Does that mean margaret that everytime you buy a magazine from the news agents or whsmith or asda etc that they are begging?
You are paying for the magazine - you are getting something for your money. They pay big issue 70p for every magazine that they have. You pay £1.40 they get to keep the other 70p for paying for the next lot of magazines and to pay for food, roof over their head etc.
Big Issue
The sellers have a code of conduct which they have to sign to be a seller. If they dont adhere to it they lose their badge and are banned from selling it.