An Honest(ea) Exercise

Chicago first, New York last in Honest Tea "experiment" - chicagotribune.com: "As part of a 'social experiment' yesterday, Honest Tea put out tables of their organic tea in 12 cities with a suggested price of $1 per bottle and watched people via hidden camera. When the results were tallied, Chicagoans (and tourists in Grant Park) finished first, just ahead of Boston, Seattle and Dallas.

“We wanted to challenge people to think about how honest Americans are as a whole, particularly when no one is watching,” said Seth Goldman, president of Honest Tea.

Here were the final results (by percentage of people who paid for the tea):"

• Chicago 99
  Boston 97
  Seattle 97
  Dallas 97
  Atlanta 96
  Philadelphia 96
  Cincinnati 95
  San Francisco 93
  Miami 92
  Washington D.C. 91
  Los Angeles 88
  New York 86

So, while we here in The Greatest City In America paid for ours, roughly one out of every seven New Yorkers didn't. You may draw whatever conclusions from that you wish.

(Although, as one colleague points out, this may be a point of pride in the Big Apple: What chump pays for something when you can get it for free?)