--- title: Coffee Shop Uses the Honor System to Turn a Profit description: Take what you need, pay what you want. canonical: https://time.com/3169425/coffee-shop-honor-system/ author: Bijan Stephen article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-08-24T19:20:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:12:42.538Z og:title: Coffee Shop Uses the Honor System to Turn a Profit og:description: Take what you need, pay what you want. og:url: https://time.com/3169425/coffee-shop-honor-system/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt52d19fab5464b827/6986a0ad361760072290d947/coffee-shop.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 477481251 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Coffee Shop Uses the Honor System to Turn a Profit twitter:description: Take what you need, pay what you want. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt52d19fab5464b827/6986a0ad361760072290d947/coffee-shop.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Barista-Free Coffee Shop Uses the Honor System to Turn a Profit by [Bijan Stephen](https://time.com/author/bijan-stephen/) ## Bijan Stephen Aug 24, 2014 7:20 PM UTC  Espresso machine pouring coffee into cups Espresso machine pouring coffee into cupsKathrin Ziegler—Getty Images by [Bijan Stephen](https://time.com/author/bijan-stephen/) ## Bijan Stephen Aug 24, 2014 7:20 PM UTC Any time the honor system is used successfully, I think of [Ayn Rand](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayn%5Frand#Philosophy)—the founder of Objectivism, the academically bankrupt theory of overriding and extreme self-interest. According to her philosophy, the honor system should never work: According to her, rationally, it shouldn’t work because one should take what they want and pay nothing for it. (Incidentally, there’s an economic theory that governs this principle called the “[tragedy of the commons](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy%5Fof%5Fthe%5Fcommons),” where a resource is spoiled for many through the actions of selfish individuals.) 10 months ago, a coffee shop in Valley City, North Dakota (pop. 6,700) called [The Vault](http://www.thevaultvalleycity.com/about/) put the honor system to the test; now, months later, they’ve earned 15% more money than they’ve asked for, the Associated Press [reports](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/coffee-shop-honor-system-works-north-dakota). The Vault isn’t any different than your local cafe—it has commercially brewed coffee, gourmet flavorings, pastries, and soft drinks. But what it doesn’t have are baristas. On the [frequently-asked-questions](http://www.thevaultvalleycity.com/faq/) section of the Vault’s website, the owners—David and Kimberly Brekke—acknowledge that their business model is “location-based.” Though they do believe it could work elsewhere, they maintain that it would only work “in tight-knit communities that adopt the establishment as their own.” For the rest of us, this is just more evidence that Midwesterners might have life figured out. \[[_AP_](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/coffee-shop-honor-system-works-north-dakota)\] Coffee Shop Uses the Honor System to Turn a Profit ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3169425/coffee-shop-honor-system/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3169425/coffee-shop-honor-system/"},"headline":"Barista-Free Coffee Shop Uses the Honor System to Turn a Profit","datePublished":"2014-08-24T19:20:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:12:42.538Z","description":"Trusting strangers is a viable business strategy, who knew?","url":"https://time.com/3169425/coffee-shop-honor-system/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Food & Drink","North Dakota"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt52d19fab5464b827/6986a0ad361760072290d947/coffee-shop.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Bijan Stephen","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/bijan-stephen/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt52d19fab5464b827/6986a0ad361760072290d947/coffee-shop.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"477481251","caption":"477481251","creditText":"Kathrin Ziegler—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3169425/coffee-shop-honor-system/","name":"Barista-Free Coffee Shop Uses the Honor System to Turn a Profit"}}]}] ```