DESPITE LACK OF HONESTY, TAICHUNG HONESTY STORE SOLDIERS ON|為教育理念 台中誠實商店不惜虧損經營

Honesty stores operate based on people's honesty and mutual trust. They are often without cashiers and you simply take what you want and put your money in a pot. Unfortunaely an honesty store in Taipei had to shut down because people simply took what they want without paying, and some even took the whole pot of money away. However, a community in Taichung decided to keep their honesty store running despite all the theft and dishonesty going on. After 13 years in the red, they still choose to believe in humaniy. Here's our report. The honesty store at Taipei's Wuhsing St. was closed down with an announcement sign. The owner said, because of theft and dishonesty, he decided to temporarily shut down the store. Neighbors said that people stole money from the store, and it only took two months for the honesty store to go out of business. ==MRS. LIN neighbor== (Was it one or two people? Or many people?) No, I think that maybe one or two kids doing it. A customer picks up a bag of rice and put the money into the honesty jar, this is Taichung Feng Shu Borough's honesty store. The owner experienced several cases of theft. Once a coffee machine worth over NT$100,000 was stolen, and so were the merchandise and money in the jar. The owner insisted not to install surveillance cameras, because that would be equivalent to removing the word "honesty." ==CHIANG MEI-YUN Taichung Honesty Store volunteer== The purpose of our honesty store is education. It is a classroom in the community. The slogan which we have been promoting in our community is "Community is school; school is community." This honesty store is helping the nearby schools and teaching kids to be honest, if they take merchandise, they have to pay for it. The volunteer said, the honesty store has a monthly loss of five to six thousand dollars. However, the monetary loss is worth for educating kids. This honesty store has been around for 13 years. At first, many people did not have expectation over the business, but now some neighbors will help to look after the store. They said the honesty store will continue for business. TRANSLATED BY：ANTHONY LIN 台北市吳興街的誠實商店拉下鐵門，鐵門上還貼著「停業公告」，老闆表示因為竊盜與不誠實詐騙案件頻傳，因此暫停營業，要先沉澱一陣子，鄰居表示，確實發生偷錢事件，不過誠實商店才經營兩個月就關閉，大家都很惋惜。 ==商店鄰居 林太太== (是一兩個在拿還是很多人呢) 沒有啦 我看是一兩個小孩 挑了一包白米，再自己將錢投進誠實甕裡，台中楓樹里的誠實商店，也多次遇到偷竊事件，曾有一部十多萬元飯店等級的咖啡機被偷，還有偷商品又偷錢的，但店裡堅持不裝監視器，因為裝了監視器，等於就是把「誠實」兩個字拿掉。 ==台中誠實商店志工 江美鋆== 因為我們的誠實商店 是以教育為目的 然後是一個社區的教室 那我們社區一直在 推的一個口號就是 社區要學校化 那學校社區化 那等於我們這個誠實商店 是在幫我們附近的學校 協助教導小孩如何要誠實 拿了東西就要放錢 江志工表示，目前誠實商店平均每月虧損五、六千元，但是為了誠實教育和環境教育，這樣的虧損是值得的，13年來，從一開始不被看好，到逐漸被接受，現在鄰居甚至會主動幫忙注意店裡狀況，誠實商店會一直營業下去。 記者 台北/台中報導