Yes, I'm on welfare and have a smart phone....

[Seshat]

....


I have a minimum package from my phone provider. My family wants me to have a mobile for my safety. I've had it for ... geez, almost a decade now. The connectivity package, I mean.

So last year, the provider sent me (and presumably a ton of other people) an upgrade offer. Commit to another two years, get a free smartphone. Oh, not one of the fancy-schmancy top of the line, but a smartphone nonetheless.

We thought about it, looked for loopholes: nope. No extra cost to us, and we get a smartphone and can stick the old phone in a drawer to be the backup phone.


So. I'm on welfare, and I have a smartphone.

Bast and Toth have smartphones too: hand-me-downs from friends who work and have a 'latest-and-greatest' addiction.


I'm a little bit tired of people in the main CS thing using smartphones as 'proof' that someone using welfare cards is gaming the system.

[SkullKing]

I can see how that can be upsetting. But you are doing nothing wrong, just using what you have in the best possible way.

[mathnerd]

I feel your pain. I hit a rough spot and applied for food assistance at one point. I got yelled at once by a SC for pulling my food stamp card out of my Coach purse; the Coach purse that I'd purchased a decade prior when my household income (between me and my then-husband) was well over $200k/year. Apparently I was supposed to sell all my nice things and buy shitty things just because I was going through a temporary rough spot.

[kaycivine]

I'mma get a newer smartphone from 2013 in october...from my cousin.
He is taking care of the bill and such while I go through school.

I'm not truly on welfare, but even if I get a new job I will likely have to apply for foodstamps.

If people want to talk shit when I do that, they can buzz off. They don't know the circumstances. Yeah, people abuse the programs a lot, but you can HAVE nice things as gifts, something you worked hard to splurge yourself on, or something, and still be needing help financially. That's how I personally feel about the attitudes about welfare and luxury items.

[Ghel]

I've heard and seen people complain that homeless people have cell phones (not even smart phones). It's practically impossible to get a job without a phone. It's not like they're going to have a land line!

As technology continues to get cheaper, it's no surprise that those with lower incomes are more able to afford said technology.

[patiokitty]

Oh hell, when I was on welfare and had a cell phone (prior to the advent of smart phones) I was routinely given shit for owning one. It did not matter that my parents had given it to me or that it was strictly PAYG. If I pulled out that phone for any reason I would get the stink eye, even after I explained HOW I ended up with it or the fact that I was not on a plan. Assholes, all of them.

I do not understand the mentality that some people have concerning what you should and should not own while on welfare. I know that during my second time on welfare I was told by my welfare worker that I should sell my car...even though it was nowhere near new and it was not worth a whole lot. And I know a friend of mine who had bought a nice car about two months prior to ending up out of work and going on welfare was told to sell her car as well, despite not owing anything on it and her insurance already being paid up for the next year. And this was coming from welfare case workers, ffs! Like how the hell were either of us supposed to go job hunting if we didn't have a vehicle?

I swear that sometimes people just don't think.

[HYHYBT]

I'd *love* to see the people complaining come to this thread and try to make a coherent argument against hand-me-down phones and ten-year-old, originally expensive purses.

It seems like some people just want to condemn, and any excuse will do.

edit: As for the cars, it's probably not that you had them, but that they were worth too much. I've heard before of a regulatory limit on how much your car can be worth for you to be eligible, but don't remember offhand what it is and it probably varies by where you live anyway. Still stinks.

[patiokitty]

My car was worth maybe $700, and my friend's care was an older model luxury model that she picked up for $1200. I know it varies from province to province, but it still begs the question of 'why should it matter?' Especially if it was something that was owned outright prior to having to go on welfare in the first place? The impression both of us got - from different workers - basically boiled down to being given the impression that being on welfare meant that we could not own anything. I know that in my friend's case she was told that she should sell her car and live on the money she got for selling it, and it was only when my friend got rather upset over that suggestion that her welfare case worker dropped it. Either way, it should not matter unless you are still making payments on the vehicle.

[Seshat]

If you're in a place with poor or no public transport, having personal transport is critical anyway.

[Rageaholic]

rageaholic

I remember reading a thread on CS where a person who was in a financial pickle (as in living on the streets) was being advised to sell their laptop. From what I remember, they had already sold a lot of other belongings, but did not want to sell their laptop. Apparently, not wanting to give up that one thing was being unreasonable.

[sophie]

My husband and I have been through a couple of rough financial months here and there, people tried to "advised" me to sell some of my family heirlooms that are over 200 years old. No way was that going to happen I would get what $100 maybe? And lose something I could never replace.

I've seen phone contracts that over an iPhone for free but a crappy flip phone costs $45

[mathnerd]

And smart phone plans can be cheap if you're careful. I have three smart phones on my account and pay $120/month, and that includes all the taxes and fees. Now, my teenage boys are really good about data usage, so I have a seriously chintzy shared data plan (1 gig, shared, but since our average is 300MB, I'm not worried). I also worked with an awesome rep who managed to get some sweet discounts applied to my plan. A friend of mine who has two dumb phones and a smart phone on her account pays quite a bit more than I do. When I was debating adding a 4th line, she saw the numbers and said hers would still be more than what I would get charged for four smart phones. Anyway, just because it looks nice, doesn't mean it's new and/or pricey.

[sophie]

I have a smartphone unlimited talk text and 3G for 40 a month.

[Gravekeeper]

I'm reminded of that Fox News segment where they trying to say poor people weren't that bad off because most of them had refrigerators.

[Greenday]

I'm reminded of that Fox News segment where they trying to say poor people weren't that bad off because most of them had refrigerators.

I'd google searched "Bum With Refrigerator" to prove it is possible to be poor as hell with a fridge, but all I got was pictures of women's butts and fridges.

I could see if someone had a car like a brand new BMW that people would complain. But a used car? No reason to get upset over it.