Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/11/05/unmanned-roadside-stores-in-ja.html
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Until they steal the camera, lol!
But yeah, these aren’t unique to Japan, unmanned stalls are all over the Midwest in America during the summer.
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…and in the UK. In the countryside in my area it’s sometimes free range eggs or apples. As there are 2 supermarkets within 5 minutes of my house I’ve never felt the need. Nice gesture though.
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Pretty much every family farm outside of Toronto does this too. It’s really cool stopping, buying corn, paying for it, not seeing a soul - and feeling good about the experience.
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Basically if your foot traffic is low enough, the chances of a thief walking across your tiny stand and emptying it out are less than what it would take to properly secure it (some kind of vending machine?), so it makes sense to operate it this way.
Plus it makes people feel good, which is something not to be underestimated.
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This is fairly common in rural New York and New Jersey, too. My favorite one in upstate New York sold home made fruit pies, mmmmmmm.
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There’s a house in the neighborhood my work is located by that has small potted plants for $5 on the front lawn. Totally unattended and every time i see it it makes me smile. There’s something very quaint about it that i really enjoy, though i personally prefer to grow my plants from seed when given the chance so i haven’t had the need to buy any of their plants. In fact i need to get more pots and soil because i got more seeds recently.
Would love to see unattended stores for groceries though! I would 100% use it
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Reminds me of this guy:
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These are are all over the US. They’re a great way to get free veggies.
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Yeah, those are pretty common all over the US in agricultural areas.
I will say, the ones I have seen usually have a lockbox with a slot for the money making it somewhat harder to steal the money.
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Same in New England. Lotsa little stands selling eggs around here.
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Not sure you could get away with doing that in the Texas heat, unless you want soft boiled eggs.
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Depressing to think how long these would last in most American cities.
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Good read, thank you.
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I just moved from a big city to a small town where people leave bicycles on their front porches unlocked and they don’t get stolen. More of a meth production than consumption kinda place. It’s nice.
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It is amazing how much trust can exist in relatively small, relatively culturally homogeneous communities. And yes, I unfortunately do believe that both of those are prerequisites for practices like this surviving, at least among humans as we currently exist.
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Was going to say the exact same two states, and add Maine.
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I’ve seen a few in Ontario, Canada. In rural areas.
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Seen them in Pennsy, VA, NJ, pretty common. I often wonder how often the money gets stolen
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