- As stated on The Big Issue website if you are, homeless or rough sleeping, in temporary accommodation, in danger of losing a home or unemployed and facing financial crisis, you can become a big issue vendor and start selling immediately.
- The process of becoming a vendor involves going to a local Big Issue office, undergoing an induction process and signing a vendor agreement. You then receive some free copies to get started.
- Once you become a vendor, you buy the magazines for £1.25 and then sell them at £2.50 with the vendor then keeping the money to spend as they like.
- Vendors wear a red tabard, work from a fixed pitch and are able to choose the hours that they work.
- The vendor agreement that vendors sign involves guidelines and rules that they must follow. This includes only selling the current copy and for the cover price, clearly displaying valid big issue identification, only sell on an authorised big issue pitch, always supply customers with correct change and hand over the magazine, only sell the magazine to genuine customers, use permitted selling techniques, sell independently on pitch, don't be under the influence of substances when selling or buying and always strive to represent yourself and The Big Issue as positively as possible as to not harm your reputation or The Big Issue's.
- Furthermore, as part of the vendor agreement, vendors must understand that, by breaking rules, they are entitled to stop providing you with copies of the magazine on either a temporary or permanent basis. You are not an employee of The Big Issue but are a wholesaler/retailer. If you receive benefits you must notify the DWP on income from The Big Issue. The Big Issue group will keep your information from induction. You consent for The Big Issue group to share the data with other 3rd party agencies in order assess your support needs.
- As mentioned earlier they need to be solved on pitch, this involves in public spaces, which is a social space that is generally open and accessible to people.
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