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Start up idea: 16-minute delivery services. In all seriousness, they want to ban "dark stores" that serve as primary outlets of these delivery services. Their
by bko 5y ago
Start up idea: 16-minute delivery services.
In all seriousness, they want to ban "dark stores" that serve as primary outlets of these delivery services. Their super efficient in terms of space utilization (should be a good thing) but paper over their store front creating unsightly scenes for busybody neighbors.
They could say a store can't have paper over fronts, but then the dark stores could just not paper over their fronts. Or they could say you have to sell goods, but there are plenty of businesses that don't sell goods. I guess they could sell some goods and have most of their business come from delivery. Or maybe they say X% of your money has to come from in store sales, but that could similarly be gamed and now every business has to start keeping track and reporting this number as well! I don't know anything about Dutch law, but without arbitrary discretion, I don't see how this is enforced without being a huge inconvenience or expense
People have spoken and they obviously value the convenience of these services that its worth putting mini-warehouses in central city locations. Central planners can't arbitrarily decree what kind of city they want. They can try but that goes against the whole ethos of a city being a living breathing place.
- nicbou 5y ago> Central planners can't arbitrarily decree what kind of city they want Elected officials can enact laws
- rlpb 5y agoI think GP's point is that this won't work because of the law of unintended consequences.
- bko 5y agoSure, but those laws don't always have the intended consequences. Otherwise there would just be a decree that everyone should be nice to each other and not commit and crime and be happy. So yes you can pass laws but you can't arbitrarily decree what kind of city you want.
- toomuchtodo 5y agoYou absolutely can as long as you’re doing what voters wants. Zoning and city planning is well within the purview of local government.
- bko 5y agoFirst of all, its not clear "the votes want it". I'm sure very few people care besides busy-body politicians looking for "problems" to fix. Put it up to a vote if you're so confident that people don't want the opportunity to use these services. But more importantly, putting everything up to a vote will just lead to oppression by the most vocal people with too much time on their hands. The bar for allowing something shouldn't be "do the majority of people that are involved in this sort of thing want this"? It should be "do enough people benefit from this such that its a viable business"? Then you can make sure the business is following reasonable laws. For instance if the drivers are speeding or breaking noise ordinance, then they should be forced to obey the law. That's the point of the market and that's what the market does well, allocate resources.
- toomuchtodo 5y agoI encourage you to make home where your neighbors align with your value system, versus demanding others change theirs, where their vote is diminished when someone has more fiat than they do (as you’re suggesting “the market” regulate versus elected government). If the market regulated well, Uber would not exist (to name just one zombie firm), having burned $30B in an attempt to reach profitability while leaving social destruction in its wake.
- dekervin 5y agoThose are the right arguments if you want to defend the "market ideology". But "market ideology" is not the law of the land there. Tough luck.
- mbg721 5y agoThe part that I don't understand is that the Dark Stores have no reason to pay any more than necessary for rent; so they must be in the cheapest places possible that are close enough to deliver to affluent neighborhoods. So what are they replacing?