How Big Issue saved vendor Robin Price’s life as magazine turns 35: ‘Without them, I’d be dead’

A Big Issue vendor has spoken of how selling the magazine has saved his life as the social enterprise marks 35 years since appearing on Britain’s streets.

For three and a half decades, thousands of people have rebuilt their lives by becoming Big Issue vendors. Pembrokeshire seller Robin Price shared how selling the magazine has made a difference to his life.

“Big Issue saved my life, and I feel like I’m giving something back to them now,” he said. “I’ve done quite a lot of work for [the magazine]. It’s been tremendous to me over the years. Without them, I would be dead by now.”

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Price has worked outside the Co-op in Pembrokeshire, Wales, for the past two years, and spent 11 years before that in Weston-super-Mare.

“I just love doing it,” he told Big Issue, emphasising the importance of building a relationship with customers: “I like to speak to people.”

“At the end of the day, some of us are not just Big Issue sellers, sometimes we’re actually listeners for other people. Sometimes it’s easier to speak to a stranger than one of your friends or one of your family.”

He has established such a good connection with some of his regular customers that he now even does home deliveries for them.

“I’ve got a few people where I post the magazine through their letterboxes because they prefer it that way,” said Price.

“So, they get special treatment of getting it delivered at home instead of coming out to see me and then when I see them out on the street through the week, they just give me the money for it.”

Price said that whatever the weather, the job gets him out of the house interacting with people and doing something with his day – as well as making some extra money.

“There were lovely people at the Big Issue office in Bristol,” he said. “They helped me out tremendously. I went through training to help other vendors, so that was pretty cool. I got made a franchisee.”

Big Issue vendor Price said that if he is ever struggling with his mental health now, his favourite way to “snap [himself] out of it” is to visit a railway, which is what his late father used to work on.

“It’s one of my safest places to go to,” said Price. “I always say wherever I see a railway line, my dad’s still alive somewhere. He passed away two years ago now, but he’s still alive wherever I see the railway.”

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