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I like the leadership of Domino's here. As logistics focus more on the home as the final destination, companies like Amazon, FedEx, Uber, or even Postmates are

I like the leadership of Domino's here. As logistics focus more on the home as the final destination, companies like Amazon, FedEx, Uber, or even Postmates are going to have to look at infrastructure conditions as a threat to their business. Rather than lobbying to increase gas taxes and funnel more cash into various government bureaucracies, Domino's is trying to address the problem directly, by getting the money directly to the local agencies that actually fix the roads. I hope others follow suit.

ocdtrekkie 8y ago
Given how poorly your packages get handled, given various videos of TVs thrown over fences and the like, I doubt shipping companies have a significantly greater need for good roads: You pack under the assumption it will get jostled significantly. The interest shipping companies would have, therefore, would be the same as literally any company which has fleet vehicles: Damage to the fleet caused by the road conditions.
atlasunshrugged 8y ago
I agree, it's a really smart move and a good pre-emptive tactic for PR purposes because invariably towns are going to be looking for more money for infrastructure development as gas tax revenues decrease with more EVs and fuel efficient vehicles on the road so companies like Domino's that depend on public infrastructure will probably end up paying down the road anyways. Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-02-15/gas-taxes-aren-t-paying-the-bills-for-roads-anymore https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-02-15/gas-taxes...
gascan 8y ago
Direct funding is good- but ultimately the road is a (very expensive) public good, and Domino's can't fund full maintenance all by itself nor does it reap all the benefit. Public funding has always made sense for road repair because (generally) everyone benefits, and roads are expensive, so everyone pays. To be clear- direct action is laudable, and it's a neat project, but big picture, we need many orders of magnitude more money on the problem than Domino's can ever provide.
- nanis 8y ago
  Roads are not public goods. They are certainly excludable, and, beyond a certain level of traffic, definitely rival. Update: "Public good" is a technical term, see, inter alia, https://www.khanacademy.org/economics-finance-domain/ap-microeconomics/ap-consumer-producer-surplus/ap-externalities-topic/a/public-goods-cnx https://www.khanacademy.org/economics-finance-domain/ap-micr...
  - gascan 8y ago
    Your own link describes roads as generally nonexcludable: Once a road is built, it is difficult to exclude people, although toll roads can exclude nonpayers. Taking the definition to the extreme makes it no longer useful. Yes, technically you could make a road exclusionary and rivalrous. But their nature tends nonexclusionary and nonrivalrous. "Public good" is really an observation about whether something is more suited to private or public ownership, rather than some kind of strict legal term.
    - nanis 8y ago
      > Your own link describes roads as generally nonexcludable: Well, I did not notice that because one has to click to reveal that self-contradictory statement. In any case, that is a point against Khan Academy. "Public good" is not the same as "these days mostly financed by politicians shoveling money to labor unions and a few firms". Everywhere you look there are excludable roads. Everywhere you see traffic congestion, you see rivalry. Roads are not public goods, even if you feel like governments ought to own them.
- maxsilver 8y ago
  > but ultimately the road is a (very expensive) public good, (snip) big picture, we need many orders of magnitude more money on the problem than Domino's can ever provide. I don't really understand this logic. Roads are cheap. Really cheap. (Yes, even if StrongTowns claims otherwise, roads are still really cheap). It's expensive to look at as a standalone figure, as everything is. But per taxpayer, roads are cheaper than military, cheaper than public education, cheaper than governance, and many more. I can't speak to all municipalities, but I know on my own taxes, roads are even cheaper than public transit and cheaper than municipal garbage and recycling services. If every citizen pitched in approximately one Netflix subscription worth of extra taxes, road repair would mostly be a solved problem. Yes, that's a lot of money, but it's not really a lot of money, as part of the context of the government budget. Or to put it another way, Roads are so cheap that Domino's Pizza can afford to fix roads as a fun publicity stunt.

ocdtrekkie 8y ago

Given how poorly your packages get handled, given various videos of TVs thrown over fences and the like, I doubt shipping companies have a significantly greater need for good roads: You pack under the assumption it will get jostled significantly. The interest shipping companies would have, therefore, would be the same as literally any company which has fleet vehicles: Damage to the fleet caused by the road conditions.

atlasunshrugged 8y ago

I agree, it's a really smart move and a good pre-emptive tactic for PR purposes because invariably towns are going to be looking for more money for infrastructure development as gas tax revenues decrease with more EVs and fuel efficient vehicles on the road so companies like Domino's that depend on public infrastructure will probably end up paying down the road anyways. Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-02-15/gas-taxes-aren-t-paying-the-bills-for-roads-anymore https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-02-15/gas-taxes...

gascan 8y ago

Direct funding is good- but ultimately the road is a (very expensive) public good, and Domino's can't fund full maintenance all by itself nor does it reap all the benefit. Public funding has always made sense for road repair because (generally) everyone benefits, and roads are expensive, so everyone pays. To be clear- direct action is laudable, and it's a neat project, but big picture, we need many orders of magnitude more money on the problem than Domino's can ever provide.

nanis 8y ago
Roads are not public goods. They are certainly excludable, and, beyond a certain level of traffic, definitely rival. Update: "Public good" is a technical term, see, inter alia, https://www.khanacademy.org/economics-finance-domain/ap-microeconomics/ap-consumer-producer-surplus/ap-externalities-topic/a/public-goods-cnx https://www.khanacademy.org/economics-finance-domain/ap-micr...
- gascan 8y ago
  Your own link describes roads as generally nonexcludable: Once a road is built, it is difficult to exclude people, although toll roads can exclude nonpayers. Taking the definition to the extreme makes it no longer useful. Yes, technically you could make a road exclusionary and rivalrous. But their nature tends nonexclusionary and nonrivalrous. "Public good" is really an observation about whether something is more suited to private or public ownership, rather than some kind of strict legal term.
  - nanis 8y ago
    > Your own link describes roads as generally nonexcludable: Well, I did not notice that because one has to click to reveal that self-contradictory statement. In any case, that is a point against Khan Academy. "Public good" is not the same as "these days mostly financed by politicians shoveling money to labor unions and a few firms". Everywhere you look there are excludable roads. Everywhere you see traffic congestion, you see rivalry. Roads are not public goods, even if you feel like governments ought to own them.
maxsilver 8y ago
> but ultimately the road is a (very expensive) public good, (snip) big picture, we need many orders of magnitude more money on the problem than Domino's can ever provide. I don't really understand this logic. Roads are cheap. Really cheap. (Yes, even if StrongTowns claims otherwise, roads are still really cheap). It's expensive to look at as a standalone figure, as everything is. But per taxpayer, roads are cheaper than military, cheaper than public education, cheaper than governance, and many more. I can't speak to all municipalities, but I know on my own taxes, roads are even cheaper than public transit and cheaper than municipal garbage and recycling services. If every citizen pitched in approximately one Netflix subscription worth of extra taxes, road repair would mostly be a solved problem. Yes, that's a lot of money, but it's not really a lot of money, as part of the context of the government budget. Or to put it another way, Roads are so cheap that Domino's Pizza can afford to fix roads as a fun publicity stunt.