Interesting Question

I was walking down the street with my colleague when we noticed a guy was hawking one of the local magazine/newspapers. Most of the time they are free; at least I know they are when you are entering/leaving the subway. But today this enterprising young man was offering them for "$1 donations", which is what made it remarkable at all. I turned to my coworker and asked, "does he really think that he will make more money by accepting $1 donations rather than just chargin $1 as the price?" I really don't know the answer, but perhaps for such an ubiquitous item at the lowest end of the price scale (which often goes for free) it does maximize his sales.
JDW