A cafe in Brooklyn is trying out a different kind of payment structure: It's charging per minute rather than per drink.
The cafe, named Glass Hour, opened in Williamsburg on August 26. Customers can consume all the drinks and snacks they want for free, and play the cafe's video games, board games, and foosball. The catch is that they're paying for the time they spend.
Glass Hour customers check in when they enter, and check out and pay before leaving. The full first hour is fixed at $6 — whether you spend two minutes or 55 — to ensure that grab-and-go customers don't run off with super-cheap coffee. If you just want a quick cup of joe, it's cheaper to go elsewhere; but if you're staying longer than an hour, the unlimited granola bars, candy, tea, and coffee you can grab make that $6 worth it.
After the first hour, you're charged 10 cents a minute, and if you stay longer than four hours ($24), the rest of the time you spend there is free.