I think this is a huge problem. A delivery driver for food cannot afford his own service. An iPhone assembler in China cannot afford an iPhone A barista cannot afford his own wages and coffees

I propose prices scale by what you can afford. At point of sale, the price is dependent on you as a person.

Let's say a a coffee shop wants to sell its coffees at £3.65.

- For a barista, the price is scaled down to 27% and can buy the coffee for at-cost only, £1. - For a wealthy person with disposable income of £1000. The coffee is £3.65 - For someone with disposable income of £100 the coffee is £1.
-- chronological, Jun 21 2020

Similar to Sliding Scale https://en.wikipedi.../Sliding_scale_fees
Certainly honorable, and occasionally it even works. [whatrock, Jun 21 2020]

The Hi-Lo Restaurant in East Oxford used to have the slogan "from a penny to a thousand pounds". So I think they baked this.
-- pertinax, Jun 21 2020


Cute but gameable and generates opportunities for arbitrage. Simply register as having low income such that everything for you is cut-price, then promise to make purchases on rich people's behalf, taking a cut of the spread. As long as the demographics don't force a race to the bottom, then in a way, this could be good because it gives poorer people an opportunity to make money, others might argue that arbitrage is always indicative of market failure and a waste of time when looking at the system in overview.
-- zen_tom, Jun 21 2020



random, halfbakery