Help with "pay what you can" Concept

CollectiveMind — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 15:13:27 -0800

I am researching the growing occurence of pay-what-you-can, or pay-what-you-think-the-meal-was-worth restaurants. There are several operating both domestically and internationally, as explained here. In light of the Radiohead giveaway, the concept has been getting increasing, positive press. Does anybody know of any other restaurants (or any other retail operation, for that matter), either functioning or defunct, that did something similar; let people pay what they think a meal is worth, or pay according to the size of their portions, or let people volunteer for part or all of the cost of their meal? Those currently existing all tout a community building role and highlight how their clientel cuts across all socioeconomic lines. If that is true, and these places come close to a non class stratified atmosphere, I also want to know if there is any religious or philosophical tradition in any culture where a small group within a community gives away its goods or services for the betterment of the larger community - a sort of "Tragedy of the Commons" in reverse. There is a lot of economic theory and prognosticating as to how it can't work, but the whole movement seems to be defying commom wisdom. Over and over, the media says the current credit markets, for example, are frozen because of a lack of trust, whereas this concept seems to be based on trust. Is it a fad, or could pay-as-you-can be the beginning of a new way people transact business in a more mutually trustworthy way?

Elegant trash/recycling bins?

Manhasset — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 08:29:53 -0800

I have little under-cabinet space and and am looking for a somewhat elegant solution to trash/food waste/recycling. Because of the lack of under-counter space, I need something free-standing and preferably with a small footprint. Suggestions? Requirements:

- lid is a must
- small footprint (tall is much better than wide though short and not wide is fine, too)
- way of latching a bag of some kind on
- one can that solves two issues (ie, trash and food) is good. one that solves all three is grand.

I quite like this two in one can but: a) it's very pricey and b) it's meant for recycling, which means there's no easy way to attach a bag. Anyone make anything similar that's for garbage and food waste?

And... anyone know of an online retailer for Simple Human products that's super cheap? The cans are cheaper in stores than on the site so I assume there are places online that are even cheaper than brick and mortar.

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Help with "pay what you can" Concept

Elegant trash/recycling bins?