Homeless but not pennyless

Tim Ogden asks, "how often do you or your friends take advantage of the opportunity to give directly and establish a connection by giving $20 to the guy standing at the corner with the cardboard sign saying, 'Will Work for Food'?"
Ogden bets that your answer will be "never". I don't necessarily agree.  I will say that there are a large group of individuals (myself included) who refuse to fund these free-riding individuals.  However, they must be making some sort of an income for 2 reasons: 
1)  They keep on doing it.  If it wasn't profitable they would seek "employment" elsewhere.
2) some of them have very expensive habits to fund ($100 a day for a heroin addict is not at all unusual) and manage to do so with the income received begging.
This demonstrates that these street corner care takers are in fact making some sort of an income, but exactly how high of an income might astound you.  Take a look at the some of the references below, and I must insert a caution:  if your a minimum wage worker, prepare to be angry. 

From Freakonomics author Steven Levitt

From Marginal Revolution Alex Tabarrok

From KomoNews in Oregon

From CBC News out of Edmonton Canada

From Asylum News

I am not familiar with all these news organizations but I can vouch for the information coming from Levitt and Tabarrok.  All of these stories seem to paint a pretty clear picture of the reality of face to face donations.  I think Salvation Army will second this motion, ring...ring...ring...