4 ms·

I'm trying remember a case of where a public utility / service becoming privatized resulted in better outcomes for the public in the medium or long term.

jcranmer 8y ago
Railroads? Nationalization of the US railroads during WWI was definitely a long-term loss for a short-term gain, although it was only ever meant to be temporary I guess.
- Jweb_Guru 8y ago
  German rail has been absolutely awful since it was privatized.
- Bahamut 8y ago
  Privatization of the railroads neutered a lot of their utility in much of the US. I remember taking my first Amtrak in Illinois to Chicago and experiencing that my train was delayed for 3 hours because the tracks were privately owned & slow freight trains had priority on the majority single track rails. I later learned that such delays were typical.
sbenitoj 8y ago
Better according to whom? Perception is subjective.
- sbenitoj 8y ago
  Really? A downvote on this?
  - arcticbull 8y ago
    I'd wager it's because "better" is well-defined in this context. A service provided by the government is designed to maximize the good and value it provides to the people. A corporation is designed to maximize its own interests. It stands to reason that a well-run government service by definition is better across many metrics. They don't all need to be socialized of course, but the raw foundation of society (health, education, police, fire, even rail, etc) put people on an even footing that allows them to rise to the level of their capabilities. It provides a foundation for meritocracy instead of supporting plutocracy.
  - dang 8y ago
    Would you please stop posting unsubstantive comments to Hacker News? If you'd please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and follow the rules when posting here, we'd appreciate it.
skookumchuck 8y ago
Privatization doesn't necessarily mean free market.
refurb 8y ago
You must not be looking that hard! The two best examples I can think of are the DMV in Alberta, Canada, and alcohol sales in the same province. Prior to prioritization, the DMV was run by the govt and it sucked, hard. Two locations in a city of 1M. Took forever to get stuff done and the hours sucked (like the DMV in the US!). Post privatization, it was awesome. About 50 locations in the city, open until 9pm at night so you could go after work, good customer service and no lines! The difference was night and day. Alcohol sales were similar. Better hours, better prices and more convenient. Specialty stores opened up and actually catered to customers needs versus the old govt run stores.

jcranmer 8y ago

Railroads? Nationalization of the US railroads during WWI was definitely a long-term loss for a short-term gain, although it was only ever meant to be temporary I guess.

Jweb_Guru 8y ago
German rail has been absolutely awful since it was privatized.
Bahamut 8y ago
Privatization of the railroads neutered a lot of their utility in much of the US. I remember taking my first Amtrak in Illinois to Chicago and experiencing that my train was delayed for 3 hours because the tracks were privately owned & slow freight trains had priority on the majority single track rails. I later learned that such delays were typical.

sbenitoj 8y ago

Better according to whom? Perception is subjective.

sbenitoj 8y ago
Really? A downvote on this?
- arcticbull 8y ago
  I'd wager it's because "better" is well-defined in this context. A service provided by the government is designed to maximize the good and value it provides to the people. A corporation is designed to maximize its own interests. It stands to reason that a well-run government service by definition is better across many metrics. They don't all need to be socialized of course, but the raw foundation of society (health, education, police, fire, even rail, etc) put people on an even footing that allows them to rise to the level of their capabilities. It provides a foundation for meritocracy instead of supporting plutocracy.
- dang 8y ago
  Would you please stop posting unsubstantive comments to Hacker News? If you'd please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and follow the rules when posting here, we'd appreciate it.

skookumchuck 8y ago

Privatization doesn't necessarily mean free market.

refurb 8y ago

You must not be looking that hard! The two best examples I can think of are the DMV in Alberta, Canada, and alcohol sales in the same province. Prior to prioritization, the DMV was run by the govt and it sucked, hard. Two locations in a city of 1M. Took forever to get stuff done and the hours sucked (like the DMV in the US!). Post privatization, it was awesome. About 50 locations in the city, open until 9pm at night so you could go after work, good customer service and no lines! The difference was night and day. Alcohol sales were similar. Better hours, better prices and more convenient. Specialty stores opened up and actually catered to customers needs versus the old govt run stores.