What if vendors never stated prices, and customers decided how much to pay after the work was done?

Vendors would choose who to serve and when, based on reviews left by other vendors. Pay well, and you'd earn a reputation that made others eager to prioritize your requests.

If someone's driveway was covered with leaves, you might clear it without asking. Worst case, you don't get paid. More often, someone would request the work.

In a way, this is what the tipping economy implies. We're not getting paid enough, so pay whatever you want. But when everyone asks for tips, it gets annoying.

Reverse Economy changes the incentive. Instead of vendors asking customers for more money, customers have a reason to be more generous.

Imagine getting refused service at a restaurant because of your bad reviews from vendors.

It's interesting to think of the customer as the service provider.

What kind of customer are you? How well do you pay? How quickly? How easy are you to work with?

It's a side of the economy we rarely think about.

Even with prices, what if we focused less on getting the best deal and more on being the customer everyone wanted to serve?

Partially inspired by this interesting article from Seth Godin: Hospitality in the Mirror.