They are always selling Candy for basketball program in the bronx.

Today a kid got on the 2 train on Central Park North and said, that he was selling it for himself to stay out of trouble. do you think that most of these kids are selling it for themselves. I am getting sick of it though. You buy from one on one line, then again on the other.

Does the MTA require permits for these people, they should it would reduce the nuissance of it, but it still is not as bad as the singing bums.

one more thing, in buffalo, the NFTA requires permits for them to sell anything on the buses and the train to no where.

No, it's just a fabrication. They use it so often, I'm surprised they don't think up something different.
Of course they are. I am getting sick over it as well. The key thing of course, is to ignore them. I usually pay to performers if they give a grand effort, like those mariachi bands. Great stuff.


No permits are involved at all because the very practice of doing this is prohibited. Even if it's a legitimite cause, it is still not allowed.

My favorite are the ones who come onto the train and say they're selling candy for a "school trip to the Poconos." Who cares? The economy stinks, most of us on the train can barely afford vacations for ourselves, why should you have one?

That candy selling scam is sooooo played out.But in public school they would have these candy drives that were the same deal.Where do all the profits go?

I'd rather have kids selling candy, then the homeless 90 year old women singing off key and coming up to each passenger for money :-)..

You and me both!!!

As long as shes not a relation to me then I dont mind the singing pensioners.

You know what I always wondered-- it seems to me that the times I see many of them selling the candy for' school whatevers' is the time they should be in school. Go figure!

They're justtrying to make a little bit of money - go easy on them

I remember this one time the kids came on the train with the pitch:

"We are not selling Candy for any school basketball team. We are out here selling to earn money for ourselves instead of robbing and stealing."

Bravo! I bought a Twix bar from them. I can't deny a nice honest pitch.

That robbing and stealing pitch is so negative.People actually think thats a great alternative to crime.Get employed and forget that look at me im not robbing anybody nonsense.I find nothing wrong with being industrious but looking for credit for not being a criminal is a stretch.They speak like ex cons.

They were kids. As hard as it is to find a job these days, imagine a 16 year old black kid from the South Bronx.

I applaud their urge to "earn" money any way possible, as opposed to stealing it.

Not to kill a dead horse, but what is happening is these kids are playing the stereotype.wether they believe it or not is another thing.Cause your black and 16 doesnt mean youre a potential criminal.No, if youre 16 from a low income family without an education or aspiration to get one is potential for being a criminal.

Plus, it reminds me of the Chris Rock routine about guys who vie for some special appreciation because they take care of their kids. Hey, I sit quietly on the subway, where's my Key to the City and ticker tape parade?

To close, I can't help but not the irony in the "hey, at least, we're not out stealing" sales pitch. Pardon me, but isn't what you're doing, soliciting on the subway, a violation of the law?

What does the phrase "Not to kill a dead horse" mean exactly?

The phrase is actually: "Not to beat a dead horse".

It harkens back to the pre automobile days (pre 1900) when horses were used.

If a horse collapsed from exhaustion from pulling a heavy wagon (or other heavy load), the driver of the wagon would take out a whip or stick and beat the poor animal until it got back up.

Of course many of the horses died on the street but the driver would not stop to see if that was the case and would continue to beat the animal.
The driver would eventually get the idea that the horse was dead.

The fact thet the drivers would continue to beat the horse gave rise to the expression "Beating a dead horse".

The kids only stopped because school was out. They are all over the place - the subways, and in midtown.

When you buy candy from them you are only encouraging them to come back time and time again. The same goes for the old people who sell batteries and kiddie toys, or the clowns from the United Homeless Organization.


As admirable as it sounds, 99 times out of 100 there is no basketball program. You've been duped. No matter how bad the economy gets, there's no excuse for breaking the rules (if you want to argue that there should not be any rules for selling on the subway, we can take that up in another thread).

MJ

what i don't get is where they get all this candy from?

wouldn't it be funny if they gave this long speech about how they don't want to steal, but they stole the candy they are selling....

You can buy it from BJ's or Costco for really cheap. That's probably what a lot of them do, or get their friends to do, who in turn sell it to them....

Hey, everyone, don't hate the candy selling kids. If the kids' school is forcing them, they have to sell it. I have to sell chance books from my school or else it gets added to my school tuition. (Stupid school wouldn't let us sell candy).
I also find going to BJ's to buy candy to sell, very helpful. My grandmother and aunt are having money problems right now, so I can't get what I need and want. It's very fustrating when the school forces me to buy something and I don't have the money for it. I'll try the BJ's idea...after I save up for it. (I don't even have money to buy a freakin' candy box).

The BJ's/Costco idea wouldn't have worked during my high school days (Stuyvesant '83). All athletes were required to buy their candy from the coach; outside purchases were strictly forbidden. That way, the team made its money up front, while the athletes who went around selling overpriced M&Ms "for the team" were really just trying to get their own money back.

There is no way to know if the school is forcing them or they are perpetrating a scam on subway riders.

As it stands, it is illegal to sell anything on a subway train. In fact only newstands are authorized to sell anything in the subway system and they are limited to platforms.

The kids selling candy bars on the subway are dumb. They charge a dollar. Grocery stores charge 70cents for a Milky Way bar.
As for those school fundraisers, i hated them. The popular kids got their parents' coworkers to buy the candy. For the number of candy sold, the popular kids received radios, tv sets, and other goodies.
They were given these goodies in the auditorium, as I and the other kids who were either poor, or w/o connections watched. These candy sales were almost as terrible as the science projex they forced us to do, and the standardized tests.

Wilson? Is that you?