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At the same time, I get annoyed at people getting so offended over the idea. Why should everyone have to work like the UPS guy? It sounds like the UPS driver's

by WWLink 6y ago

At the same time, I get annoyed at people getting so offended over the idea. Why should everyone have to work like the UPS guy? It sounds like the UPS driver's job is unsustainable and will either lead to an accident or injury at some point. I don't know why everything has to be run down to the wire in the name of minimizing cost and maximizing profit.

derefr 6y ago
> I don't know why everything has to be run down to the wire in the name of minimizing cost and maximizing profit. There's no real "why" to it. It's not like any individual in a corporation chooses to run the corporation that way. It's rather an emergent effect of how corporations are legally structured (= shareholders electing/firing directors from the board based on quarterly results.) Directors are incentivized to pursue short-term profits during their tenure (such as by overworking employees), to enable them to enjoy the spoils of their positions for as long as possible. A corporation can be "designed" intentionally to do something other than this (by e.g. choosing to create a benefit corporation; or even just by the founder retaining majority ownership and thus effectively "being" the board) but if you don't explicitly make a choice, being driven by quarterly profitability is what you get.
- aksss 6y ago
  No - it's a natural product of competition, the pressure of which exists regardless of your legal structure. A sole proprietor running a courier service will need to differentiate himself relative to the other courier services, and the potential customers of such services place immense value on timeliness. Even if the courier were a non-profit, for it to be selected in favor of a competing service it would need to choose the basis upon which it wanted to compete and excel at it. USPS is sufficient for many things (e.g. 70% junk mail), but it's not a market competitor. Where it matters, there's a need to differentiate to survive. When our business needs something overnighted fast and reliably, it's always a private carrier for a reason that doesn't involve its legal structure.

by WWLink 6y ago

derefr 6y ago

> I don't know why everything has to be run down to the wire in the name of minimizing cost and maximizing profit. There's no real "why" to it. It's not like any individual in a corporation chooses to run the corporation that way. It's rather an emergent effect of how corporations are legally structured (= shareholders electing/firing directors from the board based on quarterly results.) Directors are incentivized to pursue short-term profits during their tenure (such as by overworking employees), to enable them to enjoy the spoils of their positions for as long as possible. A corporation can be "designed" intentionally to do something other than this (by e.g. choosing to create a benefit corporation; or even just by the founder retaining majority ownership and thus effectively "being" the board) but if you don't explicitly make a choice, being driven by quarterly profitability is what you get.

aksss 6y ago
No - it's a natural product of competition, the pressure of which exists regardless of your legal structure. A sole proprietor running a courier service will need to differentiate himself relative to the other courier services, and the potential customers of such services place immense value on timeliness. Even if the courier were a non-profit, for it to be selected in favor of a competing service it would need to choose the basis upon which it wanted to compete and excel at it. USPS is sufficient for many things (e.g. 70% junk mail), but it's not a market competitor. Where it matters, there's a need to differentiate to survive. When our business needs something overnighted fast and reliably, it's always a private carrier for a reason that doesn't involve its legal structure.