Question about home produce honesty boxes (possibly suited more to people who live rurally)

[Allromanticsmeetthesamefate]

I have had it my head for a quite a while now, I’d like to set up a little home produce honesty box..

Fresh eggs, little seasonal hand tied posies, jams, cakes, maybe a even a little bit art (DD is an art student)

I have seen these dotted about all over where we live (Cornwall) from the simpler to slightly bigger set-up, own FB page, name etc but just wondered if anyone has any experience of this good and bad, stops at them, would ever buy from, what they would like to buy etc.

Are you looking to attract more regulars or passers by?

we have a farm shop up the road. There are always eggs and then a changing variety of fruit and veg. But I hardly ever buy those, unless I happen to spot something I need.

I never know (for example) whether there will be carrots, so I will use the shops. But I always buy eggs there and never from the shops.

so I suppose what I am saying is that if you want to attract regulars, it might be better to always have regular items to incentivise them to use you rather than a shop. If passers by, then it matters less.

I live pretty rurally. Quite a few around me. Mostly spare veg from people’s allotments plus a few eggs etc and one that does dried flowers.

i like them. Not sure how much trade they get but mostly spare veg I think so….

I buy from them there’s a honey one locally and they have a locked post box with envelopes inside the huge plastic container with jars of honey inside.you wright on the envelope what sizes and type you’ve got put cash in and seal it post it.
then there’s a cake shed that’s cash into a locked post box or PayPal account qr code with a link. Eggs is cash post money into a letter box.

My neighbour does this with cakes, biscuits etc. largely works well. She has set up a way of scanning a code to pay and doing a bank transfer, I don’t think you can rely on cash these days. She advertises on local village FB groups. She also set up a camera after some knob stole the lot one afternoon…

We've got them all over but I never have any cash :(

There's a genius on our canal who has a QR code you can pay by and I always get something from that one. It delights me!

There's a honey one up the road from me and I only buy honey from there and never the supermarket. Open fronted wooden box, with a closing door.
If the door is open there's honey inside, usually 4 jars. If they've run out then it's closed. Cash box screwed to the floor of the box. Little camera.
Take your honey, pop your cash in the box
And I return the glass jars to the box when empty. There is an eggs one too but I only eat organic eggs so don't use that one.

There is one locally to me. Sells mainly eggs and sometimes veg. When they have veg they tend to post on the local facebook pages saying what they have.

Oh and I usually get eggs and jam. We've got an egg map on town facebook though so you can also just get free eggs round here, and apples and so on. But I don't mind paying a pound or two. It's nice to have them about the place, especially a fair way in the hills with cake or biscuits to eat and I've been walking and walking. Probably wouldn't get eggs or jam up there -- too hard to carry.

There are farm ones where I live so the produce on offer is a bit more consistent or at least predictable. One sometimes has a person in, sometimes an honesty system (but I think they probably have a camera to stop people helping themselves to the change) and is cash only. The other one has a card-operated vending machine with little doors that open for you to get the fruit and veg out!

There's quite a lot round my way, from the very simple (flowers in a bucket by the road), to more publicized (a cake one and a jam/chutney one come to mind).
If you have flowers reliably enough to do posies, then instead of the waste of them going on a stand, I'd offer pre ordering of them to be collected on a Friday from you and advertise locally as ideal for holiday cottages.
I'd start a stand with long life things, then if you are a really good baker, advertise on your local FB for 'this weeks specials' cakes/ biscuits to get people to preorder and pick up on a Saturday then your extras go on the stand for the day people are most likely to have time to stop on a whim.
This time of year eggs and produce are coming out of peoples ears so if your kitchen gets approved for food production by EH, its a good time to start making jam and chutney ahead of christmas sales.

There aren’t any where I live but I visit Devon and Cornwall and regularly buy eggs from one. From time to time I buy honey, veg and plants too.

I might buy jam, but wouldn’t buy cake, and probably not flowers either.

I had an honesty box for a year and now have a full honesty farm shop

Things that I think are important from experience:

• Regular stock updates on FB or similar
• A way in which people can see into the box so they know whether to stop - I had a see through plastic window thing so people could see in
• Being regular with stock
• Allowing card payments - locals mostly pay by cash but visitors pay by card. I used Paypal to start with so people can either use oure @tag or scan a QR code. It's really easy to set up but they do take a transaction fee
• A safe place for people to pull over

In the honesty shop I have an ipad usiing Square and it is 'ok' - I am not thrilled with it and looking at alternatives.

We live in a rural area but with a lot of tourism and we have never had any problems whatsoever with theft - we get the odd mistake, but that is OK by me!

I forgot to say that our honesty shop (local meats, cheeses, eggs, bread, butter, jams, honey, cakes etc.) is incredibly popular, as was the honesty box that was only our eggs (we have a lot of hens!!!).
People like to buy local produce - not everyone of course, but a good proportion of people.
Go for it. Start your own little retail empire!

I was in a church recently that has a very wealthy demograph and was most shocked to see a sign saying 'COULD PARISHIONERS STOP STEALING FROM THE FOOD BANK DONATIONS. SPEAK TO X IF YOU ARE IN NEED'. So I'd have anxiety about how honest my customers were!

I use one that sells small bunches of flowers, they are proper old fashioned types and in pretty little bunches for £6 throughout the summer. They keep their FB updated and I rely on that to know when they are open (weekends only from about now etc) as it’s a bit out of my way but the flowers are beautiful, just the right size for me and a very reasonable £6 cash or paypal (they have a QR code). They have parking space and a sandwich board which is useful as their entrance is not very visible from the road till you are on top of it. I also buy eggs and honey there if I need them.

I always stop at honesty stalls and drive a fair distance to go to ones locally that sell soft fruit, veg and fresh flowers. Bank transfer/ PayPal is preferable as I don’t often have cash.
I’m about to get a greenhouse and am thinking about selling excess plants next year. Does anyone know what the potential issues might be with the council etc with setting up a stall in the front garden?

My mother used to do this - she’d pay for all the ingredients and obviously do all the cooking and any money paid went to charity. She had a sign explaining this, but people still took without paying. Guess you have to factor this in but it was pretty demoralising.

Ii think they'd work best if they were consistent in what they have, or if they are on a popular walking route. Would be much less inclined to stop while driving past unless i was confident that there would be something i wanted. But if walking I'd always have a look!

A friend had one selling eggs and he had a problem with a thief. Got a camera, which then also was stolen! He gave up in the end.

Something I always offer to passers by at my parents' remote house is bottled water or water refills. I always get offered a couple of quid although it's just for free.

It's my dream to have an honesty shop one day - dried herbs, potted saplings, spare veg.

One tip I always share is that images of eyes make people more honest, so include them in the signs!