(Hat tip: Michael B) This is pretty cool, and interesting:
With its blood-red walls and black leather sofas, Kirkland's Terra Bite Lounge looks like any other coffee shop — until you get to the menu. There are no prices listed. Terra Bite doesn't have them.I wonder if - and hope - it will be successful. I think it may be for the reasons illustrated in this comment [the very first comment] on a Kirkland blog:You read that right: No prices. Customers pay what and when they like, or not at all — it makes no difference to the cafe employees, who are instructed not to peek when people put money in the metal lock box.
I went down to Terra Bite randomly on a Sunday with my best friend because Janis had told me about it. Katie and I had this plan to just go in, get coffee and not pay because we wanted to see how it felt to just not pay. We ended up feeling so guilty that we drove back paid double what we would have and I offered to put a bumper sticker on my car to help advertise...it's a crazy mind game they have going there.This is much better than similar ideas from the past - say, communism or other policies that distribute wealth, for a simple reason given by the next comment:
My initial excitement was later tempered by the thought that we've done this before and it has failed miserably (pick any communist state that has tried to force economic equality by spreading wealth). But then I realized that this was fundamentally different. It's not a government forcing us to distribute wealth. It's about relative worth measured by US. It forces US to look at the larger economic picture and assess how we fit in.It's really brilliant, and I'd love to see how it goes. Hopefully it will show that people really are kind, honest, and fair. My guess? A high enough percentage of people really are, and that will make this be at least moderately successful.
Perhaps they should post "suggested donation" amounts like the "free" museums in NY do. I think most people pay the suggested amounts. We get in really free due to my husband's employer's corporate membership.
ReplyDeletei heard of a JEWISH doctor who for patients who could not afford to pay for the medical treatment would pay what they thought they had deserved to pay and thats it. The doctor would give them a tabbed paper with prices and the patient would fold down the amount they could pay....ahhh what it is to be jewish!
ReplyDeleteAriella - I don't know - with something so cheap, it's hard to do that. Too low, and people will start paying that low amount; just too high, and people will think "hey, that's really not that cheap for 'suggested'". Museums are too different.
ReplyDeleteC! - My own grandfather basically didn't charge people for being their lawyer. But this is on a much grander scale...
That's a really, really nice idea. I hope that he's successful.
ReplyDeleteFor about 2 seconds I was thinking, "Wait...where is this place, and is it kosher?!" But alas, kosher food costs too much to go by an honor system.
I give them a month (two tops) before they fold.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it is a viable economic model.
Lets take a similar example: Shareware. Users are allowed to download it, use it, and are requested to pay for it if they like it.
And guess how many people have made a living from shareware?
Very few.
And shareware itself has very little (if no) overhead. Unlike a coffee shop which has to pay for supplies, employees, rent, etc.
Scraps - ...or Jews always think that they should be paying less than they do? :)
ReplyDeleteAvrom - I disagree. Shareware is completely different: People aren't paying 'right away', and therefore won't bother even if they do enjoy the product; shareware is downloaded to your PC, not bought in a store with other people around; etc.
Remember, coffee is generally sold with a huge margin built-in - if people are paying (on average) say $2.50 for their coffee at this store instead of the $3-4 at Starbucks, they still make a nice profit.