Unattended parsnips left for sale at the roadside, with a locked honesty box

An honesty box, also known as an honour box,[1] is a method of charging for a service such as admission or car parking, or for a product such as home-grown produce and flowers, which relies upon each visitor paying at a box using the honor system.[2] Tickets are not issued and such sites are usually unattended. When used in camping sites and other park settings, they are sometimes referred to as an iron ranger as there is often an iron cash box instead of an actual park ranger.[3] Some stores also use them for selling newspapers to avoid lines at a cash register.[4]

Such boxes are typically used in rural areas where the low number of customers and other visitors, along with the low quantity or value of the products on offer, means that an attendant would not bring a positive return on investment.[4] Many are also domestically run operations where attendance is not feasible.

The Cake Fridge, an honesty box cake fridge in Bixter, Shetland, Scotland,[5] features in the TV adaptation of Anne Cleeves novels.[6]

The use of honesty boxes saw a resurgence during the COVID-19 pandemic, because purchases can be made without contact.[7][8][9]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Bateson, Melissa; Nettle, Daniel (27 June 2006). "Cues of being watched enhance cooperation in a real-world setting". Biology Letters. 2 (3): 412–414. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2006.0509. PMC 1686213. PMID 17148417.
  2. ↑ Lockhart, Jessica Wynne (21 February 2021). "New Zealand road trips: An ode to the Kiwi culture of honesty boxes". The New Zealand Herald.
  3. ↑ Armstrong, Michael (15 October 2008). "Don Henry's prolific metal sculpture abounds in Homer 'Divas and Dolls'". Homer News.
  4. 1 2 Richards, Jonathan (1 October 2007). "Honesty box culture". Times Online. London. Retrieved 26 March 2009.
  5. ↑ "Honesty boxes in Shetland". Shetland.org. 13 August 2019. Retrieved 28 December 2021.
  6. ↑ Martin Shore (4 November 2021). "'Shetland' fans are all going crazy for this one thing". whattowatch.com. Retrieved 28 December 2021.
  7. ↑ "Honesty boxes see a resurgence during Jersey's lockdown". ITV News. 8 June 2020.
  8. ↑ "#FeedTheNation: Honesty box helps ice-cream business beat Covid". Farmers Weekly. 12 September 2020.
  9. ↑ "A Dublin cafe is using an 'Honesty Box' to keep business running". FM104.
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