Shrink wrapping?

I wont stick my neck out and say people are more honest anywhere, but its common practice in Asia. I remember as a kid opening boxes to look before buying.

The Austrian subway system doesn't have turnstiles or anything blocking the entrances. They have a little ticket box next to the entrance way where you are suppose to put your ticket. Bus drivers at the start of a route leave their doors open while they take a break, people just get on and paid their fare in the farefox.

I think it depends where you actually buy the kit. I have recollections of most kits from hobby shops (up to the mid-80's anyway) being unwrapped and either "loose" or simply taped up with two tabs of tape at the sides of the box, while the same kit from a chain or department store would be shrink-wrapped. To this day one can still buy some kits from hobby shops (here in Australia anyway) without any form of box sealing.

J-Hulk wrote:

Just for some cultural perspective, here in Japan, kits aren't shrink wrapped at all. You can rummage through kits to your heart's content! Makes choosing a kit very easy. I've passed up plenty of kits that I was originally dead set on getting after having a good look in the box.

I wonder if the Japanese are inherently more honest than western society ?  I know when I was a kid in the 1970's, my friends were not adverse to enlarging their decal stash courtesy of some non-shrinkwrapped Airfix boxes.  From a store owners point of view, I would rather have the kits wrapped.  Being able to look at the contents of the box is a luxury I havent seen for some years.  Most of the stores I visit are pretty down on that practise anyway.