Cox Crow

5:39:32 PM #

Devolve

So since the Bells are now deemed to own their own lines, how do we compensate a public that subsidized those lines, through monopoly, for 80 years? This looks to be the single most massive transfer of public wealth into private hands for no compensation that I can ever recall.

I discussed this exact question with Larry Staton during the course of a conversation on natural monopolies. The FCC ruling, which I haven't read yet, may have paved the way to a solution by granting the States more authority. Have to think about this a bit more, especially since the weekend is upon us.

4:36:11 PM # Google It!
categories: Industry

Transaction Costs

On a Little Bear episode the other day, Little Bear orders a submarine from the back pages of his comic book. When it arrives, he is startled to find that it is made of cardboard, and thus is not suitable for underwater use — exactly as noted in the advertisement's fine print. He goes to the Post Office to return it, but finds that the postage to ship it back is $4.50, when it was only $3.00 to buy it. So, he builds the submarine anyway, and has fun.

The Science Fiction Book Club inadvertantly sent me two copies of American Empire: The Center Cannot Hold and a copy of the wrong Mary Poppins book, when I had asked for Ruled Britannia and Mary Poppins. When I called about this mix-up, they were helpful, and are sending those books. And, I get to keep the others, for my inconvenience. Because it's too expensive to ship and re-stock them.

We have some CDs that we no longer care about, but somebody might. We thought of selling them on eBay, but hundreds of other people had the same idea. On average, the auctions for these discs appear to yield about a dollar. eBay takes a $0.35 listing fee, and a percentage when the item is sold, and maybe we could recoup that in shipping & handling costs. The same discs do not have as much competition on Amazon, and while Amazon charges a higher percentage if the item sells, they do not have a listing fee. Given shipping costs, this medium is essentially worthless.

Kind of makes you want to just toss $0.34, or a share of Covad, in the guitar case of a starving artist, doesn't it?

4:05:23 PM # Google It!