As others have noted, this is common in rural America, which tend toward being very high-trust communities such that many people don't even bother to lock their doors. Bartering local goods and services is such an integral part of the rural social fabric that everyone has an interest in making it work well with minimal transaction costs.
Part of what makes it work in rural areas is that no one is really anonymous. The local social networks tend to be very quick to identify bad actors.
> As others have noted, this is common in rural America, which tend toward being very high-trust communities such that many people don't even bother to lock their doors
There's a practical reason for that, too. If you're being burglarized in a rural community, a locked door will be an obstacle for ~10 seconds, and you'll come home to just as much of your stuff stolen, plus a broken door to deal with.
In a very small town near where I grew up every household had a key to the gas station. They could fill up whenever they wanted and leave the money on the counter.
The book "Freakonomics" details a similar bagel-selling system, where they would put bagels in the break room of workplaces, and you would pay on the honor system. After years of collecting data, the owner realized he had been doing a real-time, real-life experiment on how honest people are. You don't know WHO took without paying, but you can tell HOW MANY of your bagels were paid for. There's analysis of how it varies by time of year, type of workplace, etc. Fascinating.
I worked somewhere that did this. Every month there was much more money left than bagels sold. We gossiped about this for a while. Eventually an anonymous note was left (paraphrased as best as I could remember):
"Some people are forgetful or hungry or in a rush. I don't want these times to sour this workplace because people grow to think someone is stealing."
Here in Sweden I've noted that some sellers have started adding a Swish-number for payments. Swish is a Swedish payment service where you basically send money to a phone number.
This is great since the only risk for the seller now is the produce. The cash can not be stolen.
That sounds very Swedish! The nearest I've seen to that in Switzerland was a farm with a book where you can write your name, address, and how much you owe them. That was on a slightly larger farm (~100 cows and pigs) that sold expensive things like cold-cut meat too.
I live in a tourist region of Switzerland and here the local supermarkets carry local produce e.g. cheeses and sausages bearing the name and address of the farmer who produced them.
In our village we can buy cheese, eggs, honey, and some preserves by letting ourselves into the cellar of the local farmer and leaving money in a jar.
As a Swiss guy, I must say I only see this in rural areas. It wouldn't work in big cities like Geneva I think (too many people living in urban areas who don't respect our wonderful country and that's a shame).
This is actually fairly common in rural areas in America too. Maybe someone sets up a bunch of pumpkins, apples, etc at the end of their driveway (which in rural America can be measured in KM) and a box to put money in.
Being from Gimel (a small town in Vaud), a lot of the stories in the article remind me of happy memories growing up.
Switzerland has been struggling with an identity crisis of late as a lot of poorer immigrants from war-torn places (Albania when I was growing up, Maghreb and Middle East now) have been moving in to the cities, oftentimes not respecting our old traditions. Theft and petty crime is on the rise, and almost always at the hands of those poorer immigrants. It's led to a backlash that hasn't really brought out the best in us.
It's sad to see the cohesion and trustworthiness of the Swiss society disappear, though I guess it was somewhat inevitable.
I live in Zurich (biggest city in Switzerland), and know of several such installations in the city itself. "Cities" in Switzerland are really not that urban ;-)
> too many people living in urban areas who don't respect our wonderful country
I think people from lots of different countries feel that way. There’s something about being connected to the land that gives one a love for both the land and the human culture connected to it. That connection to the land is easily lost in urban environments.
Even retail establishments with staff and security systems balance the extra costs of these “loss prevention” measures against customer convenience. The goal is never perfect security but sufficient security. Large retailers typically set targets on loss and try to minimize them, within reason. Farm stands that operate like this have simply found a reasonable cost/benefit trade off. (There’s an apple orchard near Boston that leaves their store unattended for the slow winter months... My wife pops in a few times to buy some more apples.)
I ran into this in California at a small farm along Highway 1 a few miles north of Santa Cruz. It's a scenic ocean side rural locale but near all the big Bay Area cities and frequented by day visitors from there. There was a shack with a good variety of their produce laid out, with price labels. Up front there was a cash box, with about $40 already in it, and a sign that said pay here. This was late '90s. I really hope that it continued to work for them for a long time after that. I haven't seen that elsewhere before or since. I overpaid as a tip. I hope that happens enough to offset cheats.
In rural south west England, on holiday last year, the well-stocked local farm shop operated not only an honesty box, but an honesty credit card machine, with detailed instructions how to put a transaction through. The merchant receipt went in the honesty box, of course. I was astonished but pretty pleased, because I was low on cash and far from any ATM.
I've been here since the late 90's and the same self service stands that were here then are still here - there are several between Palo Alto and Cupertino.
There's also a self service rest stop mainly for cyclists that's been in operation for the last 10 years or so, between Woodside and Half Moon Bay.
https://potreronuevofarm.org/bike-hut/
My first exposure to the honor system was at Caltech. It worked very well there, and it was really nice to not have to obsessively lock your dorm room door every time you walk out.
I've since used the honor system in my business dealings, and it works well enough to allow me to continue with it.
One of the reasons this worked so well at Caltech was that every freshman's first night included an introduction to lock picking.
If you locked your door, you might expect a polite note like "I noticed your door was locked. Thanks, it gave me a chance to test my lock picking skills."
Like several other commenters noted, these types of roadside stands are prevalent throughout rural areas of the US. You usually only see them on side roads though, if you're just passing through on the highways you'll miss them.
I was recently in Zurich and entered a small shop that was honor system. Scan and pay for your own items, no staff. Small food items, drinks, wine available.
Might be different since there could be cameras or some other form of accountability, but I found it interesting.
Yep...I agree it works well here and let's you farm while holding down another job. You can get "vine ripened" and the flavor it much better. It also is more efficient for spoilage. Hogs or chickens get it right after it is too ripe.
Last year we found a place on the Oregon coast that had a little freezer with Salmon and Halibut. Also a table with Cherries, Peaches, and a few vegetables with an honor box and, interestingly we thought, QR codes to accept BTC and ETH.
Halibut was killer, but I paid in USD because my phone was dead.
In Paris pavements are routinely lined with stacks of books, magazines, comics, etc. The idea being 'you take some, you leave some. Or just take, at least the books will find some use.' I've seen it abroad so it's probably widespread.
Slightly more tangential, but people also often leave furniture (or clothes) they don't need outside for the taking, often because they're moving places. You notify the municipality, put up a post-it with a number on it so that they can eventually identify and carry the stuff away if it finds to takers, but in the meantime other people are free to help themselves. I have friends who would completely furnished their apartment with furniture found on the street.
Growing up in Switzerland, when we lived on the outskirts of Bern, we would get our milk from such a dispenser at a farm. It was a 5min walk to the farm, and we'd bring our own bottle and fill it up from a spout. The milk was fresh and unpasteurized, so we'd have to leet it sit in the fridge for a few hours to separate it from its cream.
Once upon a time I cycled through vast fields of strawberries and other yummy looking produce in California.
I did see honour system stalls but they were pretty rare considering the size of the area. They were more like curious exceptions rather than the norm. They were also geared up to sell at volumes that didn't suit the bike, so too much to carry.
I got the impression from the article on Switzerland that this was more of a way to do your shopping, so sensible quantities not vast bulk purchases.
Incidentally I did not stop to freeload a single strawberry. On a bike with nobody around this should have been simple, there weren't even any barbed wire fences. However, my riding buddy - also a non-American tourist - was not so keen. The reason why was a simple one - 'don't they have guns in America?'.
Actually they have guns in Switzerland too and there is a lot of national service practice going on at the weekends. In fact weekends are quite wonderful in Switzerland as the shops are closed and people go out and do things including going to honour system stalls. The guns though are quite terrifying if you are cycling as you can turn a corner on a descent and feel like you are suddenly in a firing range (rather than right next to one).
I have to say that the Californian produce looked good but was not that good when I bought it in the shops. The land of plenty turned out to be quite expensive and bland to European tastes. Meanwhile, in Switzerland, the roadside appearance of plenty was not so good but the food bought in shops was as expensive as everything is in Switzerland (so no surprise) but delightful to taste.
The relative abundance of Swiss roadside honour stalls doesn't just say things about how honest people are in squeaky clean Switzerland, it also says something about the produce being of value rather than bland.
Once I broke the signal in Switzerland and outran the cops sent back the car to the countryside and took bus to the hotel just to find the traffic ticket waiting for me in the room I booked.
I am still not sure how they knew where I am going and which hotel I'll be staying at.
Mapping where such systems actually work well would produce the best "quality of life" guide for me. It just takes a few bad apples to break these forever and communities in their naivety often don't notice until it's too late.
Here in southern germany ots of farmers sell Apples and other fruit (and sometimes vegetables) this way. Some also have fields of flowers where you can cut some and pay at a honor box. Though generally you put your money in a heavily bolted down box through a narrow slit.
In Scotland, especially on the Hebrides I saw various types of honor stalls. One sold all kinds of food, prepared and unprepared even warm pies, another one was just a Box with cakes, brownies and muffins and some thermos with tea and coffee and some dishes placed at a POI. In both cases you put your money just into a carboard box, so you could even get change.
[+] [-] jandrewrogers|6 years ago|reply
Part of what makes it work in rural areas is that no one is really anonymous. The local social networks tend to be very quick to identify bad actors.
[+] [-] vkou|6 years ago|reply
There's a practical reason for that, too. If you're being burglarized in a rural community, a locked door will be an obstacle for ~10 seconds, and you'll come home to just as much of your stuff stolen, plus a broken door to deal with.
[+] [-] MrMember|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rossdavidh|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Waterluvian|6 years ago|reply
"Some people are forgetful or hungry or in a rush. I don't want these times to sour this workplace because people grow to think someone is stealing."
[+] [-] mpfundstein|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] wahlis|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lukego|6 years ago|reply
I live in a tourist region of Switzerland and here the local supermarkets carry local produce e.g. cheeses and sausages bearing the name and address of the farmer who produced them.
In our village we can buy cheese, eggs, honey, and some preserves by letting ourselves into the cellar of the local farmer and leaving money in a jar.
[+] [-] sunseb|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dontbenebby|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kenneth|6 years ago|reply
Switzerland has been struggling with an identity crisis of late as a lot of poorer immigrants from war-torn places (Albania when I was growing up, Maghreb and Middle East now) have been moving in to the cities, oftentimes not respecting our old traditions. Theft and petty crime is on the rise, and almost always at the hands of those poorer immigrants. It's led to a backlash that hasn't really brought out the best in us.
It's sad to see the cohesion and trustworthiness of the Swiss society disappear, though I guess it was somewhat inevitable.
[+] [-] tduberne|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] radiator|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] microtherion|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] TimTheTinker|6 years ago|reply
I think people from lots of different countries feel that way. There’s something about being connected to the land that gives one a love for both the land and the human culture connected to it. That connection to the land is easily lost in urban environments.
[+] [-] jt2190|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] test1235|6 years ago|reply
I guess the number of people in a city make it more likely that there'd be enough 'cheaters' to ruin the whole enterprise and not make it worthwhile.
[+] [-] canofbars|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bongobongo|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hirundo|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gmac|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] stevenwoo|6 years ago|reply
There's also a self service rest stop mainly for cyclists that's been in operation for the last 10 years or so, between Woodside and Half Moon Bay. https://potreronuevofarm.org/bike-hut/
[+] [-] SomeOldThrow|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] davidjnelson|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dang|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|6 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] WalterBright|6 years ago|reply
I've since used the honor system in my business dealings, and it works well enough to allow me to continue with it.
[+] [-] Stratoscope|6 years ago|reply
If you locked your door, you might expect a polite note like "I noticed your door was locked. Thanks, it gave me a chance to test my lock picking skills."
[+] [-] interurban|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dliff|6 years ago|reply
Might be different since there could be cameras or some other form of accountability, but I found it interesting.
[+] [-] jopsen|6 years ago|reply
Even if there is excellent video and identification?
[+] [-] amayne|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] beauzero|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jMyles|6 years ago|reply
Halibut was killer, but I paid in USD because my phone was dead.
[+] [-] selimthegrim|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] moroleth|6 years ago|reply
Slightly more tangential, but people also often leave furniture (or clothes) they don't need outside for the taking, often because they're moving places. You notify the municipality, put up a post-it with a number on it so that they can eventually identify and carry the stuff away if it finds to takers, but in the meantime other people are free to help themselves. I have friends who would completely furnished their apartment with furniture found on the street.
[+] [-] BurningFrog|6 years ago|reply
I don't think articles like these are good for the system's health :)
[+] [-] kenneth|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] justwalt|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] chabes|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Theodores|6 years ago|reply
I did see honour system stalls but they were pretty rare considering the size of the area. They were more like curious exceptions rather than the norm. They were also geared up to sell at volumes that didn't suit the bike, so too much to carry.
I got the impression from the article on Switzerland that this was more of a way to do your shopping, so sensible quantities not vast bulk purchases.
Incidentally I did not stop to freeload a single strawberry. On a bike with nobody around this should have been simple, there weren't even any barbed wire fences. However, my riding buddy - also a non-American tourist - was not so keen. The reason why was a simple one - 'don't they have guns in America?'.
Actually they have guns in Switzerland too and there is a lot of national service practice going on at the weekends. In fact weekends are quite wonderful in Switzerland as the shops are closed and people go out and do things including going to honour system stalls. The guns though are quite terrifying if you are cycling as you can turn a corner on a descent and feel like you are suddenly in a firing range (rather than right next to one).
I have to say that the Californian produce looked good but was not that good when I bought it in the shops. The land of plenty turned out to be quite expensive and bland to European tastes. Meanwhile, in Switzerland, the roadside appearance of plenty was not so good but the food bought in shops was as expensive as everything is in Switzerland (so no surprise) but delightful to taste.
The relative abundance of Swiss roadside honour stalls doesn't just say things about how honest people are in squeaky clean Switzerland, it also says something about the produce being of value rather than bland.
[+] [-] dontbenebby|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gingabriska|6 years ago|reply
I am still not sure how they knew where I am going and which hotel I'll be staying at.
[+] [-] lazyjones|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] omnibrain|6 years ago|reply
In Scotland, especially on the Hebrides I saw various types of honor stalls. One sold all kinds of food, prepared and unprepared even warm pies, another one was just a Box with cakes, brownies and muffins and some thermos with tea and coffee and some dishes placed at a POI. In both cases you put your money just into a carboard box, so you could even get change.
[+] [-] yborg|6 years ago|reply
https://en.japantravel.com/saitama/honesty-shops/59159