things have changed ...or have they ?

[borntidy]

30+ years ago i disapeared for a few years,possibly broke many laws (ok know i did).i travelled by choice alone setting up short term camps and sometimes i set up close to a town for longer periods.towns and cities offer more choice in food availability and options for collecting a little money.my favorite method used to be abandoned houses/buildings ,these holding a varied collection of small items in the lofts cellars and overgrown outbuildings.you can sell almost anything at a car boot (swap meet). My best find found by accident while pulling a floorbord for fire wood i found a small cache of rings and chains...nice payday. Ithink even today you may find such buildings a usefull tool in survival,just remember its still theft if caught.
Supermarkets today are a little more careful about letting outsiders take their rotting food and i have often witnessed them destroy produce in an effort to feed their bank balances not the poor.but by in large staff are hungry too and do a half hearted job.Watch at night even the staff toss goods over the fence to collect later to avoid security at the doors. My main concern these days is what has changed? its been 30 years since i walked this road but i still see the roamer in me , trying to find that freedom thrill or state of mind.i was my own island responsible to me and me alone i never broke into houses,i took advantage of what others could'nt of cared for.

 

[Deleted member 20]

Welcome to the site. Please take your time to read up on the current state of affairs here on STP. I dont usually break into buildings for much more than shelter while traveling & dont eat food out of dumpsters. Here in the US we have way too much food & money as a society & people are all overweight. I travel with food stamps on an EBT/SNAP card that works in every state while I travel. (There will be those kids that are full of shit & say that in "there specific state" you cant cross state lines or you will loose your bennefits. I say fuck off you are full of shit as I have done it for many years!!!!!)
If I dont have any money on my EBT/SNAP card I fly a sign for cash. I use that cash to eat & do laundry exclusively!!! I dont do drugs, drink booze or smoke anything!! So I pull a small wagon thru life requiring very little to be happy from others. I am never greedy & once i get up what I need for a day or 2 I move on. The road always has provided enough for me. I think its important to understand that I am never homeless & the difference between travellers & homebums. Homelessness is a state of mind & homebums are almost always crazy.

 

[drewski]

Yeah, I always had people saying that EBT only works in the state you got it in. I was always like it's a federal program...derp. Shit works everywhere.

 

[Kim Chee]

When it hits the dumpster...I'm there. People are always throwing away stuff (often food) which is still good.
Damn, we as a species are so wasteful I wonder when we are going to suffer.

 

[Matt Derrick]

Yeah, I always had people saying that EBT only works in the state you got it in. I was always like it's a federal program...derp. Shit works everywhere.

yeah, the only caveat is that some states don't like it when you use their food stamps in other states; in that case they'll cut you off earlier than normal. that's only certain states though. for example, florida doesn't give a fuck, and is super easy to get there... i went traveling on food stamps from there for 6 months, just happened to be back in town to visit a friend during my 6 month check in, and got another 6 months, so i think about 98% of my food stamp purchases were outside the state of florida and i didn't get cut off until the whole year was up.

i know california and washington will cut you off if you start spending them outside their states. you'll usually get at least one or two months of stamps (after you start using it outside that state) before you get cut off though.

 

[skillpore]

I worked at a Sprouts here in Mesa it sucked. We had to throw alot of produce away because of the way it looked. Bananas were dumped left and right. A coworker and I planned on filling boxes up and handing them over the wall during close. Some @#$%%# heard us and locked the back door. We had to throw away perfectly good food which none of it was donated. If your near a store from 8-10 at night see if you can find some one in the back and ask for food. I'm sure you'll find some one that will give you some thing. I know I would of.

 

[CelticWanderer]

You guys should see the back room of sams club after thanksgiving. last year i tossed about 80 pies, 30 bags of bread and a shit load of other stuff because golden harvest doesnt come during the holidays. It goes in a huge compactor too so there's so chance of getting any of it. and the produce dumpster is never cleaned and is always filled with rot and juices so pretty much nothing is salvageable. Walking back to the bakery there would always be a trash bin filled to the top with random fruits and veggies that were still goood.

 

[drewski]

yeah, the only caveat is that some states don't like it when you use their food stamps in other states; in that case they'll cut you off earlier than normal. that's only certain states though. for example, florida doesn't give a fuck, and is super easy to get there... i went traveling on food stamps from there for 6 months, just happened to be back in town to visit a friend during my 6 month check in, and got another 6 months, so i think about 98% of my food stamp purchases were outside the state of florida and i didn't get cut off until the whole year was up.

i know california and washington will cut you off if you start spending them outside their states. you'll usually get at least one or two months of stamps (after you start using it outside that state) before you get cut off though.

Interesting. I wonder why they get butthurt and do that?

 

[Matt Derrick]

Interesting. I wonder why they get butthurt and do that?

i think the idea is that each state is allocated a certain amount of money for their food stamp program, and they want that money kept in the same state for economic reasons. this is just a guess, but i think if you start spending (for example) oregon food stamps in california, it makes it harder to keep track of what's being spent where in order to justify next year's food stamp budget?

i kinda picture it like law enforcement and other government programs, where they start pissing money down the drain cause they got more than they needed that year, but they gotta do *something* with it or they'll get less next year... so that kind of situation maybe?

 

[drewski]

Seems like a valid reason. I got mine in Montana and the caseworker was super nice, saying the state of Montana wants people to get food stamps so they pretty much hand 'em out. I can't remember the reasons behind it that she explained...not to mention economics is like reading Quantum Mechanics to me.

 

[Beegod Santana]

Every state gets a certain amount for food stamps, if they don't use all of that amount for food stamps they're allowed to use the surplus to fix gaps in the state budget. Some states become dependent of this $ and actively try to weed out any food stamps fraud or people using it outta state. Other states just don't care. Twice I've gotten food stamps in Cali, immediately left the state and the card didn't turn off for year. In cali it really depends on the county you get them in. Some counties send you letters (address must be within county) that you have to reply to in order to keep the stamps, others don't.