4 ms·
So, I'm glad you got into the subject of car washes and oil changes. We're trying to regulate car washes so that we can control that market - otherwise, let's
by logicallee 13y ago
So, I'm glad you got into the subject of car washes and oil changes. We're trying to regulate car washes so that we can control that market - otherwise, let's say we succeed in a federated model where to be a car wash practitioner you must go through 14 years of very competitive school costing about $1M all told, with a car wash residency on top. This might bring car wash technique into the 21st century, it would result in amazing advances in research, everything from new detergents to car wash garage equipment that makes what we see now seem absolutely third-world. Yes, it would cost $2000-$8000 for a basic wash, but that's actually a low price to pay for clean cities and sanitation, and also it's the list price. Yes, a lot of people would stop washing their cars, that is a personal choice. For the oil changes, we're in a better position - you MUST change your oil from time to time, otherwise you will suffer catastrophic engine damage. People have very little choice. So here, we can get up into the $8000's or so, based on what happens if you don't change your oil. Again, with amazing research and so forth. How many prestigious oil change journals do you think there are today? It is just third world at the moment, this is why we need the medical model here.
Then there's the usual benefits, one of the main points of leverage employers would have over any of their employees who drive or are even thinking of driving, is that in fact en masse the employer could ensure these workers for oil changes for a tiny fraction of that list price. Maybe as low as only $500-$800 per month.
This keeps people from being "self-starters" who fail to produce value for large companies, instead they would have to negotiate with our federated program on a per-individual basis.
But there is a big problem with both of the above utopias: unlicensed practitioners. Sure, if you look at the third world where people are free to try to put whatever they want into their cars, anything from sand to little pieces of plastic toys they melt down - at great risk to all drivers on the road should the cars explode, not to mention to themselves - the oil change prices are very low. Barely the cost of oil that has next to no research into it, plus labor that is about the skill-level of a barber in the middle ages. They do not have 14 or even 12 years of schooling, nor debts even reaching $200K let alone an amount that would motivate them to keep charging the federated prices.
So the first step toward utopia is really, we have to clamp down on unlicensed car washes and oil changes. We need a board certification that includes deep understanding of all parts that make up a car, from basic metallurgy to internal combustion and battery technology chemistry. Yes, some people will wash out of metallurgy classes, or projectile calculus, but are these really the people you want taking care of your only means of transportation?
Transportation is literally one of the few things that separates us from people in the middle ages, allows us to live and work more than a few meters apart, and enables us to live meaningful lives. Without transportation, we have nothing.
So it makes sense to clamp down on the unregulated practices related to serious procedures such as oil changes as well as elective, cosmetic procedures like a car wash. Where the prices are such that certain individuals might not be able to bear the full burden, that's EXACTLY what insurance is for!