by Shu-An Yang
The Magazine The Big Issue was founded in London in 1991 and is sold in ten different countries, including Britain, Japan, Australia, Korea, and Taiwan.The Big Issue is sold by homeless people and this is regarded as a novel business model. The Big Issue is both an ordinary company in which employees are responsible for producing, editing, and selling magazines, and also a non-profit organization that assists homeless people regain control of their lives, since the seller makes 50 NT for each copy he or she sells. According to the company, the magazine “is a publication especially for people who are on the tramp. By offering an opportunity to earn a living by themselves, The Big Issue attempts to encourage the homeless to recapture their initiative.” “Raise up your hands, rather than just reach out with them.” The Taiwan Operation The Taiwan headquarters of The Big Issue is located at Huashan 1914 Creative Park near the Shandao Temple MRT station. The magazine only has seven local employees, including three editors responsible for the content, two full-time salespeople, and two publishers who are in charge of managing the street sellers. The articles in the magazine are quite diverse and include essays on literature and the arts, current events, environmental issues, and so on. Some of the writers are overseas journalists who send their completed articles to the editors in Taiwan. Because of the small number of employees, the magazine is not able to provide complete training for the street sellers. And they also have trouble keeping these sellers from giving up too easily. “The attitude of homeless people can be very unstable,” said one worker at the issuing center. The Sellers Most of the sellers are elderly or disabled. They are introduced to The Big Issue by social assistance associations and are given a seminar to explain the details of the job. Next, they begin a three-day probation to experience sales work first-hand. For most of these sellers, the job is welcome since it is difficult for them to find ordinary work. “I am glad that I decided to join the magazine and I am very satisfied. After all, I am old and poor,” said one seller. On average they can sell twenty copies a day, and if they are lucky up to thirty copies. But this depends on the locations that you choose. Inevitably, life on the street isn’t easy. Terrible weather, heavy bundles, and the apathetic expressions of pedestrians are frustrations that sellers must confront every day. Their working hours are long, often more than ten hours per day. Standing for such a long time can be difficult for the elderly and the disadvantaged. In conclusion, their work is toilsome and full of challenges – and perhaps even harder than we imagine, because the most arduous part of the job is mustering up the courage to stick with it and to change their lives. These are homeless people who are trying their hardest to pick themselves up! a
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Authors
The Taida Student Journal has been active since 1995 with an ever-changing roster of student journalists at NTU. Click the above link to read about the authors Archives
May 2024
|