Should America Be Run by Trader Joe's?
freakonomics.com
freakonomics.com
Whether you like it or not, the fact that they are willing to sacrifice a butt-load of profit to close on Sundays because of their beliefs is quite amazing.
I've never had a bad experience at Chick-Fil-A... that's quite a statement as far as fast food goes.
It focused on the incompatibility of what he was proposing with how the grocery store industry operates at large.
But I think the comparison was too focused on dynamics of large supermarkets. Of course a city-run grocery cannot and should not attempt to operate with the SKU count of a larger chain. Running a simpler operation with a smaller SKU count, like Trader Joe's does, is orders of magnitude more feasible and probably delivers exactly what most customers are looking for. Cost-effective, no-frills local produce & household staples. There are plenty of places to buy frozen foods, cereal, snacks, drinks, prepared foods, etc.
A model like Traders' that eliminates middleman, while leveraging city funding to subsidize the infrastructure, could deliver fresh local produce and household staples at near cost. And aren't those the things we want to encourage people to eat? Aren't fresh, simple foods the most deserving of subsidy?
See around 5 minute mark
> Please don't post shallow dismissals, especially of other people's work. A good critical comment teaches us something.
I don't think this is an example of curious, good-faith comment. If you'd like to have a substantive discussion on the practical merits/drawbacks of a program like this, I'd be happy to.
The grocery store in Cuba shows a REAL life example of what communism does. The eventual failure mode means you will eat the same 15 different possible things at the grocery store. You'll wait in line at said store because the hours are unreliable, and only open for 20 hours a week.
I think what the top poster was saying "And aren't those the things we want to encourage people to eat? Aren't fresh, simple foods the most deserving of subsidy?"
I don't think he quite understands when this mindset extends out to its eventual failure mode.
Why can't we turn people that are in victim/failure mode into thriving business leaders that want to CHANGE the world.
Some people fix a problem with a bucket under a leak in their roof. Some people fix the roof. I want a country filled with people that FIX THE DAMN ROOF!
Who could really start calling themselves successful programmers before mastering the grind? Ordinary people are more comfort and convenience prone.
I think NY wants to move out to escape the enshitification of global reality. However your right, we need our conveniences!
1. The incentives for good service and product are not well-defined other than paycheck and goodwill. This must be a very high priority.
2. The city has many responsibilities--some critical to life and civil order--which are of much greater importance than grocery service. Therefore the competition for money and resources is weaker.
3. A large percentage of state and city residents and taxpayers--who are ostensibly the benefactors of the grocery service--may not see any benefit at all from the grocery service because of location, selection, convenience, etc. This immediately creates an antagonistic relationship with a class of people--may leading to legal challenges.
4. Starting a grocery service requires very large investments of capital. Typically, that capital investment has a potential ROI, e.g. a bond. If the goal is to sell groceries at lower prices (and profit margins), this may not be sufficient to satisfy the financing requirements--which can lead to bankruptcy.