The E-Sylum:  Volume 11, Number 19, May 11, 2008, Article 25

ONTARIO BAKERY SUCCEEDS WITH HONOR PAYMENT SYSTEM

[Some businesses don't bother with cash registers, and do
just fine, thank you.  This bakery takes self-service to the
limit (and doesn't price in cent increments).  But don't
expect major retailers to follow. -Editor]

Here's an article about the City Café Bakery in Kitchener,
Ontario, which uses an honor payment system and almost
never gets cheated.

Customers add up how much they owe themselves and drop
their money into a fare box from an old bus.

“I liked the idea of simplifying things and ... the honour
system made a whole lot of sense,” [owner John] Bergen says.
“What irritated me about going into Tim Hortons, for example,
was waiting in line for something as simple as getting a
donut and a coffee. So the thought was, someone can pour
his own coffee, grab his own bagel, cut it himself, throw
the money in, and walk out. We don’t touch 60 per cent
of the transaction.”

Because it is up to the customers to total their purchases,
Bergen has simplified the cost structure.

“Everything is rounded off to the nearest quarter with
taxes included where applicable,” he says. “So every desert
is $1.50 (tarts, brownies, and date squares), every pizza
lunch is $5, every beverage is $1.25, every loaf of bread
is $2.75 (Italian sourdough, multi-grain, and raisin bread
on weekends), croissants are $1 each, and bagels are three
for $2 (plain, sesame, and multi-grain).”

The bakery conducts audits every six months and Bergen
says only once did things come up short.

To read the complete article, see:
Full Story

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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