Culture shock

limbrat · December 13, 2007, 12:16:21 AM

There is a little cypress lake near here that i like to fish. Its a private lake and you have to rent one of there boats and you cant use a ob motor. The first time i took my brother in law was twenty plus yrs. ago. Back then Mrs. Thompsom lived by the road to rent a boat you would put two dollars in her mail box then go through the gate and drive down to the water and pick out your boat.
Last weekend they were back down from New York state my 17 yr. old nephew was with them and we went fishing. Mrs Thompson has passed the old house is gone and her son moved the mailbox down by the water and its four dollars a boat now. When we got to the water i made change from the money already in the box and paid for two boats. When i turned around my brother inlaw was grinning and his son was looking at me like if i had just sprouted feathers or some thing. The boy just wasnt use to using the honor system. I explained that most people didnt know about the place and if i took from or shorted someone that let me on there property and use there stuff i would only be hurting myself . It was not a foreighn concept just not one he had the opportunity use much. I couldnt catch nothing but jackfish (grass or chain prickrel) a toothy little fish full of bones.

Bibbyman · December 13, 2007, 04:06:13 AM

A couple of guys I worked with for over 30 years at my old office job stopped in during deer season for a visit. Among all the stories telling, one guy told about a neighbor that sold straw bails during the summer and firewood during the winter. He just stacked it up by the highway and put a sign out with the price. Customers were to put the cash in a jar. He said he only had one PU load of firewood that was not paid for. But about a month later one of his customers came by and paid for the load of firewood. Said he got there and loaded up the load and went to pay and found he had forgotten his billfold.

I said if it were me, they would have taken the straw or firewood AND the jar of money.

We did have a load of slabs go out of here last week while we were gone. I figured someone would fess up to it some day. Well, Saturday the guy called. He said he came to the house and nobody was home so he figured he'd load up and maybe by the time he got done, we'd be back but we weren't so he left with the slabs. He said he came by the next day to pay us but we were gone again. We were. He said he'd be right over to pay us. I told him not to go to the trouble of driving over on such a nasty day – he could pay us the next time he seen us.

Sunfield Hardwood · December 13, 2007, 06:01:16 AM

A freind of mine told a story the other day of some people who had a car for sale parked in their yard in a rural area. Well, somebody stole the battery out of it. A few days later a guy showed up and said he took the battery to jump his stranded vehicle and just kept it, it was bothering him so he wanted to return it and make ammends.He offerd them tickets to a state college football game, and said he would like them to use them because he would be unable to. They accepted and went to the game, when they got home, it had been robbed clean from top to bottom. Thats a new angle buy thieves I have never heard of before :(

Dana · December 13, 2007, 06:39:53 AM

A produce farmer up the road has a honor system sweet corn stand. No one is there, just the corn and a jar of money. It still works here.

WH_Conley · December 13, 2007, 07:07:24 AM

Guy up the road sells pumpkins like that every year.

thecfarm · December 13, 2007, 07:52:47 AM

Lucky it still works for you people.Before we built the greenhouse the wife was selling plants by the road on a honor system.Someone took the best plant and some raspberries bushes.Oh well.We did sell veggies by the honor system for four years.I did have a mailbox with a plastic clasp with a lock on that.Someone cut the plastic lasp and took the money.I kinda wondered about the plastic part,but thought I could trust people.Wasn't much in it,I cleaned it out about noon time.I built a steel box out of 1/8 steel and a steel clasp and that stopped all the problems.It's too bad some people have to be that way.We had people that would pay us the next day or so too.We would go down to the veggie stand and see quite a hole but not much money.The next day or so we would not see much gone but alot of money.

scsmith42 · December 13, 2007, 08:48:53 AM

Guys - those are some great stories. Here's mine...

This past summer I set up a farm stand out by the road to sell farm eggs from. It too is on the honor system, and for a while all things went well. Then, I started missing money - a dollar here and a couple of dollars there. Part of the problem was friends who would stop by and help themselves, under the thought that "Scott won't mind". (I know this because they told me afterward). The other part was one customer in particular that was ripping me off.

Anway, after a point I was getting frustrated with the losses, so I posted a note on the door stating that unfortunately we'd had some theft, and that we knew who it was, and if they continued we would post a photo of them inside the farmstand for all to see, along with a listing of the dates and amounts of the thefts. AND that the photographic evidence and list would be turned over to the local sherriff's department for prosecution.

That pretty much eliminated all of the problems, and we're selling more eggs than ever now! I was short earlier this week, but they made up the difference a couple of days later (even left me an extra .50!).

Sometimes you just gotta help folks stay honest...

Scott

Dave Shepard · December 13, 2007, 09:58:56 AM

I used to sell sweet corn on the honor system, no promblems.

Another thing the crooks do, which I was warned abuot this summer after my grandfather died, was they read the obituaries, and hit the house during the funeral! >:(

Dave

sawguy21 · December 13, 2007, 10:05:43 AM

That has happened here too along with the scam Sunfield mentioned. I am no longer surprised at how low some individuals will stoop. :

faronskid · December 13, 2007, 10:15:55 AM

Dave, Our neighbor came home the other day and heard someone yell "lady you better get outta here." The man chased her out of the house. The thought is that the intruder thought she would be at a funeral that day and also called the house to see if anyone was home. I guess these low-lifes have some kind of lead deficiency that they need some help over-coming. ;D

sawguy21 · December 13, 2007, 10:17:25 AM

:D

Dave Shepard · December 13, 2007, 10:31:31 AM

:D

jrokusek · December 13, 2007, 10:52:07 AM

Still lots of good people out there though. My dad sold a few cattle to the guy that was going to rent all of our land - on the honor system. The following year when our renter sold his crops he showed up with a check in hand for my dad at the previous years prices (cattle prices were a bit lower when he brought the check). We let him use some of our old equipment when he needs to, he butchers a hog and shows up with a cooler full of meat for my folks every year or two. Good people.

We're not related to him. That's probably why this sort of thing works out so well!

blueduck · December 13, 2007, 11:45:57 AM

I was surprised 9 years back when i lived in the land of fruits, flakes and nuts [I was in Chico,CA where the nuts are] that there was still the honnoor system being used there for certain farm products, the Kiwi farmers had trailers where ya dropped a dollar bill in the slot and took a sack of fruits, one day the 12yr old boy of the gal i was staying with brought home a sack of fruits without paying..... I thought T-total-H-E- double toothpicks was gonna break loose, she marched that youngin back down to the stand, made him put the fruit back and drop a dollar out of his savings in the till with a note saying he was sorry and did not understand. the thing that struck me the funniest of those fruit stands on the honor system were they all had a tire off the trailers so you could not just back up and take off with them.... i suppose they learned the hard way on that.

I cut hay one year up North and watched a drug dealer who did that.... funny thing sometimes his money dissappeared when I made it around there before he did..... now I aint saying I am a thief, I am saying I dont think fools should be allowed to fill kids with poision, I let the sheriff know about the system and it stopped awhile later..... some honor systems just should not be in place.... And yes i grew up on a farm before i had the sawmill.

William
Central Idaho

Frickman · December 13, 2007, 01:43:53 PM

I've used the honor system with good success too. Whenever we have a wedding, funeral, etc., anything that is public knowledge, I hire a trusted neighbor or two to act as security guards and watch over the place. It's way cheaper than replacing everything.

Tom · December 13, 2007, 02:42:41 PM

Culture shock! It works the other way too.

Twenty-two years ago I started doing business with a company in Jacksonville that goes by the name of Southern Propane. The tank fed a single-wide mobile home that was all gas. You have to rent the tanks for them to sell you gas. We were brought a 100 gallon tank and have paid for it religiously every year. This year they say they are replacing it with a smaller tank "because you don't take deliveries often enough to warrant the bigger tank".

Well, I figure "enough" is as much my decision as theirs. I like the idea of being able to have a little bit of leeway in buying when gas prices are down rather than be forced into filling when they are high just because of having a little tank.

Since we started doing business with them, we have gone from a single wide to a much larger home, but our gas usage has declined.

Will you credit us for the 4o% of gas that is left in the tank, we asked?

No!, they replied.

So, how I read this Urban way of doing business is that they are in control completely of whether they service me, along with being able to steal gas back, at higher prices.

I haven't the option of owning my own tank because they won't fill it. I do have the option of moving to another company. After 22 years, it seems a shame.

Our other option is to become an all electric home. The wife wants a new stove anyway and I'm considering this as a Christmas present. I love cooking on gas, but am not going to railroaded. The way I figure it, I can keep an inexpensive stove top and a small bottle to cover us for long outages and there is always the fire pit.

Is it the money? No, I don't think so. It's the principle of the thing.

thedeeredude · December 13, 2007, 04:03:18 PM

Why would someone think of taking something someone else worked hard to produce? It just boggles me. If it ain't yours leave it alone.

ely · December 13, 2007, 04:29:09 PM

i am pretty sure that company would have to come back after i used all my gas. or at least wait until the tank stopped spewing propane before they took it away.

sandman2234 · December 13, 2007, 04:48:19 PM

Mom told me if I saw some good honey for sale on my trip to Daddy's, stop and get some. I stopped in Ashdown, Ar. at a honey for sale sign along the road, and noticed a mailbox. I could just see somebody peaking out the window at my truck with it's Florida tags. I got me a couple of jars, put the money in the mailbox and headed down the road. I forgot to plug my cellphone in, so I pulled over to to get the cord out of the backseat. Just as I got out, I noticed an elderly gentleman walking to the box with a cane. He looked my way when he got to the street and I just waved. He waved back and got his money and went back to the house. Makes you feel good, but makes you wonder how many people have gone off without paying. I don't think the law could have caught up with me before I hit the state line, unless they were already nearby and waiting.
I agree that no way would they be taking propane with them when they left with the old tank, no matter whose tank it was. They could pick it up when it was empty, but if they wanted my business, they could drop the new one by before I ran out and needed to find a supplier.
David from jax

Norm · December 13, 2007, 05:22:42 PM

We have a local farm family that sells sweet corn a couple of miles south of us on the honor system. They grow it commercially and sell at all the towns in a 40 mile square area. I remember when they started to do it as a way to put their boys through college. It's good stuff and I'm happy to help out by buying some on a regular basis. We have another neighbor who is worthless a teats on a boar that was bragging to me about how he just drives down to the field and helps himself. I told him I guess the raccoons weren't the only pest they had to deal with.

Tom I had a company do almost the exact same thing to me. I called their competitor and they told me not to worry they'd bring a new tank out to sell me and pump all of propane out of the old tank into my new one. Their only stipulation is that they charge a delivery fee is they have to bring out less than 300 gallons. For me that's not a problem as I have 4 1000 gallon tanks and have them filled once or twice a year. The first company has since gone out of business....small wonder.

pineywoods · December 13, 2007, 08:05:57 PM

Strange reverse twist. A retired fellow down the road from us makes blue bird boxes, Then puts them on short poles along hiways. He has hundreds of them all over this area. The boxes are built so you can flip a latch, open the box, and clean out the old nests, which he does every spring. Someone noticed that some of the boxes were being visited rather frequently by persons unknown. A little surveilance revealed that if one left some money in certain blue bird boxes, you could come back the next day and find a new nest made of some kind of green smelly weed

our sherrif's troops know how to make good use of game cameras ;D

Furby · December 13, 2007, 10:07:25 PM

If you remember back a bit to a thread I had on propane Tom, I had problems not all too different from yours.
I ended up buying my own 100 lb tank and bringing it in to get filled.
I have probly close to $200 into the setup, but as you said, it's the principle of it.
I know some folks don't have the option, and I may have trouble getting it refilled when we need it in several years, but I feel a bit better about not being screwed.

Don_Papenburg · December 13, 2007, 11:52:10 PM

I have two 1000 gal tanks and the propane companies give me a discount because I own them . I can also shop around for the best deal . What I find funny is that the FS in one county is higher than others , but it is a state wide purchasing organisation.

solodan · December 14, 2007, 12:33:14 AM

There is a family just up the road from me that sells eggs, honey, and olives using the honor system. I have seen Firewood bundles sold this way too. It works cause the druggies are looking for something to sell. And though they are not real smart, most of them know what a dozen egggs is worth, ??? and how much would that bring in in the black market? ??? I don't think I would by eggs from a crack head, no matter how good a deal I got. :D I would not sell TV's or stereos using the honor system. Funny thing is, as far as I know, no one has ever stolen any lumber from my mill yard. Lumber is heavy and loading it would be hard work, theives and drug addicts usually aren't willing to work hard, that's why they don't have jobs. ???

Handy Andy · December 14, 2007, 12:58:43 AM

Learned about that funeral thing first hand, when I was about 8 my grandpa died, and the next day went to his place with my Dad, and somebody had taken everything any good. Even took the water pump out of his house. As to the propane company, Tom just needs to shop around, there are decent folks in business usually where there there are jerks. Have my own propane tank, back when the coop was in the propane business, they would lease you a tank for 10 years, and when the 10 years were up, it was yours. No deal like that around now, but there are still some good propane companys. The one that advertises being your friend, is the jerk company.