Cincinnati Time Store

Cincinnati Time Store

Company type	Private
Industry	Retail
Founded	1827
Founder	Josiah Warren
Defunct	1830
Headquarters	Cincinnati , United States
Products	Merchandise sold at cost plus labor time surcharge

The Cincinnati Time Store (1827–1830) was the inaugural retail establishment founded by American individualist anarchist Josiah Warren to put his economic labor theory of value into practice. Operating from May 1827 until May 1830, Warren offered merchandise at cost plus a modest surcharge reflecting his time investment. This initiative is recognized as the earliest implementation of alternative currency labor notes, representing a foundational experiment in what later became known as mutualism. Warren also launched similar stores within utopian settlements at New Harmony, Indiana and Modern Times, Long Island.

The store ceased operations in 1830 after Warren successfully demonstrated that a business could be run without exercising authority over individuals. His approach substituted conventional money with time as currency, transforming theoretical ideas into a viable commercial operation. This innovative method anticipated comparable European labor note systems by more than twenty years and had an impact on later developments such as cryptocurrencies. At its height, the Time Store was Cincinnati’s leading retail establishment.

History

Warren adopted the labor theory of value, which asserts that the worth of a product corresponds to the labor invested in its creation. From this principle, he deduced that charging more labor than necessary to produce an item was unjust, encapsulating his philosophy with the phrase "Cost the limit of price", where "cost" referred specifically to labor performed. Upholding the belief that equal labor merits equal reward, he experimented by founding a "labor for labor store." Upon its success, he intended to develop communities based on this concept with the hope of wider societal implementation.

Customers paid for goods using "labor notes," which represented agreements for labor exchange. Initially, products included a 7% surcharge to cover market delivery efforts, later lowered to 4%. Corn functioned as a benchmark—twelve pounds equated to one hour of work. This system ensured that no individual profited unfairly from another’s labor; participants received the entire value generated by their effort. Adjustments were made to account for variations in task difficulty and unpleasantness beyond mere time measurement. Warren also established bulletin boards where people could list services offered or requested, facilitating exchanges using labor notes.

Following initial obstacles, the store flourished by providing goods at prices lower than competitors, though not with the intent to undercut them. Another local merchant adopted Warren’s methodology. Price increases corresponded with time spent interacting with customers, encouraging swift transactions; Warren claimed he conducted more business in one hour than others managed in an entire day and occasionally closed early to rest. Despite its success, Warren faced challenges objectively measuring different types of labor purely by time and ultimately relied on personal judgment. He closed the store in May 1830 to focus on establishing colonies grounded in the labor-cost principle, most notably "Utopia," confident that his store had validated "Cost the limit of price."

During its operation, the store became Cincinnati’s most frequented retail establishment. Local librarian Steve Kemple remarked that it earned the nickname “Time Store” because it uniquely fixed merchant compensation on an equal exchange of labor measured hour-for-hour across various types of work.

Warren acknowledged Robert Owen as the originator of the concept of labor-for-labor notes, yet Warren was the first to apply it practically at the Time Store. Owen subsequently founded the National Equitable Labour Exchange based on similar principles. The Cincinnati experiment preceded analogous European initiatives by approximately twenty years. However, following enactment of the Truck Acts (1831–1887), Owen and others implemented employer-issued scrip systems.

Reception

Betty Joy Nash highlighted that communities operating time stores sought to diminish discrimination based on class, gender, and race, while also encouraging educational advancement and scientific exploration.

The 1981 film Anarchism in America, supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, explored the origins of anarchism in 19th-century America, focusing on pioneers such as Josiah Warren and his Time Store.

Josiah Warren's "Cincinnati Time Store" (1827–1830) utilized "labour notes," which represented hours of work and functioned similarly to paper currency. This approach foreshadowed later local exchange trading systems and is regarded as an antecedent to contemporary cryptocurrency.

Economist Robert J. Shiller referenced the collapse of the Cincinnati Time Store as a warning parallel for digital currencies like Bitcoin, implying they could be speculative bubbles susceptible to bursting.

Related published works

• Plan of the Cincinnati Labor for Labor Store authored by Josiah Warren (1829) Mechanics Free Press.
• Equitable Commerce by Josiah Warren (1846) (New York: Burt Franklin)

See also

• Cost the limit of price
• Josiah Warren
• Labor theory of value
• Labour voucher
• Mutualism (economic theory)
• Store of value
• Time-based currency
• Time store

Bibliography

• Equitable Commerce by Josiah Warren (1846)