As I spend a third hour in this coffee shop without buying anything (brought a sandwich with me, in fact) and listening to a killer playlist for free, I'm reminded that capitalism's genius is supporting so many free riders, not squeezing efficiency out of us all the time.
— Nick Gillespie (@nickgillespie) April 1, 2019
April 1, 2019
Free rider.
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45 comments:
"Restrooms are for customers only."
I leave a big tip. Like for using the free wifi, and trying to avoid busy times.
The "tragedy of the commons" looks pretty good to the first ones to get there.
Why would anyone spend 3 hours in a Coffee shop without eating or drinking anything?
Sounds like a loser.
Saturday we went to the City park and didn't pay anything. Man, I love socialism.
Personally, I enjoy the free masturbatoria (formerly known as "Men's Rooms)."
The government should run coffee shops. What, you don't like stale pastry and mud?
Free riders are usually not a problem worthy of attention nor requiring of a solution.
The free market's genius is that it is democratic, dynamic, and in the absence of single, central dictations, it is an optimal means to determine price and distribution in a world where resources are finitely available and accessible.
I'm going to put the over under on the chance of Nick Gillespie wearing a leather jacket while he was in that coffee shop at 90%.
Not seeing a direct nexus between free markets and free riders...not seeing any nexus at all. Unless I regularly bought things from that coffee shop, and unless it was semi-deserted the whole time I was there, I would feel ashamed to sit around there as Nick did. If you want to sit in a place and not purchase anything, go to a bench in a park or a mall.
Also this seems like a fairly well executed April Fool's Day tweet by Nick Gillespie. Not very overboard, but still different enough from the expected that it leaves wondering, "Wait is he serious?"
Nick doesn’t seem to understand that there are a number of agreements bound up in maintaining a civil society. A lack of rules allow freedom so long as underlying fairness is followed. Bringing a sandwich to a coffee shop certainly violates these rules. Nick should know this and his parents almost certainly think they raised him to be better. Coffee shop employees have noticed him and will forever recognize him as the douchebag that brought his own sandwich. Eventually, coffee shop rules will change to deal with leaches like him. His poor behavior will impact is all, and not for the better.
Nick is no better than the guy using his speaker phone on the bus. The a shame that he doesn’t realize that he is an outcast from civil society. The irony is that as a rich white man he probably won’t be adversely impacted by the new rules that he is forcing on the rest of us.
He isn’t a free rider. If he’s welcome in the establishment without a purchase it is more of a loss leader situation. If management would kick him out if they knew what he was doing he’s just a jerk.
Not a fan of free moochers. Strange that Gillespie revels in this. Bringing a sandwhich to a coffee shop? Are you broke or something?
Is his photo in the dictionary under white privilege?
PhD in English from a State School reverting to true nature.
I’m assuming that as a strict libertarian Mr. Gillespie would fine with a charge for using a seat if no purchase made.
I hope he demanded that they play "Free Bird".
Steve: Gillespie is an Ass, and he revels in it, as don't many Establishment Libertarian types who voted as such, claiming Victory in that they got over 3% or whatall in the popular vote in Utah.
So I guess Reason is the next mag to go under.
There are plenty of places that "free riders" can use and enjoy. One just needs to be alert and clever. Also, it helps to be quiet and "under the radar".
It all depends on what you need at the time, e.g. wi-fi, toilets, quiet time, info, etc.
Lots of free riders, like Europe for example.
To each, according to his abilities. From each, according to his needs.
Now that I think of it this may have been an April Fools joke.
Vice President Joe Biden thinks he has a free ride to sniff women's hair.
Perfect capitalism is perfect equality. I pay $3.50 for a latte, Bill Gates pays 2.5 million for a latte.
The fact that currently there are far more sellers of latte than there are billionaires is just an inefficiency true capitalism will one day erase, possibly when people stop treating intellectual property as a material object worthy of a state-granted monompoly.
I'm sure Gillespie would agree.
Biden-Klobuchar in 2020!
- One will sniff your hair and the other will comb it!
Not sure if Gillespie was making an April fools day joke or not.
Free riders are an inefficiency that capitalism will work hard to eliminate. Capitalism is not what allows Gillespie to spend hours at a Starbuck's, using the wifi, while paying nothing for the value that he has received. It is a failure of capitalism. If Gillespie thought that the value he received was > 0, efficient capitalism would extract it from him.
The reason I think that it might not be an April Fools joke is that so many Libertarians are ignorant of how capitalism works.
Can we house the Democrats open border "invader families" in coffee houses?
Sounds like a chance for candidate Howard to signal his virtue again.
Isn't Nick Gillespie the guy in the black leather blazer from the Rockford Files?
Nick Gillespie is losing his libertarian logic. Since when did Libertarians abandon free independent thinking to become societal free riders? There just is no Reason in doing this.
I think that it is essentially a loss leader. When we are traveling, McDonald's are one of our preferred rest stops. Any more, we don't eat their food, though I do love me some of it. But in AZ for half the year, I stop by the nearest McDonald's for their $1 drinks daily. Just got back from my late night run, picking up a Diet Coke for me for commenting on Ann's latest posts tomorrow morning, and coffee for my partner for the morning. Traveling, she gets it with whipped cream. Here, I picked up a couple cans. We almost never stop in other fast food places for food or restrooms. Specific McDonald's may lose money on us, but nationwide, year in and year out, the chain makes money on us. And part of that is that I know, nationwide, that they are the easiest place for me to just hang out, use their WiFi, and either read or browse the Internet. I am in a strange city, my partner is still asleep, and you will often find me at the closest McDonald's.
McDonalds hasn’t arrived in most of Africa. But you can often find a KFC.
This reminded me of visiting friends this last weekend. Almost a half century ago, we met a family with three daughters who had a summer house in the ski community we have had a condo for almost as long. I dated the oldest sister a couple summers, then we went on to marry other people, but kept in decent touch. Youngest was still in high school that first summer, and has always been the little sister I never had, and I was all their older brother. Their mother, never having had sons, loved to cook for guys, and I was one of the biggest recipients of that, with an appetite that generally exceeded my income at the time. Oldest called Sunday morning and told me that their mother, nearing 100 now, had just got out of the hospital, and the youngest, whom I occasionally email, but rarely get responses from, was in town, but expected to leave Monday, and to get my sorry rear end up there. Well, that is how my partner would have phrased it. This girl is always much more polite. I popped up there, and was happy I did. Not sure if their mother will still be around when we get back in town next fall. And she still loves the guys. Weird that I have now known her for half her almost century of life. In any case, caught up a bit with the younger sister. When we first met, nearing a half a century ago, she and the middle sister were working as waitresses at the local coffee shop (still there, but back to its original name), and we would frequent there because of the hot sisters who worked there. She remembered how I would reverse the inside of the menu for the breakfast menu, and then try to order breakfast at lunch time. But her biggest memory was the quantity of coffee that we drank. Her dream those summers was to get a $1 tip for coffee (which I think was $.25 at the time). I reminded her that her mother would tip her daughters a silver $1 whenever she came in (it was their father who insisted that his daughters worked gen not in school, starting in HS). Apparently, not the same thing. I think that she was thinking, in particular about a certain group of guys who would come in and harass her on a daily basis. So, I gave her the $1 bill that I had found on the ground on the way up there. Apparently, I was a little late (I figured a 40% tip on a cup of coffee was pretty generous at the time). So I left her a $5 bill on the table. She called up after I left to tell me that I had left that, along with one of my iPads. Told her the $5 was a tip, but that I would pick up the iPad when I ran her to the airport in a couple days. Should be interesting. I expect to see the $5 back as a tip for the ride.
Has Nick Gillespie ever complained about the prices at Starbuck’s? Because the openness to free riders is part of the atmosphere they like to maintain in their shops and high coffee prices are how they finance it. So it is capitalism at work, but that doesn’t make his free-riding ok.
Scalability.
One person free loading is easily supported by a capitalist system. Indeed, in a capitalist system, you don’t have to work or put much effort in to have substantial wealth (however you want to measure that - it varies from person to person) above that.
It’s when many demand the same wealth as those who put in effort to obtain that wealth. Ironically, the demands are often for worthless tangeables (TVs, smart phones, free kale for all).
Nick understands capitalism really well. If I don't pay my mortgage, I'll lose my home. Happens everyday. He may have been treading on his notoriety to be allowed to loiter. Capitalism isn't about "free lunches."
I’ts built into the price! - Ross
The free (sic) market's genius is that it has deceived many that it is (or can be) truly free, and should, therefore, never be destroyed by regulatory oversight.
Limited blogger: The government should run coffee shops. What, you don't like stale pastry and mud?
Starbucks is an example of the free market being able to deliver stale pastry and mud up to the high standards set by command economies.
Robert Cook said...
The free (sic) market's genius is that it has deceived many that it is (or can be) truly free, and should, therefore, never be destroyed by regulatory oversight
Exactly, that’s why Trump won. There is no such thing as “free trade” outside of some ethereal and abstract world of thought occupying the mind of gullible dreamers. Obama was more than happy with a NAFTA that let China dump their steel on the US market and de-industrialize the midwest.
Hey, what happened to moderation?
C'mon gang! Where are my cans of spray paint?
"I'm going to put the over under on the chance of Nick Gillespie wearing a leather jacket while he was in that coffee shop at 90%."
Nick Gillespie does not wear The Jacket™. The Jacket™ allows Nick Gillespie to hold it up.
Spoken like a true Lefty....pretty much their whole agenda is to promote as many people as possible free riding on the ever smaller group of productive citizens.
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