Payment set up at the Stonecipher Farm Stand. Facebook photo.
Stonecipher Farm owner Ian Jerolmack reexamines cash operations at his farm stand following a slew of thefts.
Jerolmack implored thieves to stay away from his business in a Facebook post last weekend.
“If you are stealing money from our farm stand, or know someone that is, let’s just quit that,” wrote Jerolmack in his post.”We are a small farm, support five children, and put this great effort into bringing our community good food, and very low margins,” he said. “Your stealing from us is very personal and ruins our ability to do business with all the honest people. If you need money, please ask us for work.”
Currently, the farm stand operates using a covered bucket for cash and checks, and an unlocked cash box for patrons to make change unsupervised.
Jerolmack said although people may think he sounds naive, “the honor system works 99% of the time.” He said it was an ethical decision made by him and his staff.
Although he has lost money from the farm stand, Jerolmack said the majority of his business comes from selling wholesale to Portland restaurants and co-ops.
He said he takes pride in his farm stand and wanted to provide organic produce to the Bowdoinham community as well.
Unclear who is stealing from the stand now, Jerolmack said one woman robbed him three times last year.
“We never caught her red-handed, but I’m 99% sure it was her,” said Jerolmack.
After confronting the woman he said she “flipped out,” causing him to call the police. The cops then advised her to never come back to the stand, according to Jerolmack.
With heavy foot traffic that day and an empty cash box, he said there was no mistaking they were robbed.
“Everyone on Earth has been stolen from. This is not any more tragic than that,” said Jerolmack.
Now that the busy summer season is coming to a close he said he has time to figure out a solution to the problem.
For more information on Stonecipher Farm visit stonecipherfarm.com/.
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