Beverage company tests Scottsdale’s honesty

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The Honest Tea Company set up shop at Scottsdale’s Kierland Commons on Monday.

“It’s basically an unmanned kiosk where people have the option to pay a dollar for an Honest Tea or steal a bottle,” said company spokesman Joe Stemmer. “It’s all on the honor system.”

Over a 10-hour period, Stemmer and his colleagues watched from a distance and recorded who paid and who did not.

“Females definitely tend to be more honest, I can say that,” he said.

KTAR spotted one woman who checked her purse and deposited a dollar before grabbing a bottle.

“It’s a fair price, it’s a buck and I have a buck. Obviously, if it was ten dollars I would walk past, but I wouldn’t take something,” she said.

Last year they tested Tempe and found 92 percent of people were honest. In Oakland and Salt Lake City, every person paid for their tea, while only 61 percent of people did in Brooklyn’s Atlantic Terminal.

Results from this year’s National Honesty Index are due out later this month.