How did Auckland fare in a global honesty test?

Embargoed 5 am Tuesday 24 July 2007
Media Release
Tuesday 24 July 2007

How did Auckland fare in a global honesty test?

Reader’s Digest researchers set out to ‘lose’ 960 mobile phones
in 32 cities around the world
Honestly, if you found one, what would YOU do?

Reporters from Reader’s Digest editions around the world have conducted a survey to gauge the honesty of the citizens of cities in 32 countries. They left mid-priced mobile phones in busy public places to see how many would be returned.

Of the 30 phones placed in Auckland, 23 were handed back. That ranks New Zealand’s largest city eighth equal in the honesty stakes to the European cities of Helsinki, Budapest, Warsaw, Prague and Zagreb, and higher than the global average. Sydney managed 19 out of 30.

The highest percentage of returned phones was in the smallest city in the honesty test, Ljubljana (pron: lyoo-BLYAH-nah), Slovenia, with a population of only 267,000 where all but one of 30 cell phones was returned.

If you were sitting on a park bench and noticed that a “lost” cell phone was ringing, would you answer it? And if so, and a stranger’s voice on the other end asked you to take time from your busy day to return the phone, what would you do? Hang up? Keep the phone? Or, agree to return it?

That’s exactly what Reader’s Digest wanted to find out. Reporters from its global network left the phones in busy public places. They then rang the phones and waited to see if anyone would pick them up or answer them. Reader’s Digest wanted to see if the finders would (1) agree to return it, (2) call later on preset numbers that were programmed into the handsets, or (3) keep the phones for themselves. After all, these were tempting, brand-new phones with usable airtime. The results provided a fascinating glimpse into human behaviour.

In many countries people said they believed the young would be less honest than their elders. This was not the case in Auckland. Of the total seven phones picked up and not returned, all were taken by people aged 50 plus, six by men and one by a woman - a smartly dressed lady who grabbed a “lost” mobile from a ledge in front Smith & Caughey’s, an up-market Auckland department store, and bolted down the street, never attempting to contact the reporter.

Did the world pass the honesty test? Yes. Globally the average return rate was a remarkable 68 percent. All over the world the most common reason people gave for returning a phone was that they too had once lost an item of value and didn’t want others to suffer as they had.

Ends

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