense at all

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## Karl

> And tell us oh font of wisdom, how is someone who is homeless and thus has no access to a bathtub or a shower supposed too "keep marginally clean". 
> 
> Having no house, where if not with them, are they supposed to keep their belongings? The are after all homeless.


Ever travelled and took a bird bath in a sink to freshen up it can be done if one is willing to put forth effort

Also lots of churches and places like the YMCA n Salvation Army have opportunities for them to get a shower and laundry access again if they make the effort

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## Guest

> Not at all you couldn't be more wrong
> 
> I am thinking pushing that cart everywhere or lugging all those Duffel bags around town has got to be more work than it's worth I mean think about it
> 
> Now I have observed shopping carts used to tote scrap metal or returnable beverage deposits they find in dumpsters Now in that case they got a hustle and that I can logically understand he shopping cart is a tool to transport the scrap metal to a junkyard or the bottle recyling place where they get cold hard cash and getting paid for the effort
> 
> But to push a pile of junk up n down town all-day just don't make no sense at all


One man's junk is another man's treasure.  @Ethereal loves Drake.  I hate faux thugs.  ::shrugs::

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## Karl

> How about the asset degradation that the shop that owns those shopping carts must suffer, after such unauthorized use?


Ya know something we get annoyed at the grocery store if you pick the wobbly cart but I can't imagine what kinda shape those wheels are in after a homeless person has pushed that thing through town countless times imagine the shopping cart bouncing up n down curbs,  gravel paths, pockmarked streets and who knows where else

I bet that cart is shot by the time they get done with em

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## Karl

> How about the asset degradation that the shop that owns those shopping carts must suffer, after such unauthorized use?


Ya know something we get annoyed at the grocery store if you pick the wobbly cart but I can't imagine what kinda shape those wheels are in after a homeless person has pushed that thing through town countless times imagine the shopping cart bouncing up n down curbs,  gravel paths, pockmarked streets and who knows where else

I bet that cart is shot by the time they get done with em

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## lostbeyond

> Ya know something we get annoyed at the grocery store if you pick the wobbly cart but I can't imagine what kinda shape those wheels are in after a homeless person has pushed that thing through town countless times imagine the shopping cart bouncing up n down curbs, gravel paths, pockmarked streets and who knows where else
> 
> I bet that cart is shot by the time they get done with em


Absolutely yes, and this is why in European countries, there is a radio activated break built into all wheels of the carts.  If you push a cart outside the shop's parking lot, they go off the shop's radio range and the breaks snap locked.  Same when they turn it off for the night.  ... But even in the US, I saw a few shops, that restricted their carts indoors, by mounting high poles on them that don't fit through the door.  These should be easy things that are very cheap for any shop to do, why don't they?  I would the 1st day.

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## lostbeyond

Here is an even more fundamental question.  A cart is really nothing to hold on to.  What motivates a homeless guy to eat food?  Not only have they nobody to talk to, but they can't enjoy the blue sky either because they get attacked by the street gangs.  What is in them that keeps them moving?

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## Canadianeye

> Have you ever seen a homeless person loaded down with lots of junk
> 
> I mean the the giant Duffel bag and the luggage carrier stacked with God knows what or the shopping cart full of junk with numerous shopping bags hanging off the sides some just have several garbage bags they lug around and it ain't just bottle deposits or clothes I've seen homeless with sets of dishes in carts
> 
> Now what the hell does a homeless person need all that junk for I mean they ain't got nowhere to put it or store it
> 
> If your homeless you probably gotta move around alot so wouldn't having excess stuff kinda hold them back n slow em down?
> 
> If I was homeless I'd be thinking a backpack with a change of clothes , set of thermals, a light jacket, simple hygiene and maybe afew odds n ends but that's it all in a single backpack 
> ...


Ground level of the estate. USA bag...gotta love it.

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## Sinestro/Green Arrow

Apparently, I'm the only person here who has ever been homeless. @Rina_Dragonborn seems to be the only one who knows what the crap she's talking about.

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## Guest

Yeh, I don't see the big deal.  So they want to have a shopping cart with things in it.  The ones with the shopping carts are the real deal.  They're not panhandling and then going home to a nice apartment.

I dunno, the ones with the carts are far more interesting to talk to and nicer.

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## lostbeyond

> *Apparently, I'm the only person here who has ever been homeless.* @Rina_Dragonborn seems to be the only one who knows what the crap she's talking about.


This is VERY interesting @The Real American Thinker.  Can I ask the question, how one becomes homeless in the USA?  Many people seem to speak of endless government assistances and entitlements.  Looks like the truth is different.  How does one become homeless?

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## Karl

> Apparently, I'm the only person here who has ever been homeless. @Rina_Dragonborn seems to be the only one who knows what the crap she's talking about.


If you refer back to the OP Im not beating up on them rather I was asking why in praytel would somebody want to haul all that junk up n down the street.

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## Sinestro/Green Arrow

> If you refer back to the OP Im not beating up on them rather I was asking why in praytel would somebody want to haul all that junk up n down the street.


Multiple reasons. When you have nothing, every something you find becomes a treasure beyond worth. When people treat you like scum just because you lost your home, having something - anything - makes you feel like a person again.

It's also, for some, like what Rina said. That IS their home, so they carry it with them.

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## Sinestro/Green Arrow

> This is VERY interesting @The Real American Thinker.  Can I ask the question, how one becomes homeless in the USA?  Many people seem to speak of endless government assistances and entitlements.  Looks like the truth is different.  How does one become homeless?


Again, multiple reasons. A kid who runs away from home may not find another, or be welcome back in his previous one. A kid could get kicked out of their home. Someone loses their job and can't afford their home, or any home, and is forced to live on the streets. For returning veterans, this is an especially serious problem. More veterans - especially Vietnam era - are homeless than anyone else.

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## Cap

If they had a place to put it (ie:  a home), they wouldn't be... uh, homeless.

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## Guest

> If they had a place to put it (ie:  a home), they wouldn't be... uh, homeless.


 For reals...

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## JohnAdams

> Not at all you couldn't be more wrong
> 
> I am thinking pushing that cart everywhere or lugging all those Duffel bags around town has got to be more work than it's worth I mean think about it
> 
> Now I have observed shopping carts used to tote scrap metal or returnable beverage deposits they find in dumpsters Now in that case they got a hustle and that I can logically understand he shopping cart is a tool to transport the scrap metal to a junkyard or the bottle recyling place where they get cold hard cash and getting paid for the effort
> 
> But to push a pile of junk up n down town all-day just don't make no sense at all


You couldn't be more wrong. When it's your entire life in those bags, carting them around everywhere you go is worth it.

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Sinestro/Green Arrow (03-11-2013),Trinnity (03-12-2013)

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## JohnAdams

> Apparently, I'm the only person here who has ever been homeless. @Rina_Dragonborn seems to be the only one who knows what the crap she's talking about.


No your not. I literally lived under a bridge at one point in the dead of winter at that. Thanks to a governmental screw up with my benefits.  :Smile:  

And that experience is precisely why I questioned the OP the way I did. BTW contrary to popular myth, not all the homeless are mentally ill. In fact forty percent of the homeless in this nation are honorably discharged veterans. 

I know a staggering statistic but there it is. This nation could care less about the men and women who defend it every day.

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Sinestro/Green Arrow (03-11-2013),Trinnity (03-12-2013)

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## Sinestro/Green Arrow

> No your not. I literally lived under a bridge at one point in the dead of winter at that. Thanks to a governmental screw up with my benefits.  
> 
> *And that experience is precisely why I questioned the OP the way I did. BTW contrary to popular myth, not all the homeless are mentally ill. In fact forty percent of the homeless in this nation are honorably discharged veterans. 
> 
> I know a staggering statistic but there it is. This nation could care less about the men and women who defend it every day.*


And that is, imo, our greatest tragedy. Our veterans should be our best-taken care of people in this nation, but they aren't.

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## Guest

And they aren't--great point.  Never have been.  All this PTSD concern of recent years was all about future gun control.  If it was about the vets they would have done something about the rotational deployments.

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## Sinestro/Green Arrow

> And they aren't--great point.  Never have been.  All this PTSD concern of recent years was all about future gun control.  If it was about the vets they would have done something about the rotational deployments.


It reminds me of that veterans jobs bill that went through the Senate...either last year or 2011, can't recall. It got rejected in part thanks to Tom Coburn, who complained about the cost. The same Tom Coburn who had no problem with fighting two wars off the books.

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## Network

Imma get get get get you crunk
With all that homeless junk inside my shopping cart.

50% of homeless people are schizos, according to a special I watched like 5 years ago.  Yeah, yeah, stat-mongers.

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## Guest

> Imma get get get get you crunk
> With all that homeless junk inside my shopping cart.
> 
> 50% of homeless people are schizos, according to a special I watched like 5 years ago.  Yeah, yeah, stat-mongers.


Fuck you, gaddamit, I just choked on my tea.  And without Bimmmaaaaaaahhhhy, too.

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## Canadianeye

Maybe some people are just hobophobic.

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Sinestro/Green Arrow (03-12-2013)

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## Karl

> Maybe some people are just hobophobic.


Hobos don't have shopping carts 

Hobos ride the rails or hopping freights also known as "catching out"

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## Canadianeye

> Hobos don't have shopping carts 
> 
> Hobos ride the rails or hopping freights also known as "catching out"


I find their carts can be an annoyance at times (rancid stink just before I enter Tim Hortons for my morning coffee), but, lots of things by people, homeless or not annoy the shit out of me.

On the flip side, I have my favorites. There is the old homeless "water guy". I get him a 2 litre bottle of water on a daily basis to keep him hydrated during the summer. And "Garth" who hangs about Tim Hortons who is very respectful, stays several metres from the entrance (at managements request). He usually gets a couple of bucks from me, and a 5 or 10 when I haven't seen him for several days.

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## Karl

> I find there carts can be an annoyance at times (rancid stink just before I enter Tim Hortons for my morning coffee), but, lots of things by people, homeless or not annoy the shit out of me.
> 
> On the flip side, I have my favorites. There is the old homeless "water guy". I get him a 2 litre bottle of water on a daily basis to keep him hydrated during the summer. And "Garth" who hangs about Tim Hortons who is very respectful, stays several metres from the entrance (at managements request). He usually gets a couple of bucks from me, and a 5 or 10 when I haven't seen him for several days.


Me too

People say you shouldn't give the homeless money cause they buy cigarettes and booze with it and churches feed them

Sure maybe they do buy beer but how many do you think want coffee or a cold soda on a hot day or Taco Bell to tide them over between feedings

So I usually give them a buck or two

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## Irascible Crusader

> Me too
> 
> People say you shouldn't give the homeless money cause they buy cigarettes and booze with it and churches feed them
> 
> Sure maybe they do buy beer but how many do you think want coffee or a cold soda on a hot day or Taco Bell to tide them over between feedings
> 
> So I usually give them a buck or two


I've found myself reticent to give unless I sense true need, then I give generously.  Pan handlers are nearly all frauds and they have sprung up like weeds lately. They're pathological liars and bullshitters.  Every time I see a young buck with stout arms and legs and a good back on the corner holding a sign, it pisses me off, especially because of the good hearted people that get taken in by this swindle.  The people I give money to never ask me for it. I see signs of a desperate situation and I offer what I can.  

Being a truck driver, I sometimes run into these people by chance (or by the Lord's leading I think) and I get to know them a little and offer assistance as needed.  One couple, for instance, I met in Barstow, CA. They had been hitching rides and walking from Kentucky to get home to the wife's parents.  They're accent proved where they are from and I also noted the sunburn patterns, travel gear, and all the signs of having weathered several weeks on the harsh roads.  They were a sweet young couple, very young, and never even hinted at their desperate need for assistance.  These are the kind of people I help.

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Sinestro/Green Arrow (03-12-2013)

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## Sinestro/Green Arrow

> I've found myself reticent to give unless I sense true need, then I give generously.  Pan handlers are nearly all frauds and they have sprung up like weeds lately. They're pathological liars and bullshitters.  Every time I see a young buck with stout arms and legs and a good back on the corner holding a sign, it pisses me off, especially because of the good hearted people that get taken in by this swindle.  The people I give money to never ask me for it. I see signs of a desperate situation and I offer what I can.  
> 
> Being a truck driver, I sometimes run into these people by chance (or by the Lord's leading I think) and I get to know them a little and offer assistance as needed.  One couple, for instance, I met in Barstow, CA. They had been hitching rides and walking from Kentucky to get home to the wife's parents.  They're accent proved where they are from and I also noted the sunburn patterns, travel gear, and all the signs of having weathered several weeks on the harsh roads.  They were a sweet young couple, very young, and never even hinted at their desperate need for assistance.  These are the kind of people I help.


We were pretty split in Richmond. A lot of us had a sort of "code" that we would never panhandle. Others...not so much.

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## JohnAdams

> I find their carts can be an annoyance at times (rancid stink just before I enter Tim Hortons for my morning coffee), but, lots of things by people, homeless or not annoy the shit out of me.
> 
> On the flip side, I have my favorites. There is the old homeless "water guy". I get him a 2 litre bottle of water on a daily basis to keep him hydrated during the summer. And "Garth" who hangs about Tim Hortons who is very respectful, stays several metres from the entrance (at managements request). He usually gets a couple of bucks from me, and a 5 or 10 when I haven't seen him for several days.


Guess I"m fortunate to live in a small rural farming community. LOL

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## Karl

> Guess I"m fortunate to live in a small rural farming community. LOL


Rural homelessness is a growing phenomena although rural homeless tend to live in  vehicles or campgrounds so they are not as visible as the urban homeless on city streets

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