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Why award the contract for the entire airport to a single company though. My local Spanish airport has a bunch of different options. It's way cheaper, while def

Why award the contract for the entire airport to a single company though. My local Spanish airport has a bunch of different options. It's way cheaper, while definitely more expensive than outside the airport. The only price control enforced is on bottled water which can't cost more than 1 EUR.

bombcar 4y ago
What's really fun is when you have a ton of apparently completely different stores at an airport and then you realize they're all just fronts for the same company. Part of the answer is that people going through airports are often buying expense account ones, and they're quite price flexible.
marcosdumay 4y ago
Why would the airport enforce competition within their property and reduce the profit it can take from the sellers? I bet the government is involved on that decision from your local one.
jrockway 4y ago
If you're the contract negotiator, finding a single company that won't complain about the kickbacks you ask for is easier than finding a bunch of them, right? And what's the point of working for the Port Authority if you're not going to be corrupt? This is the agency that snarled traffic in the town of a mayor that wouldn't endorse a candidate of the opposite political party, mostly just for the lulz. Predictably, the structure of the Port Authority ensures that nobody can ever be held accountable, and indeed, nobody was. (If you didn't follow Bridgegate when it was happening, strap in for the most petty government overreach you've ever read about. I've read this article a number of times and honestly, you start reading and you can't look away. It's so good! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Lee_lane_closure_scandal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Lee_lane_closure_scandal)
- deleted 4y ago
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- hgsgm 4y ago
  Read the link. You got it backwards. NJ Governor Christie closed the bridge. Port Authority reopened it.
  - rocqua 4y ago
    Not quite. One of Christie's appointed directors at the port authority closed the bridge. Later the port authority decided to reverse it's own decision. The intro blurb skips the appointed director and attributes the closing of the bridge directly to Christie, but Christie acted through a crony at the Port Authority, as can be read further in the Wikipedia article.

bombcar 4y ago

What's really fun is when you have a ton of apparently completely different stores at an airport and then you realize they're all just fronts for the same company. Part of the answer is that people going through airports are often buying expense account ones, and they're quite price flexible.

marcosdumay 4y ago

Why would the airport enforce competition within their property and reduce the profit it can take from the sellers? I bet the government is involved on that decision from your local one.

jrockway 4y ago

If you're the contract negotiator, finding a single company that won't complain about the kickbacks you ask for is easier than finding a bunch of them, right? And what's the point of working for the Port Authority if you're not going to be corrupt? This is the agency that snarled traffic in the town of a mayor that wouldn't endorse a candidate of the opposite political party, mostly just for the lulz. Predictably, the structure of the Port Authority ensures that nobody can ever be held accountable, and indeed, nobody was. (If you didn't follow Bridgegate when it was happening, strap in for the most petty government overreach you've ever read about. I've read this article a number of times and honestly, you start reading and you can't look away. It's so good! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Lee_lane_closure_scandal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Lee_lane_closure_scandal)

deleted 4y ago
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hgsgm 4y ago
Read the link. You got it backwards. NJ Governor Christie closed the bridge. Port Authority reopened it.
- rocqua 4y ago
  Not quite. One of Christie's appointed directors at the port authority closed the bridge. Later the port authority decided to reverse it's own decision. The intro blurb skips the appointed director and attributes the closing of the bridge directly to Christie, but Christie acted through a crony at the Port Authority, as can be read further in the Wikipedia article.