The beauty of Japan's lonely vending machines
edition.cnn.comReading a little bit of the way through, to the part about farmers vending in a non-present way, I am thinking, this is the hangover from a culture that is wary of it's peers. Trade is done in such a way that no harm can happen. A way for tribes to trade. Trade between warrior tribes. So perhaps this is a remnant of Samurai culture? This is a big stretch on my part, I welcome any corrections or insight.
The whole countryside vegetable stall blew me away when I first to Japan but now I love it. Just grab, leave the cash in the box and go. Most of the time the vegetables there aren't prime targets so stealing a bundle of spinach is probably not worth your freedom or time.
I believe the reason for it has more to do with the JA not allowing commercial sale of produce that isn't perfect and some farmers just seeing if spare change can be had. In a neighborhood next to mine some families have farm plots next to them and they sell vegetables from their drive way. It is interesting to say the least.
This still happens in Australia too. The primary reason to do it this way is that you don’t need a person standing there all day to sell items. A working farm cannot spare a person full time.
I imagine that farms stop the practice when it’s no longer profitable due to dishonesty and theft. It’s only a small secondary source of income in any case. The main income is wholesale anyway.
It's quite common on country roads in upstate NY, too. I'm not sure why the author tried to posit it as something that could only happen in severely low-crime areas.