You see this sort of thing in the Southeast US all the time. Little truck farms and family farms leave things out on a roadside cart with an honor system box.
I’ve seen them once or twice in England too.
They’re pretty common here in NJ. I’m in a rural part of the state, and I pass probably half a dozen every day during my commute that sell vegetables and/or firewood, depending on the season.
In the Willamette Valley, in the rural areas, you can purchase fresh eggs, vegetables, fruit and flowers in a similar manner. It has been that way for over 40 years. Some places it is pick your own fruit based on the honor system.
I’ve also seen them in various Hawaiian islands, particularly where families have wild tropical fruits growing on their property.
They do this in Rhode Island too c: -> https://maps.google.com/maps?q=694+Ten+Rod+Rd,+Exeter,+RI&hl=en&ll=41.570321,-71.476852&spn=0.000711,0.001635&sll=31.168934,-100.076842&sspn=13.309797,26.784668&oq=694+ten+rod&t=h&hnear=694+10+Rod+Rd,+Exeter,+Rhode+Island+02822&z=20&layer=c&cbll=41.570253,-71.476697&panoid=r4quHokfq76ai2ZwpV9-ww&cbp=12,150.54,,0,16.54 (street view)
Yeah, Michigan too. Eggs, veggies, the whole shebang.
Throughout California’s central valley as well. Just saw a few out near Petaluma last weekend. My neighbor does the same thing with his lemons and watermelon.
Australia too. Excess fruit, veggies, eggs, even flowers are all sold this way.
Roadside egg stands here in Massachusetts are typically unmanned, and work on the honor system.
Yep, another Californian who can vouch for this. I live in Davis, CA, and right now, on my drive home from work, if I drove the country roads, I would pass by ~5 fruit/veggie stands, some of which work on this model during the day and some that convert to it for off-hours.
this is super common in the American midwest
I guess (from the comments) that these are common in the US in rural areas. As someone who has only lived in medium to large sized cities in the US and Canada I can’t think of anywhere I lived where these wouldn’t be trashed by kids just for fun and/or for the money. Maybe rural-dwellers are just more polite (not to mention fewer) than city folk, but these are apparently in Tokyo, a bigger city than I’ve ever lived in.
Wellllll… we do this in America too, but the vegetables don’t have that soft Tepco luminescence.
Nobody does this in Manitoba, northeastern Pennsylvania or the Texas Panhandle
These exist in rural southern Ontario, Canada too. There are even roadside signs (the “nearby attractions” types put in by local governments) that point to them.
Also common in rural New Zealand.
Also common everywhere I’ve ever lived in the US: central New York, rural Massachusetts, Iowa, etc. Usually, there’s an asking price, and you leave your money in the box or envelope. That’s typically if someone specializes in a particular thing, and has it often and has a price for it (corn, eggs, honey, veggies, etc.) Sometimes if it’s someone with a more random assortment of stuff, you leave what you think it’s worth.
How do people with farm stands collect the money if they don’t do this? Do they have to leave someone sitting by the side of the road all day?
Just adding to the list of places this has been seen: I’ve seen honor-system self-service roadside produce stalls in the Pacific Northwest (I can’t recall where precisely; probably on Whidbey, but possibly in the San Juans or the Gulfs).
