News / Park Street
Big Issue seller Jack’s profits soar after accepting contactless payments
Boston Tea Party was closed on Saturday due to the snow, but not even the weather nor a lack of regular customers could stop Big Issue seller Jack Richardson from doing a roaring trade.
Only last month, Jack got mugged and badly beaten up in Castle Park. His glasses were smashed after his assailants hit his face, but from this low point he is now a very happy man indeed.
After repairing his glasses, one of the opticians at Specsavers in Clifton Down shopping centre gave Jack her second-hand mobile phone, and thanks to this he was able to buy a £20 portable card-reader machine to use alongside it.
is needed now More than ever
He is not the first Big Issue seller in Bristol to accept contactless payments – that honour goes to Robin Fabian, who sells the magazine outside the Co-Op on St Michael’s Hill.
But the way in which Jack has turned a serious assault into the catalyst for increased sales and a boost of both confidence and happiness is nothing short of inspirational.
“Without my glasses I can barely see,” Jack told Bristol24/7. “And after the mugging, with my mental health problems it was really scary for me.
“But the people at the opticians really made me feel there was nice people as well as horrible people in the world.”
Jack estimates that his new new card reader has given him at least 40 per cent more sales since he first started using the machine on Friday, with the cost of it paid back within the first hour.
“I’ve been making sales that I wouldn’t have made otherwise from people who would usually have walked past,” he said with a smile.
“And people have been treating me with more respect as well. The fact that I have spent my own money, to be entrepreneurial rather than just standing here doing nothing. It’s been awesome.”
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