Michigan Panhandler Uses Credit Card Reader To Collect Money
DETROIT (CBS SF) -- A homeless panhandler in Michigan is turning to technology produced by a San Francisco company to expand the people he asks for money by taking credit cards.
The Daily Post of Palo Alto reports that Abe Hagenston, who has been homeless in the Detroit area for seven years, has started using a Square reader plugged into his cell phone to take credit card donations from passers by.
"I take VISA, Mastercard, American Express," explained Hagenston in the Daily Post story. "I'm the only homeless guy in America who can take a credit card."
The Square reader processes the credit card transactions securely with Hagenston paying a fee 2.75 percent per transaction. Donations made using the Square reader are deposited in his bank account within a day or two.
Hagenston said that he has also organized a group of transients who are now operating "like a union" and panhandling neighborhoods in shifts.
Square is headquartered in San Francisco. It's CEO and Chairman is current Twitter head Jack Dorsey.