You are correct that I was a worried about an HN hug of orders for brass tacks.
> I guess I’ve spent enough time dealing with things like non-payment or doing work for trades that never arrive that I just don’t romanticize this stuff any more.
In this case there isn't much of a choice. When the last manufacture of brass tacks closed down, John bought the machinery and is the only place I know of to get proper shaker-style brass tacks in the US. I wanted the tacks, so I had no choice in the method of payment.
I understand your sentiment but it was perfectly normal to pump gas before paying in the U.S. for a very long time and still is in many places. In other cities it is unheard of. Restaurants we can still eat before paying, but not many other places still give consumers much trust.
I had a friend who worked at a gas station in high school. Filing police reports for people who filled up and left without paying was a standard part of operations.
This was in a nice area, too. Often people just forgot and drove away. They had recourse because they had security cameras and people had license plates. The cities where you’re forced to pay inside first probably have police departments that don’t respond to non-payment as gas stations.
If someone showed up with a gas can or something they were instructed to shut off the pump and make them come inside to pay. It wasn’t as much of an honor system as it seems if you’re not familiar with it.
You can’t have a pay-later business without an amount of non-payment, which has to be compensated by higher prices (which other customers shoulder).
These are all choices a vendor can make. Something like this usually lasts right up until the secret gets out to a wider audience where the people who don’t care about social norms have no problem abusing a system left wide open.
People who never experienced high-trust and customs societies cannot grasp why and how it works infinitely better than low-trust ones.
But granted, all it takes is a few determined bad faith actors to break high-trust, when they are not vehemently and swiftly rejected…
But we have created an environment where this kind of thing is unthinkable, not even because people won't do it, but because they will only create legal trouble for themselves if they try. So the modus operandi for your average citizen in Western societies in general and US in particular is to not get involved and leave it all to law enforcement.
This is why some things can’t be found/bought without hetting the right path/contacts.
Contrast with the typical restaurant.
Moreover, trespassers, in addition to pursuit, often get flagged in a shared « do not host » book file across hotel lines.
The business can just make less money than they would if everyone paid (which is, as you say, impossible). Costs and prices are linked in some markets, but it's not a natural law.
An interesting story behind those:
https://blog.lostartpress.com/2023/02/07/john-wilson-1939-20...
What you're insinuating is true, but more likely the reason they didn't post the link is that it's not relevant.
That's probably alien to HN and a lot of them may try to contact him, as if they have a possibility of becoming his customer, which they don't.
People romanticize businesses like this but there’s a reason you’re not posting the link. It only works when it’s for a small group of people who are in the know and refer trusted buyers.
It’s also trivial to set up any number of different online purchase options that would avoid all of the problems with this for a nearly trivial fee.
I guess I’ve spent enough time dealing with things like non-payment or doing work for trades that never arrive that I just don’t romanticize this stuff any more.